Advances in Bioseparation Engineering

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Biological Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2014) | Viewed by 54954

Special Issue Editors

Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Technology, Department of Chemistry, Aristotle University, GR-541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: separation science and technology (flotation); wastewater treatment; environmental biotechnology; inorganic materials; mineral processing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bioprocesses are known to treat raw materials and thereby generate useful products [1]. The individual operations, or even steps within a process which change or separate components, are called unit operations. For instance, in a typical fermentation process, raw materials are altered significantly by reactions occurring in the reactor. Nevertheless, before and after fermentation, physical changes are carried out that are important in order to prepare materials/substrates for the reaction, and also to extract and purify the desired product(s) from the culture broth.

The concept of unit operations embodies many different methods of separating mixtures and hence, represents a major advance in chemical technology. Over time, however, those and subsequent concepts have evolved into a unified field of separation processes; certainly, there are several major gains in gaining insight into the capability and efficiency from viewing separation processes as a unified field [2]. In this regard, sustainability in this field and its significance for the chemical and process industry has been recently examined [3]. We would be very pleased to receive your valuable contributions in this field.

References
1.     Doran, P.M. Bioprocess Engineering Principles; Academic Press: Sydney, Australia, 1998.
2.     King, C.J. From unit operations to separation processes. Sep. Purif. Methods 2000, 29, 233.
3.     Peleka, E.N.; Matis, K.A. Water separation processes and sustainability. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2011, 50, 421.

Prof. Dr. Kostas A. Matis
Dr. George Z. Kyzas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.


Keywords

  • bioprocesses
  • cell harvesting
  • recovery of biomolecules
  • membrane-based separations
  • purification of water
  • adsorption
  • extraction
  • process development

Published Papers (5 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

5003 KiB  
Article
Chromatographic Characterization and Process Performance of Column-Packed Anion Exchange Fibrous Adsorbents for High Throughput and High Capacity Bioseparations
by Poondi Rajesh Gavara, Noor Shad Bibi, Mirna Lorena Sanchez, Mariano Grasselli and Marcelo Fernandez-Lahore
Processes 2015, 3(1), 204-221; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr3010204 - 20 Mar 2015
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 7557
Abstract
Fibrous materials are prominent among novel chromatographic supports for the separation and purification of biomolecules. In this work, strong anion exchange, quaternary ammonium (Q) functional fibrous adsorbents were evaluated with regards to their physical and functional characteristics. A column packed with Q fibrous [...] Read more.
Fibrous materials are prominent among novel chromatographic supports for the separation and purification of biomolecules. In this work, strong anion exchange, quaternary ammonium (Q) functional fibrous adsorbents were evaluated with regards to their physical and functional characteristics. A column packed with Q fibrous adsorbent illustrated the good column packing efficiency of theoretical plate height (H) values and higher permeability coefficients (>0.9 × 10−7 cm2) than commercial adsorbents. For pulse experiments with acetone and lactoferrin as tracers under nonbinding conditions, the total porosity (for acetone) and the interstitial porosity (for lactoferrin) measured 0.97 and 0.47, respectively. The total ionic capacity of the chemically-functionalized Q fiber was 0.51 mmol/mL. The results indicated that the Q fiber had a static binding capacity of 140 mg/mL and a dynamic binding capacity (DBC) of 76 mg/mL for bovine serum albumin (BSA) and showed a linearly-scalable factor (~110 mL) for a column volume with high capacity and high throughput. Furthermore, this adsorptive material had the ability to bind the high molecular weight protein, thyroglobulin, with a capacity of 6 mg/mL. This work demonstrated the column-packed Q fibrous adsorption system as a potential chromatography support that exhibits high capacity at higher flow rates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Bioseparation Engineering)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

683 KiB  
Article
Light-Induced Production of An Antibody Fragment and Malaria Vaccine Antigen from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
by Neera Munjal, Andrea Juliana Garzon-Sanabria, Katelyn Wilson Quinones, James Gregory and Zivko L. Nikolov
Processes 2014, 2(3), 625-638; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr2030625 - 07 Aug 2014
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 8339
Abstract
The eukaryotic green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, is a unique expression platform that can efficiently express complex therapeutic proteins. However, demonstrating that therapeutic molecules can be produced in quantifiable levels is essential to establish the potential of the C. reinhardtii expression system. Thus, [...] Read more.
The eukaryotic green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, is a unique expression platform that can efficiently express complex therapeutic proteins. However, demonstrating that therapeutic molecules can be produced in quantifiable levels is essential to establish the potential of the C. reinhardtii expression system. Thus, the objective of this investigation was to determine the process conditions that could maximize C. reinhardtii biomass accumulation and induced-production of the two recombinant proteins, a single chain fragment antibody molecule (αCD22 scFv) and malaria vaccine antigen (Pfs25), produced in the chloroplast of C. reinhardtii. To achieve a higher production of recombinant proteins, cultivation variables of C. reinhardtii, such as mixing, light-induction time and intensity, nutrient depletion and culture age, were investigated and optimized. The optimal light-induction time was 24 h at a light intensity of 300 μmol m−2 s−1. Replacement of the culture media in the late exponential growth with fresh media was beneficial to the accumulation of recombinant proteins. Optimization led to increases in the accumulation of recombinant proteins by six-fold and the recombinant protein fraction in the extracted soluble protein by two-fold. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Bioseparation Engineering)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

11453 KiB  
Review
Fouling Issues in Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) for Wastewater Treatment: Major Mechanisms, Prevention and Control Strategies
by Petros K. Gkotsis, Dimitra Ch. Banti, Efrosini N. Peleka, Anastasios I. Zouboulis and Petros E. Samaras
Processes 2014, 2(4), 795-866; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr2040795 - 20 Oct 2014
Cited by 90 | Viewed by 18283
Abstract
Membrane fouling is one of the most important considerations in the design and operation of membrane systems as it affects pretreatment needs, cleaning requirements, operating conditions, cost and performance. Given that membrane fouling represents the main limitation to membrane process operation, it is [...] Read more.
Membrane fouling is one of the most important considerations in the design and operation of membrane systems as it affects pretreatment needs, cleaning requirements, operating conditions, cost and performance. Given that membrane fouling represents the main limitation to membrane process operation, it is unsurprising that the majority of membrane material and process research and development conducted is dedicated to its characterization and amelioration. This work presents the fundamentals of fouling issues in membrane separations, with specific regard to membrane fouling in Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) and the most frequently applied preventive-control strategies. Feed pretreatment, physical and chemical cleaning protocols, optimal operation of MBR process and membrane surface modification are presented and discussed in detail. Membrane fouling is the major obstacle to the widespread application of the MBR technology and, therefore, fouling preventive-control strategies is a hot issue that strongly concerns not only the scientific community, but industry as well. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Bioseparation Engineering)
Show Figures

Figure 1

1133 KiB  
Review
New Biosorbent Materials: Selectivity and Bioengineering Insights
by George Z. Kyzas, Jie Fu and Kostas A. Matis
Processes 2014, 2(2), 419-440; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr2020419 - 27 May 2014
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 9271
Abstract
Many researchers have studied the biosorption of different pollutants. However, a quite limited number of works focus on selectivity, which may be characterized as specific property for each biosorbent. Two main criteria need to be adopted for the selection and synthesis of modern [...] Read more.
Many researchers have studied the biosorption of different pollutants. However, a quite limited number of works focus on selectivity, which may be characterized as specific property for each biosorbent. Two main criteria need to be adopted for the selection and synthesis of modern biosorbents, such as their rebinding capacity and selectivity for only one target, molecule, ion, etc. Selective biosorption could be achieved using in synthesis an innovative technique termed molecular imprinting; the idea applied through specific polymers (Molecular Imprinted Polymers (MIPs)) was used in many fields, mainly analytical. In the present work, also isotherm and kinetic models were reviewed highlighting some crucial parameters, which possibly affect selectivity. A critical analysis of the biosorption insights for biosorbents, mostly selective, describes their characteristics, advantages and limitations, and discusses various bioengineering mechanisms involved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Bioseparation Engineering)
Show Figures

Figure 1

759 KiB  
Review
Flotation of Biological Materials
by George Z. Kyzas and Kostas A. Matis
Processes 2014, 2(1), 293-310; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr2010293 - 12 Mar 2014
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 10463
Abstract
Flotation constitutes a gravity separation process, which originated from the minerals processing field. However, it has, nowadays, found several other applications, as for example in the wastewater treatment field. Concerning the necessary bubble generation method, typically dispersed-air or dissolved-air flotation was mainly used. [...] Read more.
Flotation constitutes a gravity separation process, which originated from the minerals processing field. However, it has, nowadays, found several other applications, as for example in the wastewater treatment field. Concerning the necessary bubble generation method, typically dispersed-air or dissolved-air flotation was mainly used. Various types of biological materials were tested and floated efficiently, such as bacteria, fungi, yeasts, activated sludge, grape stalks, etc. Innovative processes have been studied in our Laboratory, particularly for metal ions removal, involving the initial abstraction of heavy metal ions onto a sorbent (including a biosorbent): in the first, the application of a flotation stage followed for the efficient downstream separation of metal-laden particles. The ability of microorganisms to remove metal ions from dilute aqueous solutions (as most wastewaters are) is a well-known property. The second separation process, also applied effectively, was a new hybrid cell of microfiltration combined with flotation. Sustainability in this field and its significance for the chemical and process industry is commented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Bioseparation Engineering)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop