THE ROLE OF BIOPROCESS SIMULATION IN THE DESIGN AND OPERATION OF INTEGRATED BIOCHEMICAL PROCESSES

摘要

This paper aims to introduce students and practicing engineers to the fundamentals of design, synthesis, and analysis of integrated biochemical processes. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of process simulation in facilitating the above tasks. Given a product and a desired annual production rate (plant throughput), process design endeavors to answer the following questions: What are the required amounts of raw materials and utilities? What is the required size of process equipment and supporting utilities? Can the product be produced in an existing facility or a new plant is required? What is the total capital investment? What is the manufacturing cost? What is the optimum batch size? How long does a single batch take? How much product can be generated per year? During the course of a batch what is the demand for various resources (e.g., raw materials, labor, utilities, etc.)? What is the total amount of resources consumed? Which process steps or resources constitute bottlenecks? What changes can increase throughput? What is the environmental impact of the process (i.e., amount and type of waste materials)? Which design is the "best" among several plausible alternatives?