Telephone (+49)231 755-2339
Fax (+49)231 755-2341
Laboratory of Plant and Process Design Emil-Figge-Str. 70 Geschossbau 2 44227 Dortmund Germany
Room G2-R3.20
Torsten Winkelnkemper studied chemical engineering at the University of Dortmund. He finished his studies in 2006 by writing a final thesis about optimized operation of a reactor with regard to progressive catalyst deactivation at the company Cognis GmbH.Employed at the Laboratory of Plant and Process Design since October 2006 he is working on his PhD about the experimentally validated systematic development of downstream processes.
As downstream process development in biotechnology industry is dominated by empi¬rical design of unit operations and direct scale-up from laboratory experiments, the resulting processes are often suboptimal. Hence, the development of a more systematic approach is objective of ongoing research to provide a method of process development focusing on the total process performance, but requiring only little time and effort in early stages of process design. This method comprises experimental screening of alternative unit operations, mass separating agents and/or operating conditions as well as a performance rating of each purification step. The combination of selectivities towards all contaminants to an operation-specific purification profile supports advantageous combination of several purification steps. The aforementioned principles are demonstrated with the adsorption and extraction of Baccatin III from fermentation broth.
