Journal of Biotechnology 131S (2007) S188S195

Industrial Biotechnology

INNOVATIVE DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING 1. Evaluating biopharmaceutical economics and capacity with process modelling and simulation tools Victor Papavasileiou a, , Demetri Petrides b
a

Intelligen Europe, Leiden, Netherlands

b Intelligen, Inc., 2326 Morse Avenue, Scotch Plains, 07076 NJ,

United States The capital investment for new biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities is around D 4000 L1 of bioreactor capacity. Moderate to large facilities can cost hundreds of millions of Euros, yet such investments are often made with uncertain information about process performance, media and materials prices, and market conditions. This paper presents a systematic way to evaluate the critical costs and capacity issues in biopharmaceutical plants. Examples will be presented on determining the target product titre, optimising bioreactor batch size and choosing where or whether to use disposable (single-use) equipment. Since many process decisions must be based on partial or uncertain information, this presentation will also describe how to evaluate the risk associated with process and economic assumptions. doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2007.07.333 2. Biotechnological process for chitin recovery out of shrimp waste Gabriele Daum a , Helen St ober a , Kerstin Veltrup b , Friedhelm b Meinhardt , Bernward Bisping a, University of Hamburg, Department of Chemistry, Division of Food Microbiology/Hygiene, Biocenter Klein Flottbek, Ohnhorststr. 18, 22609 Hamburg, Germany b Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitaet Muenster, Institut fuer Molekulare Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie, Corrensstr. 3, 48149 Muenster, Germany Chitin (poly -(1 4)-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine), a polysaccharide which is common in the carapace of insects and crustacea,
0168-1656/$ see front matter doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2007.07.332
a

is needed as precursor for chitosan. Chitin, in particular its deacetylated derivative chitosan, has numerous applications, such as in pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, dairy products, in waste water treatment, agriculture and biotechnological products. Routinely applications require specic structures, and effectiveness of polymers was shown to depend on the molecular weight and the degree of acetylation (Muzzarelli et al., 1986). Exosceletons of crustaceans are the key source of chitin. Limitations of utilization are high costs for purication done by chemical processes, which include alternating acid and alkali treatments, resulting in large amounts of liquid waste of harsh chemicals. A biotechnological reconditioning of shrimp shell waste represents an alternative. Such process includes deproteinization of shrimp waste and removal of calcium carbonate (Healy et al., 1994). Since the application of enzymes, though effectively used in laboratory scale (Gagne and Simpson, 1993), causes uneconomical production costs, the use of living microbes, facilitating efcient chitin purication, is desirable. For demineralization of shrimp shells a fermentation with lactic acid bacteria was performed. Using 25% (w/v) waste, up to 95% of mineral salts were removed. In a further fermentation proteins were hydrolyzed by Bacillus licheniformis. A chitinase-decient strain was isolated from Indonesian shrimp waste and microscopically and physiologically determined. Molecular characterization was performed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene. Genetic work for enhancing protease production was successfully performed. References
Gagne, N., Simpson, B.K., 1993. Food Biotechnol. 7, 253263. Healy, M., Romo, R., Bustos, R., 1994. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 11, 139147. Muzzarelli, R.A.A., Tanfani, F., Emanuelli, M., Chiurazzi, E., Piani, M., 1986. In: Muzzarelli, R.A.A., Jeuniaux, C., Gooday, G.W. (Eds.), Chitin in Nature and Technology. Plenum Press, New York, p. 469.

doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2007.07.334