Process technology for the fermentative manufacture of biotechnological products
Biotechnology is currently turning into a key industrial technology, particularly through the fermentative production of biotechnological products. It enables sustainable, bio‑based production processes and fundamentally transforms existing supply chains. For Krones, this opens up new perspectives in bioprocess engineering – based on many years of expertise in process technology.
Beer brewing is even considered to be one of the oldest biotechnological applications, long before the underlying processes were scientifically understood. Today, this has evolved into an independent field of technology – with enormous potential.
Biotechnology uses microorganisms or their metabolic products, such as enzymes, to convert a substrate derived from a range of raw materials into higher-value products. With scientific progress in microbiology, process technology and automation, biotechnology has become a key technology for many industries – from the food through to the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
Biotechnology: Basic knowledge and context
Biotechnology refers to the use of biological systems – such as bacteria, yeasts, fungi or cell cultures – to produce individual molecules or entire cellular structures. In nature, this can be observed in the growth of a plant; in the beverage industry, the manufacture of beer or wine is based on exactly the same principle. Fermentation is at the heart of biotechnology. In an industrial setting, this means that substrates such as sugars, proteins or fats are converted into target products inside a sealed tank under defined process conditions (temperature, pH, oxygen, time).
The biologisation of industrial supply chains is becoming increasingly more significant – accompanied by efforts to make them more sustainable.
- Instead of relying on fossil resources such as crude oil or natural gas, surfactants, crop protection agents, fertilizers, plastics or fuels can be produced based on biotechnological processes.
- In addition, by-products from the food, beverage and agricultural industries (such as spent grains from beer production) have the potential to be upgraded through fermentation – into proteins or biogas for example.
The Krones Group: Process‑engineering expertise
Expertise in biotechnological processes has existed for decades in the Krones Group: through the subsidiary Steinecker’s expertise in brewing technology, as well as through other process‑technology and aseptic applications originating from the beverage industry. When it comes to opening up additional fields of application for biotechnological processes, Krones can draw on its strengths.
Generally speaking, all biotechnological processes are based on process‑technology requirements:
- In concrete terms, this means that unit operations (such as grinding, separation and heat transfer) are combined with biological process steps like hydrolysis, cell propagation and fermentation.
- What changes – depending on the desired end product – beyond the obvious raw materials, are the resulting products, hygiene requirements and overall complexity.
And the Krones processing team can rely on many years of experience in all these areas.
Successfully scaling bioprocesses: Requirements in industrial bioprocessing
One field that has grown significantly in recent years (particularly in countries such as the USA, Switzerland or Norway) is so‑called food biotech, meaning the biotechnological production of food. With its bioreactor, Krones provides an appropriate solution in this field. It makes it possible to achieve the fermentative production of alternative proteins, enzymes and ingredients, as well as products beyond food biotechnology, such as dietary supplements and biopharmaceuticals. The system can be designed with a capacity ranging from approximately 500 to 200,000 hectolitres and scaled for a wide variety of applications.
It is often this transition from laboratory to industrial production that manufacturing companies find challenging. Typical challenges include:
- Hygienic raw‑material handling and sterile media management
- Process and product sterilization, either thermal and/or via filtration
- Aerobic fermentation with high oxygen requirement
- Efficient heat removal under high biological activity
- Agitation and mixing systems for media, some of which are highly viscous
- Reliable CIP/SIP concepts
- Efficient plant utilisation and an overall process‑technology concept for economical production
Companies therefore need a partner who not only has deep engineering expertise and comprehensive process understanding, but is also capable of handling the entire project from a single source.
This is exactly where Krones positions itself as a strong industrial partner – both for start‑ups and for large corporations. Many of the challenges associated with biotechnological production facilities have already been part of our core business for decades.
Producing alternative foods in a bioreactor – learn more in this article
Turnkey expertise in bioprocessing
As a system supplier for the beverage and food industry, Krones has long‑standing expertise in all relevant areas:
- The design of large, hygienic process systems
- Scaling complex processes from pilot to production scale
- Precise management of media, energy and material flows
- High‑availability automation and reproducibility
- Integrated engineering from concept phase to commissioning
Key process steps in bioprocessing
What determines process performance and product quality in food and beverage production can be transferred to biotechnological applications – supplemented by specific expertise in bioreactors, sterilisation technology and process analytics. The decisive factor is not in fact the individual unit, but the overall system. Our portfolio covers the entire process:
It quickly becomes clear: Krones does not view biotechnology as an isolated technology, but rather as an industrial production system – sturdy, reproducible, sustainable and economical. This is exactly what companies need today when innovation is to be transformed into market‑ready industrial products.
All-round support From the initial idea to Lifecycle Service
Successfully transferring biotechnological processes into an industrial application requires far more than individual equipment. It is crucial to have a sound process concept, scalable technologies and a partner with a comprehensive understanding of how all process steps interact. This is exactly where Krones offers support: with comprehensive engineering expertise, many years of experience in hygienic system construction and an integrated portfolio for upstream and downstream processes.
Krones Processing: Your partner for industrial biotechnological projects
A closer examination of the field of biotechnology shows: it is by no means a mere trend or a radical break with the past, but rather a logical evolution of established process‑engineering technology.
And Krones supports all biotechnology companies – from start‑ups to large corporations – as a complete supplier of upstream and downstream processes.
- We have decades of experience in aseptic and hygienic industrial plant construction.
- We offer modular and scalable plant concepts with a high level of automation.
- We are wherever you are – thanks to our international service and technology network.
The path from a biotechnological idea to market‑ready production means companies are confronted with complex technical and economic requirements. Krones combines expertise in process technology, integrated engineering and a holistic understanding of industrial production systems. In this way, we support our customers in scaling biotechnological processes reliably, operating systems efficiently, and establishing their products sustainably on the market.
Bioprocessing at Krones — at a glance
Many challenges in bioprocessing resemble those that Krones has already been solving for decades in the beverage, food, and brewing industries: fermentation, hygiene management, automation, scaling, process analytics and the integration of complete process systems. Krones and its customers benefit from this experience, as all projects can build on this existing expertise.
Krones develops and implements complete process solutions for industrial biotechnology. We cover the entire process chain: from raw‑material handling through to fermentation and downstream processing. Thanks to experience in systems engineering and process integration, Krones enables the transfer from pilot scale to industrial production systems.
Biotechnology is a high-potential industrial key technology that is gaining importance due to factors such as climate change, resource scarcity and a growing global population.
Typical fields of application include food (both conventional foodstuffs and those based on alternative proteins), chemicals, pharmaceuticals and bio‑based materials.
The bioreactor from Krones is the key element of fermentation and is individually adapted to specific process requirements.
