Vitamin B2: better
the biotech way
10
f yes, some milligrams of vitamin B2 or
ribofavin were fzzing in it to make your
skin soft and your hair shiny. Furthermore,
the vitamin makes for the sunny yellow of
the healthy water.
The ribofavin example illustrates
how industrial biotechnology changes
production processes in the chemical
industry. For the sake of the environment,
but for the sake of the manufacturers as well
- ‘green’ processes only have a chance if they
are economically competitive.
Isolated for the frst time in the 1920s,
the vitamin was produced by an eight-step
chemical synthesis well into the 1980s. The
rising environmental consciousness of the
1970s led to attempts in reducing waste,
avoiding toxic substances and cleaning
wastewater. A really clean production of
ribofavin was only possibly with the microbial
production process with the flamentous
fungus. The process is so efcient that part
of the product starts crystallizing in the
bioreactor in high purity. Thus, the ecobalance
is non-ambiguous: The microbiological
process beats the chemical one in every
criterion, starting with 30% savings in CO2
emissions up to 95% for the amount of waste
generated. Consequently, the market leader,
BASF, discontinued chemical production in
1996 and has been focusing on biotechnology
ever since. Competitor, DSM, uses a microbial
process too, albeit based on the bacterium
Bacillus subtilis.
Silent heroes of biotechnology
Vitamin production on an industrial scale
means that bioreactors can reach a size of
100 m³ but who is building these giants?
The silent heroes of biotechnology can be
found at ACHEMA, the trade show that puts
the technology into bio-technology.
Even bioprocesses that end up in the
multi-cubic-meter magnitude start small
on laboratory scale, usually as a shake
fask culture.
The next step is a bench-top fermenter that
can range from 100 milliliters to 5 liters.
These and the whole lab infrastructure can
be found in the laboratory and analytical
techniques exhibition group in hall 4.
Upscaling a process to pilot and then
production size is the task of the companies
in the engineering exhibition group in hall
9. Their service starts long before stainless
steel sheets are bent into cylindrical vessels.
Is it more economic to use wheat starch as a
substrate for the process or glucose syrup?
In the pre-engineering, raw materials and
capacities are compared, which are the
basis for the decision-making of investors.
These numbers are also important for
regulatory approval. The detailed planning
gets down to the nitty-gritty. No tube may
be overlooked, no welding seam neglected.
Also, precise process control is a must for
biotechnological processes and can be
found in the instrumentation, control and
automation techniques group in Hall 11. If
temperature and pH value are only slightly
of the optimum, Ashbya, Bacillus and
colleagues quickly fail to perform.
As soon as the microorganisms have
accomplished their mission, it’s on to
Did you plunge an effervescent
multivitamin in a glass of water this morning?
Ashbya gossypii © BASF
microbial cultures © DECHEMA
bench-top fermenter © DECHEMA
fermenter © Sanofi Pasteur
process control © DECHEMA