Md. Lilly et Jm. Woodley, A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO DESIGN AND OPERATION OF BIOTRANSFORMATION PROCESSES, Journal of industrial microbiology, 17(1), 1996, pp. 24-29
A structured approach to design and operation of biotransformation (bi
oconversion) processes, based on previous case studies, has been devel
oped. This requires knowledge of the key characteristics of a biotrans
formation which determine the constraints on process selection. The ap
proach is illustrated for five biotransformations, two enzymic and thr
ee microbial. Some generic problems such as low water solubility and v
olatility of reactants, reactant and product toxicity have been identi
fied. The microbial oxidations of toluene and fluorobenzene to toluene
cis-glycol and fluorocatechol respectively by Pseudomonas putida have
been used to illustrate how these constraints may be overcome by addi
tion of tetradecane as a second liquid phase, use of a membrane oxygen
ator and introduction of in situ product removal.