Introduction - Bioprocess Engineering: Kinetics, Biosystems, Sustainability and Reactor Design - page 5

(4) Reducing chemical processing steps but demands high efficiency.

(5) Promoting biochemical processes to reduce chemical processing steps or toxic chemical

utilization.

(6) Design milder (closer to atmosphere temperature and pressure) processes and multiple

product recovery routes.

(7) Bypassing chemical equilibrium with innovative reactor design, and biocatalysis, rather

than adding intermediate steps.

(8) Avoid production of unwanted products other than H 2 O and CO 2 .

1.3. SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainability is the capacity to endure or maintain at the longest timescale permissible. In
other words, sustainability is the ability to maintain continuum. In ecology, the word
describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived
and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. For
humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which has
environmental, economic, and social dimensions.
Healthy ecosystems and environments provide vital goods and services to humans and
other organisms. Utilization and release of substances at a rate that is harmonious with
a steady state nature is the key for sustainability. This naturally leads to a carrying capacity
for each substance or species with which humans interact. The sustainable state can be influ-
enced by (process conditions or) how we interact with nature. There are two major ways of
reducing negative human impact and enhancing ecosystem services. The first is environ-
mental management; this approach is based largely on information gained from earth
science, environmental science, and conservation biology. The second approach is manage-
ment of human consumption of resources, which is based largely on information gained
from economics. Practice of these major steps can ensure a more favorable sustainable state
to be evolved into.
Sustainability interfaces with economics through the social and ecological consequences of
economic activity. Sustainable economics involves ecological economics where social,
cultural, health-related, and monetary/financial aspects are integrated. Moving toward
sustainability is also a social challenge that entails international and national law, urban plan-
ning and transport, local and individual lifestyles, and ethical consumerism. Ways of living
more sustainably can take many forms from reorganizing living conditions (e.g. ecovillages,
eco-municipalities, and sustainable cities), reappraising economic sectors (permaculture,
green building, and sustainable agriculture), or work practices (sustainable architecture),
using science to develop new technologies (green technologies and renewable energy) to
adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources. These exercises reduce
our reliance or demand on disturbing the environment. To make all these concepts come
to light, bioprocess engineers will be at the forefront of developing and implementing the
technologies needed. On a grand scale, maintaining renewability or looking for a favorable
predictable steady state on everything we touch or interact is the key to sustainability
( Fig. 1.2 ). This falls right in the arena of bioprocess engineering.
Are you ready for the challenge of designing processes that meets sustainability demands?