EST 202 - Bio-Chemical Conversion

Credits: 5
LEC hours per week: 3
LAB hours per week: 4
The conversion of agricultural/forestry materials (biomass), organics (food and yard wastes, and dairy manure), and other solid wastes (from landfills or wastewater treatment plants) into value-added products is of significant interest today. Technologies that harness microbes to convert these materials can be deployed in many different industries to produce clean water, biogas and biomethane, renewable fuels and chemicals, heat, electricity, and soil amendment products. After some measure of pre-treatment, the lignocellulosic fabric of woody biomass is liberated into easier to use sugar units. For thousands of years, microbes have been fed sugars to produce fermented beverage and food products, and more recently, pharmaceuticals. We will review the structure of lignocellulosic biomass. The course will feature labs to produce, monitor, and analyze the fermentation and anaerobic digestion processes and their products.
Course Outcomes:

Examine and draw diagrams of different production approaches which bioproducts companies use to harness microbes.
Distinguish between the inputs and products of respiration and fermentation at the cellular level in animals, bacteria, and fungi.
Apply knowledge from microbiology and chemistry to conduct enzyme, fermentation, and anaerobic digestion labs.
Operate conversion processes using proper quantities of substrate, nutrients, and chemicals.
Optimize conditions (e.g., temperature, pH, pressure, flow rates, and agitation speed) to maximize product yields.

Course Topics:

Block flow diagrams
Business models
Biorefinery concept
Biomass structure and chemistry
Pre-processing and pre-treatment (including catalysts)
Enzymes
Monitoring and control of parameters
Microbes
Cellular metabolism
Fermentation
Anaerobic digestion
Chemistry
Operations