Bioprocess Engineering Research - UIUC Bioprocess Engineering Processing biological materials is important in the pharmaceutical, food, and biotechnology industries.
Many pharmaceutical products are derivatives of plant or animal raw materials.
Nearly all foods require some amount of post harvest processing to preserve the quality of the food, to make it palatable, and to keep it from spoiling before consumption. And microbial fermentations are increasingly being used by the growing biotech industry to produce, for example, enzymes, amino acids, hormones, vaccines, antibiotics, insecticides, fermented foods, and ethanol. Bioprocess engineers design processes, equipment, and sometimes entire facilities. Knowledge of microbiology, biochemistry, transport phenomena, properties of biological materials, and engineering design is needed to be proficient as an engineer working in bioprocessing. Some expertise in sensors and process control is also valuable.