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Treinen C, Claassen L, Hoffmann M, Lilge L, Henkel M, Hausmann R. Evaluation of an external foam column for in situ product removal in aerated surfactin production processes. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1264787. [PMID: 38026897 PMCID: PMC10657896 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1264787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Accepted: 10/12/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
In Bacillus fermentation processes, severe foam formation may occur in aerated bioreactor systems caused by surface-active lipopeptides. Although they represent interesting compounds for industrial biotechnology, their property of foaming excessively during aeration may pose challenges for bioproduction. One option to turn this obstacle into an advantage is to apply foam fractionation and thus realize in situ product removal as an initial downstream step. Here we present and evaluate a method for integrated foam fractionation. A special feature of this setup is the external foam column that operates separately in terms of, e.g., aeration rates from the bioreactor system and allows recycling of cells and media. This provides additional control points in contrast to an internal foam column or a foam trap. To demonstrate the applicability of this method, the foam column was exemplarily operated during an aerated batch process using the surfactin-producing Bacillus subtilis strain JABs24. It was also investigated how the presence of lipopeptides and bacterial cells affected functionality. As expected, the major foam formation resulted in fermentation difficulties during aerated processes, partially resulting in reactor overflow. However, an overall robust performance of the foam fractionation could be demonstrated. A maximum surfactin concentration of 7.7 g/L in the foamate and enrichments of up to 4 were achieved. It was further observed that high lipopeptide enrichments were associated with low sampling flow rates of the foamate. This relation could be influenced by changing the operating parameters of the foam column. With the methodology presented here, an enrichment of biosurfactants with simultaneous retention of the production cells was possible. Since both process aeration and foam fractionation can be individually controlled and designed, this method offers the prospect of being transferred beyond aerated batch processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chantal Treinen
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Linda Claassen
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Mareen Hoffmann
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Lars Lilge
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Marius Henkel
- Cellular Agriculture, TUM School of Life Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany
| | - Rudolf Hausmann
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
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Agarwal A, Liu YA, Dooley L, McDowell C, Thaysen M. Large-Scale Industrial Fermenter Foaming Control: Automated Machine Learning for Antifoam Prediction and Defoaming Process Implementation. Ind Eng Chem Res 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.1c05006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Aman Agarwal
- AspenTech Center of Excellence in Process System Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
| | - Y. A. Liu
- AspenTech Center of Excellence in Process System Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States
| | - Luke Dooley
- Novozymes Biologicals, Inc., 5400 Corporate Circle, Salem, Virginia 24153, United States
| | - Christopher McDowell
- Novozymes Biologicals, Inc., 5400 Corporate Circle, Salem, Virginia 24153, United States
| | - Mads Thaysen
- Novozymes A/S, Krogshøjvej 36, 2880 Bagsvaerd, Denmark
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Oraby أميرة عرابي A, Weickardt I, Zibek S. Foam Fractionation Methods in Aerobic Fermentation Processes. Biotechnol Bioeng 2022; 119:1697-1711. [PMID: 35394649 DOI: 10.1002/bit.28102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Inherently occurring foam formation during aerobic fermentations of surface-active compounds can be exploited by fractionating the foam. This also serves as the first downstream processing step for product concentration and is used for in situ product recovery. Compared to other foam prevention methods, it does not interfere with fermentation parameters or alter broth composition. Nevertheless, parameters affecting the foaming behaviour are complex. Therefore, the specific foam fractionation designs need to be engineered for each fermentation individually. This still hinders a widespread industrial application. However, few available commercial approaches demonstrate the applicability of foam columns on an industrial scale. This systematic literature review highlights relevant design aspects and process demands that need to be considered for an application to fermentations and proposes a classification of foam fractionation designs and methods. It further analyses substance-specific characteristics associated with foam fractionation. Finally, solutions for current challenges are presented, and future perspectives are discussed. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amira Oraby أميرة عرابي
- Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Nobelstr. 12, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.,Institute of Interfacial Process Engineering and Plasma Technology IGVP, University of Stuttgart, Nobelstr. 12, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Isabell Weickardt
- Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Nobelstr. 12, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Susanne Zibek
- Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, Nobelstr. 12, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany.,Institute of Interfacial Process Engineering and Plasma Technology IGVP, University of Stuttgart, Nobelstr. 12, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany
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Coffman J, Bibbo K, Brower M, Forbes R, Guros N, Horowski B, Lu R, Mahajan R, Patil U, Rose S, Shultz J. The design basis for the integrated and continuous biomanufacturing framework. Biotechnol Bioeng 2021; 118:3323-3333. [PMID: 33522595 PMCID: PMC8453788 DOI: 10.1002/bit.27697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2020] [Revised: 12/31/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
An 8 ton per year manufacturing facility is described based on the framework for integrated and continuous bioprocessing (ICB) common to all known biopharmaceutical implementations. While the output of this plant rivals some of the largest fed-batch plants in the world, the equipment inside the plant is relatively small: the plant consists of four 2000 L single-use bioreactors and has a maximum flow rate of 13 L/min. The equipment and facility for the ICB framework is described in sufficient detail to allow biopharmaceutical companies, vendors, contract manufacturers to build or buy their own systems. The design will allow the creation of a global ICB ecosystem that will transform biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The design is fully backward compatible with legacy fed-batch processes. A clinical production scale is described that can produce smaller batch sizes with the same equipment as that used at the commercial scale. The design described allows the production of as little as 10 g to nearly 35 kg of drug substance per day.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jon Coffman
- Biopharmaceutical DevelopmentR&D, AstraZenecaGaithersburgMarylandUSA
| | | | | | | | - Nicholas Guros
- Biopharmaceutical DevelopmentR&D, AstraZenecaGaithersburgMarylandUSA
| | | | - Rick Lu
- Operations Management, Supply BiologicsAstraZenecaGaithersburgMarylandUSA
| | - Rajiv Mahajan
- Operations Management, Supply BiologicsAstraZenecaGaithersburgMarylandUSA
| | - Ujwal Patil
- Biopharmaceutical DevelopmentR&D, AstraZenecaGaithersburgMarylandUSA
| | - Steven Rose
- Biopharmaceutical DevelopmentR&D, AstraZenecaGaithersburgMarylandUSA
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Hoffmann M, Fernandez Cano Luna DS, Xiao S, Stegemüller L, Rief K, Heravi KM, Lilge L, Henkel M, Hausmann R. Towards the Anaerobic Production of Surfactin Using Bacillus subtilis. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2020; 8:554903. [PMID: 33324620 PMCID: PMC7726195 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.554903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2020] [Accepted: 10/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The anaerobic growth of B. subtilis to synthesize surfactin poses an alternative strategy to conventional aerobic cultivations. In general, the strong foam formation observed during aerobic processes represents a major obstacle. Anaerobic processes have, amongst others, the distinct advantage that the total bioreactor volume can be exploited as foaming does not occur. Recent studies also reported on promising product per biomass yields. However, anaerobic growth in comparison to aerobic processes has several disadvantages. For example, the overall titers are comparably low and cultivations are time-consuming due to low growth rates. B. subtilis JABs24, a derivate of strain 168 with the ability to synthesize surfactin, was used as model strain in this study. Ammonium and nitrite were hypothesized to negatively influence anaerobic growth. Ammonium with initial concentrations up to 0.2 mol/L was shown to have no significant impact on growth, but increasing concentrations resulted in decreased surfactin titers and reduced nitrate reductase expression. Anaerobic cultivations spiked with increasing nitrite concentrations resulted in prolonged lag-phases. Indeed, growth rates were in a similar range after the lag-phase indicating that nitrite has a neglectable effect on the observed decreasing growth rates. In bioreactor cultivations, the specific growth rate decreased with increasing glucose concentrations during the time course of both batch and fed-batch processes to less than 0.05 1/h. In addition, surfactin titers, overall Y P/X and Y P/S were 53%, ∼42%, and ∼57% lower than in serum flask with 0.190 g/L, 0.344 g/g and 0.015 g/g. The Y X/S, on the contrary, was 30% lower in the serum flask with 0.044 g/g. The productivities q were similar with ∼0.005 g/(g⋅h). However, acetate strongly accumulated during cultivation and was posed as further metabolite that might negatively influence anaerobic growth. Acetate added to anaerobic cultivations in a range from 0 g/L up to 10 g/L resulted in a reduced maximum and overall growth rate μ by 44% and 30%, respectively. To conclude, acetate was identified as a promising target for future process enhancement and strain engineering. Though, the current study demonstrates that the anaerobic cultivation to synthesize surfactin represents a reasonable perspective and feasible alternative to conventional processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mareen Hoffmann
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology (150), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | | | - Shengbin Xiao
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology (150), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Lars Stegemüller
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology (150), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Katharina Rief
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology (150), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Kambiz Morabbi Heravi
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology (150), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Lars Lilge
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology (150), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Marius Henkel
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology (150), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
| | - Rudolf Hausmann
- Department of Bioprocess Engineering (150k), Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology (150), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
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