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Bioengineering
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10th Anniversary of Bioengineering: Biochemical Engineering
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10th Anniversary of Bioengineering: Biochemical Engineering

A special issue of Bioengineering (ISSN 2306-5354). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 6734

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Christoph Herwig

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Lisalis GmbH, Jenbachgasse 73-2, 1130 Vienna, Austria
Interests: biopharmaceutical process development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biochemical engineering is a multidisciplinary field that applies principles of biology, chemistry, and engineering to develop processes and products involving biological materials. It aims to address global challenges related to healthcare, environmental sustainability, energy production, and industrial innovation by harnessing the potential of biological systems and processes. Due to advancements in molecular biology, biotechnology, genomics, computational methods, data science, and digitalization, the scope of biochemical engineering continually expands.

As one of the first established section of the journal Bioengineering, "Biochemical Engineering" Section has been at the forefront of disseminating cutting-edge research and advancements in the field. To commemorate this milestone, we are setting up this Special Issue.

Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Designing, developing, and optimizing processes that utilize biological systems to produce valuable products.
  2. Synthetic biology techniques for engineering organisms or biological components for specific functions, like creating novel enzymes or metabolic pathways.
  3. The production of biopharmaceuticals, such as vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and recombinant proteins, by using genetically engineered cells or microorganisms in bioreactors.
  4. Enzyme engineering and its applications.
  5. Environmental biotechnology such as bioremediation, waste treatment, and bio-based approaches for resource recovery.
  6. The Research and development of renewable energy sources.
  7. Data science enablers for accelerating the product life cycle.
  8. The use of digital twins for prediction and optimization of bioprocesses.
  9. End-to-end solutions for achieving intesified bioprocesses and continuous biomanufacturing (CBM).

Prof. Dr. Christoph Herwig
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Bioengineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biochemical engineering
  • bioprocesses
  • synthetic biology
  • biopharmaceuticals
  • enzyme engineering
  • environmental biotechnology
  • bioremediation
  • waste treatment
  • renewable energy
  • continuous biomanufacturing

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 5340 KiB  
Article
Screening and Selection of a New Medium and Culture Conditions for Diosgenin Production via Microbial Biocatalysis of SYt1
by Shiyao Han, Yiyu Zhao, Fangyuan Mou, Zhen Yang, Ningxiao Li, Mengqi Cheng, Heshaungyi Xie, Baofu Qin and Young Tang
Bioengineering 2024, 11(11), 1098; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11111098 - 31 Oct 2024
Viewed by 526
Abstract
Diosgenin (DSG) is a phytosterol saponin mainly found in Dioscorea zingiberensis C.H. Wright. It has shown promising results in treating various diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases. Diosgenin is also an important medicinal chemical for synthesizing various steroid medicines. [...] Read more.
Diosgenin (DSG) is a phytosterol saponin mainly found in Dioscorea zingiberensis C.H. Wright. It has shown promising results in treating various diseases such as cancer, diabetes, arthritis, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases. Diosgenin is also an important medicinal chemical for synthesizing various steroid medicines. The production of diosgenin by acid hydrolysis generates a large amount of wastewater, leading to severe environmental pollution. However, producing diosgenin through microbial fermentation can effectively reduce environmental pollution. Numerous studies have demonstrated that various microorganisms can produce diosgenin via solid-state fermentation. Nevertheless, due to the complexity, high maintenance costs, uneven heat production, and other characteristics of solid-state fermentation, it is not commonly used in the industrial production of diosgenin. In contrast, liquid fermentation offers advantages such as simple operation, easy maintenance, and stable fermentation, making it more suitable for the industrial production of diosgenin. However, few studies have focused on producing diosgenin using liquid fermentation. In this study, endophytic Bacillus licheniformis SYt1 was used to produce diosgenin via liquid fermentation, with Dioscorea tuber powder as a substrate. Soxhlet extraction and silica gel column chromatography were employed to identify the diosgenin from the liquid fermentation products. Suitable fermentation conditions were screened and identified. The environmental variables that significantly affect the diosgenin yield were determined by the Plackett–Burman design (P-BD) with eight factors. The three factors (peptone, yeast extract powder and inorganic salt) with the greatest influence on the diosgenin yield were selected and further optimized using a response surface methodology (RSM). The final culture conditions were determined to be 35.79 g/L of peptone, 14.56 g/L of yeast extract powder, and 1.44 g/L of inorganic salt. The yield of diosgenin under these conditions was 132.57 mg/L, which was 1.8 times greater than the yield under pre-optimization conditions. This effective, clean, and promising liquid fermentation method possesses the potential to replace the traditional acid hydrolysis method for the industrial production of diosgenin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Bioengineering: Biochemical Engineering)
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14 pages, 1146 KiB  
Article
Surfactant-Mediated Microalgal Flocculation: Process Efficiency and Kinetic Modelling
by Carolina Maia, Vânia Pôjo, Tânia Tavares, José C. M. Pires and Francisco Xavier Malcata
Bioengineering 2024, 11(7), 722; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11070722 - 16 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1156
Abstract
Microalgae are a valuable source of lipids, proteins, and pigments, but there are challenges in large-scale production, especially in harvesting. Existing methods lack proven efficacy and cost-effectiveness. However, flocculation, an energy-efficient technique, is emerging as a promising solution. Integrating surfactants enhances microalgal harvesting [...] Read more.
Microalgae are a valuable source of lipids, proteins, and pigments, but there are challenges in large-scale production, especially in harvesting. Existing methods lack proven efficacy and cost-effectiveness. However, flocculation, an energy-efficient technique, is emerging as a promising solution. Integrating surfactants enhances microalgal harvesting and disruption simultaneously, reducing processing costs. This study investigated cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), and sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) for harvesting Tetraselmis sp. strains (75LG and 46NLG). CTAB exhibits superior results, with 88% harvesting efficiency at 1500 and 2000 mg L−1 for 75LG and 46NLG, respectively, for 60 min of sedimentation—thus being able to reduce the operating time. Beyond evaluating harvesting efficiency, our study explored the kinetics of the process; the modified Gompertz model led to the best fit. Furthermore, the largest kinetic constants were observed with CTAB, thus highlighting its efficacy in optimising the microalgal harvesting process. With the incorporation of the suggested enhancements, which should be addressed in future work, CTAB could hold the potential to optimise microalgal harvesting for cost-effective and sustainable large-scale production, eventually unlocking the commercial potential of microalgae for biodiesel production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Bioengineering: Biochemical Engineering)
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16 pages, 4556 KiB  
Article
A Cyber–Physical Production System for the Integrated Operation and Monitoring of a Continuous Manufacturing Train for the Production of Monoclonal Antibodies
by Garima Thakur, Saxena Nikita, Vinesh Balakrishnan Yezhuvath, Venkata Sudheendra Buddhiraju and Anurag S. Rathore
Bioengineering 2024, 11(6), 610; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11060610 - 13 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1124
Abstract
The continuous manufacturing of biologics offers significant advantages in terms of reducing manufacturing costs and increasing capacity, but it is not yet widely implemented by the industry due to major challenges in the automation, scheduling, process monitoring, continued process verification, and real-time control [...] Read more.
The continuous manufacturing of biologics offers significant advantages in terms of reducing manufacturing costs and increasing capacity, but it is not yet widely implemented by the industry due to major challenges in the automation, scheduling, process monitoring, continued process verification, and real-time control of multiple interconnected processing steps, which must be tightly controlled to produce a safe and efficacious product. The process produces a large amount of data from different sensors, analytical instruments, and offline analyses, requiring organization, storage, and analyses for process monitoring and control without compromising accuracy. We present a case study of a cyber–physical production system (CPPS) for the continuous manufacturing of mAbs that provides an automation infrastructure for data collection and storage in a data historian, along with data management tools that enable real-time analysis of the ongoing process using multivariate algorithms. The CPPS also facilitates process control and provides support in handling deviations at the process level by allowing the continuous train to re-adjust itself via a series of interconnected surge tanks and by recommending corrective actions to the operator. Successful steady-state operation is demonstrated for 55 h with end-to-end process automation and data collection via a range of in-line and at-line sensors. Following this, a series of deviations in the downstream unit operations, including affinity capture chromatography, cation exchange chromatography, and ultrafiltration, are monitored and tracked using multivariate approaches and in-process controls. The system is in line with Industry 4.0 and smart manufacturing concepts and is the first end-to-end CPPS for the continuous manufacturing of mAbs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Bioengineering: Biochemical Engineering)
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19 pages, 1657 KiB  
Article
Biohydrogen Production from Waste Black Cumin (Nigella Sativa) Extract Liquid
by Nesrin Dursun and Hakki Gülşen
Bioengineering 2024, 11(3), 282; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11030282 - 16 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1181
Abstract
Hydrogen creates water during combustion. Therefore, it is expected to be the most promising environmentally friendly energy alternative in the coming years. This study used extract liquid obtained from the waste nigella sativa generated by the black cumin oil industry. The performance of [...] Read more.
Hydrogen creates water during combustion. Therefore, it is expected to be the most promising environmentally friendly energy alternative in the coming years. This study used extract liquid obtained from the waste nigella sativa generated by the black cumin oil industry. The performance of biological hydrogen manufacturing via dark fermentation was investigated in the fluidized bed reactor (FBR) and completely stirred tank reactor (CSTR) under the operation conditions of pH 5.0, 4.0, and 6.0 and a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 36 and 24 h. The performance of hydrogen manufacturing was determined to be good under an organic loading ratio (OLR) of 6.66 g.nigella sativa extract/L and pH 4.0. According to these conditions, the maximum amount of hydrogen in CSTR and FBR was found to be 20.8 and 7.6 mL H2/day, respectively. The operating process of the reactors displayed that a reduction in HRT augmented biohydrogen manufacturing. The work that used mixed culture found that the dominant microbial population at pH 4.0 involved Hydrogenimonas thermophila, Sulfurospirillum carboxydovorans, Sulfurospirillum cavolei, Sulfurospirillum alkalitolerans, and Thiofractor thiocaminus. No research on waste black cumin extract was found in biohydrogen studies, and it was determined that this substrate source is applicable for biological hydrogen manufacturing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Bioengineering: Biochemical Engineering)
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17 pages, 679 KiB  
Review
Integration Approaches to Model Bioreactor Hydrodynamics and Cellular Kinetics for Advancing Bioprocess Optimisation
by Vishal Kumar Singh, Ioscani Jiménez del Val, Jarka Glassey and Fatemeh Kavousi
Bioengineering 2024, 11(6), 546; https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering11060546 - 27 May 2024
Viewed by 1901
Abstract
Large-scale bioprocesses are increasing globally to cater to the larger market demands for biological products. As fermenter volumes increase, the efficiency of mixing decreases, and environmental gradients become more pronounced compared to smaller scales. Consequently, the cells experience gradients in process parameters, which [...] Read more.
Large-scale bioprocesses are increasing globally to cater to the larger market demands for biological products. As fermenter volumes increase, the efficiency of mixing decreases, and environmental gradients become more pronounced compared to smaller scales. Consequently, the cells experience gradients in process parameters, which in turn affects the efficiency and profitability of the process. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are being widely embraced for their ability to simulate bioprocess performance, facilitate bioprocess upscaling, downsizing, and process optimisation. Recently, CFD approaches have been integrated with dynamic Cell reaction kinetic (CRK) modelling to generate valuable information about the cellular response to fluctuating hydrodynamic parameters inside large production processes. Such coupled approaches have the potential to facilitate informed decision-making in intelligent biomanufacturing, aligning with the principles of “Industry 4.0” concerning digitalisation and automation. In this review, we discuss the benefits of utilising integrated CFD-CRK models and the different approaches to integrating CFD-based bioreactor hydrodynamic models with cellular kinetic models. We also highlight the suitability of different coupling approaches for bioprocess modelling in the purview of associated computational loads. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 10th Anniversary of Bioengineering: Biochemical Engineering)
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