Biotechnology

Thermal “Needs”

Paul Nesvadba

EVITHERM meeting at PTB Berlin,

17th May 2004

Biotechnology

• Technology of 21st century

• Practical applications of biological organisms or their components

• Genetic engineering, genomics, proteomics, transgenic crops and animals

• Brewing beer, treatment of sewage, wastewater, drug development, agriculture

Fields of Biotechnology• Molecular / Cell Biology• Biochemistry• Genetics / Genomics / Proteomics• Immunology• Microbiology / Virology• Biological/ Biochemicals/ Chemicals Manufacturing• Pharmaceutical Science & Research• Plant Sciences / Agribiotech• Bioprocessing / Bioengineering• Ecology / Environment• Diagnostics• Food & Drink• Bioinformatics• Vaccines

Molecular Biology & Bioinformatics• Genetic and Molecular basis of disease

• Gene editing (e.g. GM crops)

• Discovery systems (e.g. drug discovery)

• Protein separation and fusion systems

• Antibody engineering

• High throughput

Heat and Temperature

• “Bioinformatics”– Low energy, high precision of control (e.g.

PCR - polymerase chain reaction)

• Large scale Industrial processes– High energy consumption– Optimisation– Knowledge for reducing environmental impact

“Hardware” in Biotechnology

Laboratory

• PCR Thermocyclers

• Tissue Culture - Incubators

Industrial

• Vaccines / Pharmaceuticals – TTIs - TIs

• Fermenters – heat removal!

• Waste treatment plants

Industrial Fermentation

• The optimum fermentation temperature is about 32 °C

• The heat of formation of ethanol is 1.2 MJ / kg of ethanol

• Cooling is necessary in order for the yeast to survive and work efficiently

Brewing

• The oldest biotechnology process

• 8000 years ago in Babylon

• Today’s large scale brewing is highly sophisticated

• Involves many heating and cooling steps

Heat Exchangers

• Energy efficiency (higher heat transfer coefficient, recycling)

• Small size, low mass, easy capacity modification• Ease of cleaning• Shell-and-tube exchangers (traditional) • Plate

Tubular Heat Exchanger (Alfa Laval Viscoline TM)

• Heating, cooling, heat regeneration

• Pasteurisation

• UHT treatment of viscous fluids

Plate Heat Exchanger (Alfa Laval)

Waste Water Treatment

• The need for efficient handling of wastewater and sludge is increasing worldwide.

Processes and equipment

• Decanter centrifuges for dewatering • Spiral heat exchangers

• Heating, cooling, heat recovery and pasteurisation

• Drum thickeners/dryers for sludge volume reduction • Decanter autopilot optimising plant operation

Objective:

To reduce the volume of wastewater

Compilation of contacts

• Alfa Laval (UK, Sweden)• Biometra Gmbh (Göttingen, Germany)• BioProcess Engineering Services Ltd (UK)• GE Healthcare and GE Bio-Sciences (UK)• Grant Instruments (Cambridge, UK)• New Brunswick Scientific (UK) Ltd• Thermo Electron Corporation (USA)• Technical University Berlin, Inst. Food Technology

Conclusions• Biotechnology

– Large area– Diverse processes– Scale from laboratory to industrial

• Identification of users in need of EVITHERM

• Started compiling a list of users

• Contacting users