Application of Chemical Engineering Methodology in Process Development: A Case Study of MenD-catalyzed Synthesis of 6-Cyano-4-oxohexanoic Acid

To speed up evaluation, development and upscaling of new processes, the use of engineering methodology can have a great impact. Here we show the application of an engineering approach to find the reaction conditions allowing the best process metrics. An experimentally validated mathematical model for the MenD-catalyzed synthesis of a commercially unavailable product, 6-cyano-4-oxohexanoic acid, with a potential industrial use as a building block, was used for process optimization. Using the optimized conditions, 62.4 g dm–3 of product, volume productivity of 87.1 g dm–3 d–1, product yield of 96 %, and biocatalyst productivity of 25.8 kgP kg–1 MenD can be achieved. Based on the optimized production procedure, economic analysis was performed to determine minimal product price required for project to be profitable in 8 years economic lifetime. In addition, Monte Carlo analysis (MCA) was used to assess the influence of uncertainties in estimation of input variables on overall economic performance.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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