CE 10079 - Bioprocess Engineering Fundamentals Flashcards
What are intensive properties?
Properties independent of the size of a system.
E.g. concentration, temperature, velocity, pressure.
What are extensive properties?
Properties which depend on the size of a system.
E.g. volume, flow rate, mass, energy, force.
What’s bioengineering?
The application of the various branches of engineering, including mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering to biological systems.
What are the typical elements of bioengineered reactor systems?
Influent (flowing in) Effluent (flowing out) Bioreactors Connections/links Recirculation Aeration processes
What’s a model?
It is a experimental nor mathematical tool to make predictions on the behavior of real systems subject to different disturbances.
It helps us to improve our understanding of the behavior of reality.
It’s analysis is more effective than direct observation of reality.
What’s a simulation?
A simulation implements a model of a system.
It allows us to perform virtual (non physical) experiments and to arrive at results, which
are transferable to reality.
What is advection?
The transfer of heat or matter by the flow of a fluid, especially horizontally in the atmosphere or the sea.
[If you have silt suspended in the water and heat it then you will get convection of the water and advection of the silt.]
What dispersion?
Advection averaged over space.
What’s sedimentation?
Directed movement relative to water.
The process of settling or being deposited as a sediment.
What’s turbulent diffusion?
Turbulent diffusion is the transport of mass, heat, or momentum within a system due to random and chaotic time dependent motions.
Turbulent diffusion or dispersion is the process by which a substance is moved from one place to another under the action of random turbulent fluctuations in the flow.
What are the 3 classifications of lipids?
Simple (fats and oils / triglycerides)
Compound (phospholipids and glycolipids)
Derived (steroids/cholesterols and carotenoids)
What are fatty acids?
Molecules which form fats and oils, consisting of a hydrophobic hydrocarbon tail and a hydrophilic carboxyl head.
They can be saturated and unsaturated.
What are triglycerides?
Molecules of glycerol and 3 fatty acids (bonded by ester bonds).
What are micelles?
Aggregates, composed of single tail lipids with hydrophilic heads and hydrophobic tails.
Their centres are usually hydrophobic also.
They form when critical micelle concentration (CMC) is reached.
How is micelle shape parameter calculated?
Ns = V / AL
Where: Ns is shape parameter V is volume of the tail A is area of the head L is max length of the tail
How is the Gibbs energy of micellization calculated?
ΔG micelle =RTln(CMC)
Where:
- ΔG is Gibbs energy of micellization
- R is universal gas constant
- T is the minimum temperature micelle forms
- CMC is critical micelle concentration (in M)
What are phospholipids?
Molecules which generally consist of two hydrophobic (nonpolar) fatty acid “tails” and a hydrophilic (polar) phosphate “head”, joined together by a glycerol molecule.
What are liposomes?
A spherical vesicle composed of phospholipids.
They often have hydrophilic centres.
What are the 2 means of liposome or micelle uptake by cells?
Phagocytosis
Receptor mediated endocytosis (RME)
How are liposomes and micelle taken up by the cell via phagocytosis?
They’re engulfed by the cell.
The cell surrounded the molecule then forms a vesicles around it.
How are liposomes and micelles taken up by cells via receptor mediated endocytosis (RME)?
The liposomes or micelles bind to receptors on the cell surface membrane, which are then engulfed and taken into vesicles.
What does K D represent? (D in subscript)
Dissociation constant (for binding between receptors and liposomes/ligands)
How is rate of association and rate of dissociation calculated (for when liposomes/micelles bind to receptors)?
Rf = kf [R] [L] Where: - Rf is rate of association - kf is association rate constant - [R] receptor conc' - [L] is ligand (liposome) conc'
Rr = kr [C] Where: - Rr is dissociation constant - kr is dissociation rate constant - [C] is conc' of complexes / occupied receptors
How is K D (dissociation constant) calculated?
K D = [R] [L] / [C] = kr / kf
Where:
- kf is association rate constant
- kr is dissociation rate constant
- [R] receptor conc’
- [L] is ligand (liposome) conc’
- [C] is conc’ of complexes / occupied receptors
How is the fraction of saturated / occupied receptors calculated?
r = [L] / [K D] + [L]
- [L] is ligand (liposome) conc’
- [K D] is dissociation constant
What’s catabolism and anabolism?
Catabolism - the breaking down of molecules, which releases energy.
Anabolism - the synthesis of complex molecules.
What is the typical notation for substrates [in bioengineering]?
Readily biodegradable, growth-limiting substrate
S - soluble materials
X - particulate materials
Subscripts - denote material type
What does the substrate notation Ss represent (an example for chemoheterotrophs)?
S - it’s a soluble molecule
s - it’s a growth substrate
Used as e– donors and carbon (C) source.
Limiting means it is essential for heterotrophic growth and cell maintenance; Examples: glucose, sucrose, fructose, maltose, or galactose, acetate.
What does the substrate notation So represent (an example for chemoheterotrophs)?
Terminal electron acceptors
Acronyms used: S - soluble o - oxygen Used as terminal e– acceptor They are growth limiting substrates.
Examples: oxygen, nitrate(SNO3), nitrite(SNO2), sulfate (SSO4).
What currency units are used in metabolic calculations?
- Electrons (e-) chemicals participating in redox reactions.
- Mass of N nitrogen containing chemicals (NH4+, NO3-, amino-acids) (N: 14 g/mol)
- Mass of P phosphate containing chemicals (e.g., PO43-, polyphosphate) (P: 31 g/mol)
What does the (change of) Gibbs free energy of a cell indicate?
The energy gain made by the cell.
It also indicates the direction of spontaneous reaction. (If negative, the reaction occurs spontaneously from left to right).
What does TOD stand for?
Theoretical oxygen demand
What is theoretical oxygen demand, TOD?
A concept to quantify e- in redox reactions.
Instead of directly referring to the number of electrons, the mass of oxygen required to accept the number of e- is measured.
It can be positive or negative.
How is TOD, theoretical oxygen demand, calculated?
Molar e- equivalents (eeq) are converted into oxygen mass equivalents.
The mass of oxygen accepting 1 electron can be determined:
1 mol O2 weighs 32g and can accept 4 electrons (2 e- per O)
Therefore 1 electron corresponds to 8g O2, thus
1 e- + 1 eeq = 8g TOD
What are the 2 fundamental types of nucleic acids?
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
Ribonucleic acid (RNA)
What does the structure of a nucleotide consist of?
5 carbon pentose sugar
Nitrogenous base
Phosphate group
What are the purines and pyrimidines?
They’re nitrogenous bases.
Purines - guanine and adenine
Pyrimidines - thymine and cytosine (and uracil)
What is harder to separate, GC base pairs or AT base pairs?
Cytosine-guanine.
They form 3 hydrogen bonds between bases whereas adenine-thymine only form 2.
How do hydrophobic effects stabilise and fold the DNA helix into specific shapes?
DNA is in aqueous solution.
The hydrophilic regions are outwards and the hydrophobic regions are inwards (which keeps the DNA stable)
What are the formulae for exponential growth in cells?
dX/dt = mX
X = X0e^μt
Where: X is the cell number t is time μ is the growth constant X0 is the initial number of cells
What are the 2 types of cell death?
Necrosis (caused by trauma. Cells damaged irreversibly)
Apoptosis (programmes cell death. Natural form of death where a cell provokes it’s own death in response to a stimulus)
How does necrosis differ from apoptosis?
- Necrosis: Pathologic (due to disease) Due to cell trauma/injury Uncontrolled The cell swells and the plasma membrane collapses There is no DNA fragmentation Energy isn’t required
- Apoptosis: Physiological or pathologic Genetically programmed / suicide Controlled The cell shrinks and condenses and the plasma membrane integrity is maintained There is DNA fragmentation Energy is required
What are the formulae for the mathematical description of apoptosis?
dX/dt = mX
X = X0e^at
Where: X is the cell number t is time a is the apoptosis constant (-ve) X0 is the initial number of cells
What’s COD?
Chemical oxygen demand.
The total amount of oxygen required to chemically oxidise the bio degradable and non-biodegradable matter.