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Bioprocess Engineering Option
Graduate Programs in Paper & Bioprocess Engineering

Participating Faculty

• Thomas E. Amidon; teamidon@esf.edu
  biorefinery, fiber properties, paper properties, management, pulping, bleaching, de-inking
• Biljana Bujanovic; bbujanovic@esf.edu
  chemistry of lignocellulosics and products, lignin structure and reactivity, pulping, bleaching
• Siddharth G. Chatterjee; schatterjee@esf.edu
  transport phenomena, design, simulation, pollution abatement
• Klaus Dölle; kdoelle@esf.edu
  pulp & paper and related environmental topics, design, constructed wetlands, fossil energy, bioenergy, hydropower, water and waste water treatment, paper recycling, filler materials, energy savings, renewable energy & processess, engineering & machine design
• Raymond C. Francis; francis@esf.edu
  bioenergy, chemical engineering, pulping
• Yuan-Zong Lai; yzlai@syr.edu
  chemistry of wood, pulping, bleaching, bioproduct development
• Shijie Liu; sliu@esf.edu
  bioengineering, fermentation, kinetics, separation, pulping, bleaching, fiber properties
• Bandaru V. Ramarao; bvramara@esf.edu
  chemical engineering, instrumentation, flow phenomena, process control
• Gary M. Scott; gscott@esf.edu
  biotechnology, bioprocess engineering, paper machine operations, recycling, modeling

Areas of Study

Biocatalysis and Bioreaction Engineering (M.S., Ph.D.)

• Reaction mechanisms and kinetics
• Catalytic and activation effects
• Enzyme Chemistry, Engineering
• Fermentation Engineering
• Engineering of Bioreactors

Biocatalysis  is the study of biological and chemical processes involving biocatalysts, enzymes and proteins. This area of study prepares students for traditional “upstream” operations: principles of design and operation of bioreactors and fermenters. Chemical and biological processes often involve reactions at the interfaces of liquid and solid, and are frequently diffusion limited. Understanding of surface activities as well as effective modeling of the process kinetics enables the engineer to design processes with optimal yield, rate of reaction using appropriately sized equipment. These form the core of most bioprocesses in the industry. Pilot plant facilities in these areas are also available.

Bioseparations Engineering (M.S., Ph.D.)

• Membrane-based separations: micro, ultra and nanofiltration; functionalized membranes
• Adsorptive, extractive and reactive separations
• Solid liquid separations: filtration, centrifugation
• Chromatographic separations
• Novel separation technologies: simulated moving bed and expanded bed adsorption and chromatography

Bioseparations is the study of separation of valuable products from the output of bioreactors using the wide spectrum of unit operations. Traditional “downstream”  operations include membrane and chromatography processes. This area encompasses study of unit operations, separations, transport phenomena, thermodynamics, colloid and surface science and process engineering. There is extensive research effort and focus in this area. Current projects include membrane separations, adsorption, filtration, centrifugation, and novel separations based on functional materials. Pilot plant facilities in these areas are also available.

Bioprocess Design, Simulation and Control (M.S., Ph.D.)

• Process design
• Process simulation, dynamics, control
• Batch process scheduling

This area of study involves the design, simulation and control of batch and continuous processes. Coursework is concentrated in process simulation, process analysis and dynamics and control. This is supplemented by studies in downstream and upstream processing. The dynamic operation and scheduling of batch plants is an important aspect of bioprocesses. Process economics are an important adjunct to the modeling of manufacturing processes. Pilot plant facilities in these areas are also available.

Bioenvironmental Engineering (M.S., Ph.D.)

• Anaerobic and aerobic bioreactors
• Sludge and wastewater treatments
• Bacterial and enzymatic processes in environmental remediation

Bioenvironmental engineering links research with environmental and bioresource stewardship. Research here includes process dynamics and control, characterization and treatment of waste streams from bioprocesses, byproduct recovery, and computer simulation of  environmental processing systems. The extensive laboratories and pilot plant in Walters Hall are strongly supported by computing facilities and expertise on campus. Pilot plant facilities in these areas are also available.

Renewable Energy & Biofuels (M.S., Ph.D.)

• Energy from biomass and other renewable sources
• Bioseparations of lignocellulosic materials into useful components
• Bioprocessing of renewable materials
• Creation of new bioproducts using ecologically sustainable processes

This area of study encompasses both the use of renewable and sustainable resources (e.g., wood) for the production of chemicals, advanced materials, fuel, and energy, as well as the use of bioprocessing technology to produce such products. Such bioproducts extend to the production of energy from renewable resources including the use of gasification, co-firing of byproducts, anerobic digestion, solar, and the production of ethanol. Courses include chemical engineering, advanced chemistry, biotechnology, and bioengineering, building on a strong base of mathematics, chemistry, and biology. Current research projects in this area include the bioseparation of xylan from hardwoods, the production of ethanol and acetic acid from wood hemicelluloses, development of separation processes for various bioproducts, gasification, enzymatic processing of lignocellulosic materials, and chemical production from sustainable resources as a replacement for non-renewable fossil fuels. Pilot plant facilities in these areas are also available. Many research projects in this area have extensive connections to industrial organizations.

Biopharmaceuticals (M.S., Ph.D.)

• Upstream processing, bioreactors
• Downstream processing

Biopharmaceuticals are typically biologically active proteins produced by using recombinant bacterial and mammalian cells. Bioprocesses to produce biopharmaceuticals typically utilize microbial and mammalian cell culture fermentation processes, tangential flow filtration, centrifugation and a variety of chromatographic separations. Principles of microbiology, fermentation technology, reaction kinetics, separation science, as well as statistical process control are used to develop highly reproducible processes that can produce consistent products necessary to meet GMP (good manufacturing practice) production requirements.

Industrial Biological Processes (M.S., Ph.D.)

• Biological processes in food and beverage manufacturing
• Industrial fermentation processes

Biological processes have been used for centuries to produce wine, beer and fermented foods.  As processes and manufacturing efficiencies have improved, products such as antibiotics, vitamins, enzymes, specialty chemicals and even commodity chemicals have and are being produced using bioprocesses. Bioprocesses for these applications typically employ microbial fermentation processes, filtration or centrifugation, precipitation and/or crystallization and drying. Principles of microbiology, fermentation technology, reaction kinetics, separation science and process economics are typically required to develop large cost efficient manufacturing processes.

Bioprocess Engineering (M.P.S.)

• Energy from biomass and other renewable sources
• Bioseparations of lignocellulosic materials into useful components
• Bioprocessing of renewable materials
• Creation of new bioproducts using ecologically sustainable processes

This area of study encompasses both the use of renewable and sustainable resources (e.g., wood) for the production of chemicals, advanced materials, fuel, and energy, as well as the use of bioprocessing technology to produce such products. Such bioproducts extend to the production of energy from renewable resources including the use of gasification, co-firing of byproducts, anerobic digestion, solar, and the production of ethanol. Courses include chemical engineering, advanced chemistry, biotechnology, and bioengineering, building on a strong base of mathematics, chemistry, and biology. Current research projects in this area include the bioseparation of xylan from hardwoods, the production of ethanol and acetic acid from wood hemicelluloses, development of separation processes for various bioproducts, gasification, enzymatic processing of lignocellulosic materials, and chemical production from sustainable resources as a replacement for non-renewable fossil fuels.

Graduate Students in Bioprocess Engineering