This course deals with traditional and modern methods of separation and purification of biotechnological products. Characteristics of biotechnology products and typical sequences of separation/purification steps for particular products will be given. Theoretical background of unit separation processes will be shown as well as typical laboratory and industrial equipment. In seminars, practical problems dealing with production of biotechnology species will be solved with the use of PCs.

a) Examination test (50%)

b) Oral exam (50%)

R Harrison R.G., Todd P., Rudge S.R., Petrides D.P., Bioseparations science and engineering, Oxford UP, Oxford, 2002, 0-19-512340-9

A Ladisch M.R., Bioseparation processes, Wiley, New York, 2001, 0-471-24476-7

1. Separation and purification operations in biotechnology - typical sequences. Biotechnological products.

2. Cell composition, cell structure, cell types. Cell disintegration, chemical and mechanical methods.

3. Flocculation, flocculants, electrostatic interaction, electric double layer, Debye length, effects of ionic strength, Schulze-Hardy rule.

4. Centrifugation, forces acting on settling particles, settling time and rate, devices for centrifugation, bowl centrifuge, disk centrifuge.

5. Membrane separation processes, membrane modules, mass balances, membranes, concentration polarization, intensity of permeate flux, polarization module, mass transfer coefficient, Darcy law, membrane area.

6. Supercritical extraction, p-T phase diagram, critical parameters, physical and chemical properties of supercritical fluids.

7. Devices for supercritical extraction, fractionation, mathematical models of supercritical extraction, free diffusion model.

8. Adsorption and chromatography, adsorption isotherms, adsorption in stirred vessels. Sorbent types, methods of chromatography, pressure drop in chromatography, HETP, retention time, resolution, elution in a gradient.

9. Adsorption in packed-bed systems, models of adsorption with and without axial dispersion, effective velocity of movement of species.

10. Parameterization of equilibrium model of adsorption without the axial dispersion, linear equilibrium, desorption with nonlinear equilibrium, shock wave.

11. Protein precipitation, effects of electric charge on protein solubility, effects of ionic strength and solvent composition, precipitation stages.

12. Particle size distribution of precipitate in CSTR, distribution function, growth rate, methods of precipitation, devices for precipitation.

13. Crystallization, nucleation, crystal growth, mass transfer at crystals, crystallization kinetics in batch arrangement, moments of size distribution function.

14. Lyophilization, principles, equipment, use, driving force, shrinking core model.

Student will be able to:

i) determine a sequence of separation steps which is necessary to obtain biotechnological products such as saccharides, proteins, nucleic acids or small metabolites,

ii) construct simple mathematical models of typical separation processes,

iii) solve practical tasks related to biotechnology product separation.

Unit operations I

Mathematics I

Physics I