From components, pumps, valves and pipes to plant design and simulation, from construction and plant engineering to process engineering, measurement and process control
Plant based extracts, i.e. phytoextracts, are important ingredients in a wide variety of market segments. The generation of added value is as widespread...
This supplement to the recommendations for process engineering characterisation (2nd edition, published December 2020) provides experimental methods for a further important parameter, the kLa(CO2).
Does today's process simulation meet the requirements posed by increasing digitalisation up to the "digital twin"? This question is addressed by the experts of the ProcessNet working committee Process Simulation, Process Synthesis and Knowledge Processing in their current position paper "Process Simulation - Fit for the Future?
These recommendations provide suitable experimental methods for the process engineering characterisation of single-use bioreactors and mixers.
2. revised edition
The Escherichia coli model process described in the recommendation also makes it possible to characterise the biological performance of a system. The standardised process aims to determine the performance of bioreactors, in particular single-use bioreactors, and to evaluate their suitability for microbial applications. Since microbial processes place high demands on the bioreactor system with regard to oxygen transfer, this is of particular importance; another important parameter is heat removal.
The associated Excel tool offers the possibility of a standardised evaluation, so that a comparison across bioreactor systems is possible. Calculations, e.g. of the volumetric mass transfer coefficient, will be performed automatically after input of the raw data.
Recommendation and Excel tool were developed by the "Single-Use Microbial" working group of DECHEMA's expert group "Single-Use Technology in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing".
The biopharmaceutical industry has developed rapidly in recent decades, with biotechnologically manufactured drugs are at the top both in new approvals and new fields of application. Various trends such as the production of biosimilars have led to a real boom in new production facilities in recent years.
Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly planning and constructing more flexible, smaller plants to meet the demand. These flexible Facilities of the Future (FoF) often use single-use systems. The Status Paper of the DECHEMA working group “Single-use technology in biopharmaceutical manufacturing” is an introduction in the field.