Department of Bioprocess Engineering

• Research topics
  1. Biotechnology and environmental engineering
  2. Improvement of the methods for bioproduct separation (down-stream processing)
  3. Design and improvement of biotechnological equipment
  4. Kinetics, modelling and optimisation of chemical and biological processes
  5. Processes of formation of thin layers of plasma glaze for non-conventional energy sources (layers with special electric and optical properties)
• Grants financed by the State Committee for Scientific Research carried out in the years 1994-2000
• List of research equipment in the Department
• Recent achievements

The Department of Bioprocess Engineering at the Faculty of Process and Environmental Engineering, Lodz Technical University was founded by the University Senate on 25 January 1995.
Head of the Department is Prof. Stanislaw Ledakowicz, specialist in multi-phase chemical reactors and bioreactors, chemical technology and biotechnology, environmental engineering and biotechnology of the environment.

Since 1983, National Scientific Conferences dedicated to bio-reactor engineering have been organised every two or three years, under the sponsorship of the Committee of Chemical and Process Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences.

The staff of Department includes 22 persons, in this number 6 PhD students and one part-time, retired employee.

Prof. Stanislaw Ledakowicz	Professor
Dr Pawel Gluszcz	Assistant professor
Dr Teresa Jamroz	Assistant professor
Dr Liliana Krzystek	Assistant professor
Dr Jacek Miller	Assistant professor
Dr Pawel Stolarek	Assistant professor
Dr Marcin Bizukojc	Assistant
Dr Katarzyna Kaczorek	Assistant
Dr Beata Pawlowska	Assistant
MSc Barbara Sencio	Chemist-specialist
MA Ewa Stelmach	Chemist-specialist
MSc Wlodzimierz Krysztofczyk	Mechanical Engineer
Mrs Urszula Szalewska	chemist
BSc Tadeusz Urbanowicz	retired

PhD Students :
present		past	PhD exam
MSc	Dorota Gryglik	Dr. Monika Gonera-Solecka	2000
MA	Agnieszka Jagiella	Dr. Ewa Liwarska-Bizukojc	2001
MSc	Piotr Sosnowski	Dr. Renata Maciejewska-Zylla	2000
MSc	Katarzyna Zakrzewska	Dr. Dorota Olejnik	2001
MSc	Anna Zieleniewska	Dr. Marcin Bizukojc	2002
		Dr. Katarzyna Kaczorek	2004

Research topics

Research activities of the Department focus on the following subjects:

1. Biotechnology and environmental engineering
2. Improvement of the methods for bioproduct separation (down-stream processing)
3. Design and improvement of biotechnological equipment
4. Kinetics, modelling and optimisation of chemical and biological processes
5. Processes of formation of thin layers of plasma glaze for non-conventional energy sources (layers with special electric and optical properties)

I. Biotechnology and environmental engineering

1. Biological methods of mercury removal from contaminated soil and wastewater by bio-transformation with the use of bacteria
2. Removal of heavy metals from contaminated soil by the method of bio-sorption and bio-leaching
3. Biological detoxication of soil contaminated with petroleum compounds
4. Degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by advanced oxidation methods
5. Decomposition of xenobiotics, including detergents and dyes present in wastewater
6. Biological inactivation of organic fraction of solid wastes (biodegradation of solid waste) and reclamation of old landfills
7. Reclamation of degraded fly ash sites using sewage sludge
8. Land reclamation, sanitation of industrial and post-brown-coal mining sites
9. Biodegradation, decoloration and detoxication of textile wastewater
10. Sewage deactivation using granulated sewage sludge in the process of methane fermentation
11. Biodegradation of cellulose fibres and textile products
12. Utilisation of dairy wastewater (e.g. whey)
13. Investigation of water and sewage toxicity
14. Biological and thermal methods of solid waste and sewage sludge utilisation
15. Application of advances oxidation processes in industrial wastewater decoloration and biodegradation

II. Improvement of the methods for bioproduct separation (down-stream processing)

1. Improvement of the process of biosynthesis product formation to reduce noxious wastes
2. Application of ion exchange in the separation and purification of organic acids (e.g. lactic and citric acids)
3. Investigation of filtration and microfiltration processes
4. Bioprocesses integrated with the separation of bioproducts including their treatment by non-conventional methods

III. Design and improvement of biotechnological equipment

1. In co-operation with the R&D Centre of Machinery for Processing of Agricultural Products in Pleszew, we designed and constructed laboratory bioreactors with impellers 2, 7, 10 dm³ in volume and large-scale bioreactors 42, 100 and 200 dm³ in volume, as well as air-lift tower bioreactors 20 and 200 dm³ in volume manufactured according to the recommendations of the European Federation of Biotechnology
2. Modelling and optimisation of mixers-aerators in bioreactors
3. Scaling-up of bioprocesses in bioreactors in the Department labs (cf. Photo, schematic diagrams)

IV. Kinetics, modelling and optimisation of chemical and biological processes

1. Citric acid biosynthesis
2. L-lysine biosynthesis
3. Production of alcohol fuel
4. Biogas production
5. Biodegradation of solid organic wastes
6. Production of fodder yeast
7. Modelling of microorganism (fungi) growth and bioproduct formation (stoichiometry, energy and kinetics)
8. Investigation of the morphology and physiology of filamentous fungi using Digital Image Analysis
9. Synthesis of methanol and aliphatic alcohols
10. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis
11. Ozonolysis and advanced oxidation of dyes, detergents and PAHs
12. Fenton reaction
13. Photolysis of selected xenobiotics
14. Pyrolysis and gasification of solids and sewage sludge

Grants financed by the State Committee for Scientific Research carried out in the years 1994-2000

1. Optimisation of the production of biosynthesis products to minimise noxious wastes
2. Decomposition of dye and/or detergent solutions by ozone
3. Biodegradation of the organic fraction of household solid wastes
4. Biodegradation of textile wastewater subjected to ozone-chemical pretreatment
5. Modelling and optimisation of mixers-aerators in fermenters
6. Kinetics of aerobic degradation of the organic fraction of municipal wastes
7. Decomposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by advanced oxidation methods
8. Pressure impact on the morphology of A. niger mycelium and citric acid biosynthesis
9. Utilisation of sewage sludge and industrial wastes by pyrolytic methods
10. The application of ozone and advanced oxidation processes in leachate biodegradation
11. Separation of organic acids from fermentation broth by the ion-exchange method
12. Wastewater decoloration by advanced oxidation methods
13. Application of digital image analysis in modelling of A. niger growth

List of research equipment in the Department

1. Tower air lift reactors 16, 32 and 200 dm³ in volume - designed by our staff
2. Bioreactors with impellers 2, 10 and 42 dm³ in volume - designed by our staff
3. Tower air lift bioreactor and the bioreactor with impellers 15 dm³ in volume, with computer-aided process control (B. Braun)
4. Autoclave with an impeller for reaction processes (to 15MPa and 450°C) (Haage)
5. Bubble columns for chemical reactions at pressure up to 10 MPa
6. System of continuous reactors for pyrolysis and gasification of wastes and sewage sludge, Czylok furnaces
7. High-pressure liquid chromatograph HPLC (Waters)
8. High-speed centrifuge EK 10 (Sigma)
9. Evaporator R153 (Büchi)
10. Biomass separation filter FUNDABAC TSD (Dr M. Müller AG)
11. Ultrafiltration modulus ELO 04 (Milipore)
12. Fluorometer LS50B (Perkin Elmer)
13. Microscope BX 40 (Olympus) with a fluorescence unit and image analysing system
14. BOD manometric meter, COD reactor with spectrophotometer DR/2000 (Hach)
15. Homogeniser T 25B (IKA)
16. Laminar chamber HBB 2448 (Holten)
17. System of 6 chromatographic columns Spectra/Chrom) for continuous liquid separation by ion-exchange method
18. Elementary analyser - modified version NA 2500 (CE Instruments) (CHNS+O)
19. Nitrogen analysing system by Kjeldahl method (Büchi)
20. Cascade incubation shaker Certomat BS1 (B. Braun) (from -10 to +70°C)
21. Thermal balance TGA/SDTA 851 (Mettler-Toledo)
22. Ozone generator and analyser BMT 963 (Mess-Technik GmbH)
23. Spectrophotometer UV-VIS UV 300 (Unicam) with a flow cell
24. Gas analysers (Servomex - 1400 (CO₂, O₂) and Gas-Data (CH₄, CO₂, O₂H₂S))

Recent achievements

1. Prototypes of laboratory bioreactor 2, 7 and 10 dm³ in volume were designed and tested
2. Large-scale laboratory bioreactors 42, 100 and 200 dm³ in volume were designed and tested
3. A fluid bioreactor for continuous ethanol production was designed, constructed and tested
4. A classical ethanol fermentation technology with the use of flocculating yeast was modified
5. A pilot-plant 200 dm³ air-lift fermenter was set in work (Fig. 1).
6. Process parameters of citric acid biosynthesis in a pilot-plant air-lift fermenter were determined.
7. A complex evaluation of suitability of polymer coatings of domestic production for microbiological media was prepared.
8. In 1995 the Department, as a winner of the BITECH competition for a grant for a lab equipment, obtained from the Foundation for Polish Science, a universal laboratory system with two fermenters (air-lift type with impellers and without impellers) with computer-aided control and analytical equipment (see Photograph)
9. A gypsum-free method of citric acid recovery from fermentation broth was developed.
10. In co-operation with the Centre of Biotechnological Studies GBF in Braunschweig, Germany, a biotechnology of mercury removal from wastewater was developed.