Section 14 - Biotechnology and medical applications

This chapter discusses biotechnology and its medical applications. It defines biotechnology as the technological exploitation or manipulation of biological systems for the production of a useful economic or therapeutic result. It outlines the general area of membranes in biotechnology. It discusses the biomedical applications of membrane separations including hemodialysis, production of foods and beverages, extraction of components from plants and animal derived materials, and the controlled manufacture of biologically derived compounds in a biochemical process. The biochemical process utilizes a bioreactor of some sort followed by appropriate separation units for product recovery and separation. The chapter categorizes bio-products into three types: low molecular-weight products, macromolecular products, and cell biomass. It illustrates a block diagram of a fermentation process describing the various steps in the fermentation process. The chapter provides a generalized process flowsheet for bio-separations of the three products of fermentations—that is, cellular, extracellular, and intracellular. It also summarizes the problems associated with the operation of recycle membrane fermentors.