Bioprocess Equipment for Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Laboratory

生物技术是发展最快的技术领域之一，特别是生物过程工程在决定我国在世界市场上有效竞争的能力方面变得越来越重要。在过去的九年里，马里兰大学帕克分校的化学工程系通过一个反复的过程，结合学生的反馈，开发了一门生物化学工程的本科实验课程。实验经过精心挑选和设计，将经典化学工程原理与现代生物技术相结合。它们涵盖了酶和微生物技术中大多数基本和常用的实验室技术。从最初的培养分离到最终的生物产品回收，一系列与脲酶相关的生物过程目前构成了主要实验的核心：1)菌株分离或基因工程，2)氧传质，3)发酵动力学，4)酶纯化，5)酶动力学，6)酶固定化。当脲酶将尿素水解成氨和二氧化碳时，pH值的变化使酶能够容易、安全、廉价地检测到。有了pH指示剂，酶的反应可以可视化，具有很大的教学价值。该项目的影响远远超出了生物过程工程，因为大部分实验也非常适合作为化学工程核心课程的单元操作实验室，并且很容易移植到其他学校。已有多种传播活动的计划。这些生物化学工程实验大多已经用从研究生研究借来的设备进行了设计、测试和验证。然而，缺乏专用设备导致了许多问题。该项目的目标是为本科化学工程实验室采购最基本的生物工艺设备。

Biotechnology is one of the fastest emerging technical fields, and bioprocess engineering in particular is becoming increasingly critical in determining our country's ability to compete effectively in the world market. Over the last nine years, the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Maryland at College Park has developed an undergraduate laboratory course in biochemical engineering through an iterative process incorporating feedback from students. Experiments are carefully selected and designed to integrate classical chemical engineering principles with modern biotechnology techniques. They cover most of the basic and commonly used laboratory techniques in enzyme and microbial technology. A series of urease related bioprocesses currently form the heart of the major experiments ranging from initial culture isolation to final bioproduct recovery: 1) strain isolation or genetic engineering, 2) oxygen mass transfer, 3) fermentation kinetics, 4) enzyme purification, 5) enzyme kinetics, and 6) enzyme immobilization. As urease hydrolyzes urea to ammonia and carbon dioxide, changes in the pH allow the enzyme to be easily, safely, and inexpensively detected. With pH indicators, the enzyme reaction can be visualized, thus, providing great pedagogical value. The impact of the project reaches far beyond bioprocess engineering, as most of the experiments are also highly suitable for the unit operations laboratory, a core chemical engineering course, and are easily portable to other schools. Plans for multiple dissemination activities exist. Most of these biochemical engineering experiments have already been designed, tested, and proven with equipment borrowed from graduate research. However, lack of dedicated equipment causes many problems. The objective of the project is to procure the most fundamental bioprocess equipment for the undergraduate chemical engineering laboratory.