Biocatalytic Process Development

Biocatalysis offers significant chemical, environmental, and economic advantages for new chemical products, as well as alternative process routes to a wide variety of existing chemicals. Such processes have an added degree of freedom in process design, with the option for biocatalyst modification and adaptation. Modern protein engineering tools allow the development of enhanced biocatalysts, which together with reaction and process engineering can enable implementation of new cost-effective processes. Here, a structured approach to biocatalytic process development is described, illustrated by two example processes from the pharmaceutical sector.