Chemische Biotechnologie

• Introduction on industrial and environmental biotechnology; use of enzymes, pure cultures, mixed cultures; importance of biomass and sustainability

• Nutrients needed for growth of microorganisms

• Stoichiometry of microbial conversions according to mass balances

• Hyperbolic kinetics for substrate uptake

• Herbert-Pirt distribution of substrate between growth, product formation and maintenance; relations between cell mass-specific rates (mu and q)

• Black-box model for aerobic and anaerobic product formation

• Determination of the black-box model parameters from batch and chemostat experiments

• The fermentor, and determination of relevant transport rates

• Design of fermentation in batch and chemostat

• Energy conversion pathways

• Deriving the product pathway reaction

• Deriving the biomass reaction

• Microbial competition; application in mixed cultures

• Designing enzymatic conversions

Assessment for this course consists of:

- A written closed-book exam (3 hours, weight: 85%) in English, covering all of the course material;
- Online assignments on the design of a fermentation protocol (weight: 15%).

No minimum grades apply to any of the individual components. Grades for each component are rounded to 1 decimal. The final grade is the weighted average, rounded to the nearest 0.5 (5.5 is not used). A 5.50 or higher is needed to pass the course.

Grades for the individual components cannot be carried over to the resit or next year.

The resit consists of a single written exam (3 hours, weight: 100%) in English covering all the course material, and takes place in the retake week of Q4.