Jahresbericht 2017

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Process Engineering
n Process engineering is a key technology
for all production industries.
SysBioTerp: An Integrated Systems Biology Platform for the
Sustainable Production of Structurally Minimized Taxoid Bioactives
Gasfermentation: CO2 and CO-rich Gases as Carbon Sources for the Production of Chemicals
Kopernikus – SynErgie: Synchronized and Energy Adaptive Production Technology
for Flexible Alignment of Industrial Processes Towards Fluctuating Energy Supply
Process engineering at the Department of Mechanical
Engineering is focused on thermal process and plant
engineering, bioprocess and biochemical engineering,
systems biotechnology and bioseparation engineering.
The mission is to solve process engineering challenges
of the future in an interdisciplinary environment and with
respect to industry sectors such as chemistry, biotech-
nology, pharma and environmental engineering. Process
engineering at the Department of Mechanical Engineering
forms the engineering science core of the interdisciplinary
TUM Research Center for Industrial Biotechnology with a
pilot plant on an m3-scale operated in Garching.
The central approach of the BMBF-funded Kopernikus
project SynErgie is to adapt industrial production pro-
cesses from several industry sectors to fluctuating energy
supply from renewable sources. Thereby, energy costs
Photobioreactors for studying the production of fuels and chemicals
from CO2 (photo: Tobias Hase, TUM)
as well as CO2 supply can be lowered significantly within
the next years. At the Institute of Plant and Process
Technology the flexible operation of air separation plants
(FlexASU) is investigated.
The objective of this national collaborative research
initiative funded by BMBF are new bioprocesses for the
production of alcohols and low molecular-weight carbo-
hydrates (monomers for polymerization) from CO2/H2 or
CO-rich gases using metabolically engineered bacteria.
The Institute of Biochemical Engineering works on the
reaction engineering analysis of CO2/H 2 and CO con-
version with acetogenic bacteria and on the design and
characterization of new bioreactor concepts for continu-
ous gasfermentations.
The project aims to construct an economically and
ecologically efficient platform for the scalable production
of taxoid natural products from renewable resources. In
an interdisciplinary group of altogether eight partners (four
coming from TUM) theoretical as well as experimental
strategies are combined for a rapid technology transfer
and an accelerated time-to-market scenario. The Systems
Biotechnology group works on theoretical methods for
the optimization of the production process as well as on
the optimization of the cellular system. The Bioseparation
Engineering group is focused on process design as well
as on purification strategies for a continuous production
process.
Coordinator
Prof. Dr.-Ing.
Dirk Weuster-Botz,
Biochemical Engineering
Phone +49.89.289.15712
Members
Prof. Dr. Sonja Berensmeier,
Bioseparation Engineering
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Klein,
Plant and Process Technology
Prof. Dr.-Ing.
Andreas Kremling,
Systems Biotechnology
Contact