Advances in Bioprocess Technology

This chapter reviews the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the effect of amendment(s) for empty fruit bunches composting. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of empty fruit bunches EFB composting as a solid waste processing is presented. The LCA study by various investigators confirmed that composting is more really environmentally friendly based on the greenhouse gas reduction measurement. Successful composting of empty fruit bunches (EFB) and suitable amendment(s) and obtaining a product of horticultural value may increase the viability of this recycling approach. The EFB composting with suitable amendments has shown acceptable quality of compost and simultaneously accelerates the process to less than 60 days. Finally, a case study on utilization of banana skins as amendments is discussed. In the case study, the addition of banana skin could enhance rapid EFB decomposition and increase nutrients such as P and K. A 45 days experiment was conducted at a ~100 kg scale to observe decomposition processes in empty fruit bunch (EFB) amended with two different percentages of banana skins (BS) (H5 and H10, 5 % and 10 % of BS by weight, respectively) in comparison with the control (unamended EFB, i.e. H0). The temperature in the three points of the piles was recorded throughout the experiment. By day 3, the temperature in the substrates H10 exceeded 45 °C while the highest temperature recorded in the control during the experiment was 39 °C (day 22). In conclusion, banana skins have potential as amendment for enhancing EFB composting.

Studies were carried out on ferrous oxidation and bacterial leaching of copper flotation concentrate to selectively leach nickel by two strains of Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans. However, slower growth rates of these strains have led to prolonged lag periods during leaching process with low nickel recovery. Hence, attempts were made to adapt these strains to high concentrations of copper salt, nickel salt, mixture of copper and nickel salts and flotation concentrate which would facilitate the preferential leaching of Ni containing pentlandite phase from a floatation concentrate with chalcopyrite phase in predominance. When unadapted strains of Tf were replaced with adapted strains, the lag period during leaching process was drastically declined with immediate resurgence of pH fall indicating biologically produced acid. Cells adapted to metals and concentrate has shown positive effect on oxidizing ability of pyrite and nickel leaching efficiency. Unadapted Tf-44 and Tf-231 strains have shown selective leaching of nickel (55 % and 49.7 %) while the leachabilities obtained with adapted strains were 80 % and 83.5 % respectively.

Solid hydrocarbon fuels—coal and biomass are commonly used for large-scale heat and power generation worldwide. The solid incombustible ash, residing from combustion, leads to several operational issues. Ash-related problems such as slagging, fouling, corrosion, erosion (all resulting in boiler efficiency reduction), emissions of particulate matter and reuse or disposal of captured ashes, may restrict future use of the said fuels. The above mentioned technical bottlenecks are closely related with fuel and combustion process characteristics, as during the combustion process, solid fuel particle undergoes several physical and chemical transformations, which all depend on both the fuel ash chemistry as well as combustion technology. The said transformations include volatilization, fragmentation, chemical reactions, nucleation, coagulation, homogeneous/heterogeneous condensation, All of these processes play a role in the formation of submicron through coarse-sized ash particles are generated. The present paper provides a synthesis of available information on typical fuel characteristics and operating parameters responsible for the said transformations and final size distribution of the ash particles based on critically reported investigations and modeling efforts to date. The fuel characteristics addressed in the review are fuel mineral matter composition and its association (mineralogy), particles’ size, shape and density, as well as char structure etc. Also reviewed is the interrelation between the fuel characteristics with operating parameters essential for the understanding of ash transformations. Descriptions of a variety of analytical methods applied to quantify the parameters responsible for ash formation are also covered, including the recognition of modeling efforts to date (from the simple calculations to advance numerical simulations).

Waste in its different forms is a significant environmental issue that receives a great deal of attention worldwide. Waste is generated as a result of production and consumption (domestic and industrial) activities and tends to increase with the level of prosperity and economic development of the country. Cost efficient, technology-based and sustainable management of both solid and liquid waste is crucial to economic growth and development of a healthy society in any given region. This chapter reviews traditional as well as modern approaches to solid waste management (SWM) and wastewater treatment. Sustainable methods of waste reduction, waste reuse and recycling are the preferred options when managing waste. There are many environmental benefits that can be derived from the use of these methods. They reduce or prevent greenhouse gas emissions, lessen the release of pollutants, conserve resources, save energy and minimise the demand for waste treatment technology and space. Establishment of sanitary landfills that meet standard hygienic requirements is the most widely adopted method of disposing of solid waste in developed countries. Vermicomposting and biogas technology produce reusable manure and combustible gas respectively from organic solid waste while waste-to-energy (incineration of waste) has quickly emerged as one of the most attractive renewable energy options. Wastewater if not properly disposed of, could be hazardous to human health and environment. Natural aquatic and terrestrial treatment systems with the environment-friendly designs and low-cost sanitation provide benefits for the reuse of water. Wise uses of aquatic and terrestrial plants are a means of several natural wastewater treatment methods. A decentralized wastewater treatment is being considered for most communities because of its economic and environmental advantages. Apart from natural treatment methods, membrane technology, nanotechnology, microbial fuel cells and electrocoagulation offer newer approaches to handling wastewater in a sustainable manner. The overall sustainable development ensures the path of reconciliation for society, environment, and economy in the long-term. People who generate waste, institutions who handle it and the local governance are key partners in an efficient waste management system. Need for education to create awareness on the importance of waste treatment and the sustainability aspects of the emerging technologies remains critical at all societal and governmental levels. Applications of information and communication technologies offer ingenious solutions to the problem of waste management.

The present study aims to minimize the free fatty acid (FFA) content in Refined Bleached Deodorized Palm Oil of FELDA Vegetable Oils Sdn. Bhd. and KUNAK Refinery Sdn. Bhd. (Sawit Kinabalu) by using Six Sigma with Response Surface Methodology. Process flow of the deodorizing section of the palm oil refinery have been studied. Unit operations from the process flow were identified and the parameters readings from 2011 till 2013 were tabulated. Only parameters’ readings from year 2011 and 2012 were used. This data went through multiple regressions and the process parameters were narrowed down from 32 parameters to only six parameters. Then, few tests were conducted such Normality Test and so on. The R-Square value 94.65 % correlated the actual and predicted value for validation data set. In the verify phase, it can be 95 % confidence interval that the difference between the mean numbers is between −0.00514 and 0.00920 higher in actual value than the predicted value. To achieve 0.050 % FFA, the optimal process variables were 340.1 °C for boiler temperature (G760T), 64 BAR for boiler pressure (G760P), 270.1 °C for heat exchanger (TE704), 68.6 °C for pre-distillate fatty acid recycler (TE705), 43.1 °C for hot well (TE750) and 12 BAR for steam header B (STEAMB). In this study, the equation model was developed to estimate the actual FFA content and predict the FFA content. Hence, this model can be directly used in the palm oil refinery to predict the FFA content and to optimize.

Malaysia with an average crude palm oil production of more than 13 million tons per year is estimated produce total of palm oil mill effluent (POME) of 53 million tons/year. Batch anaerobic digestion of 8 l palm oil mill effluent was studied in a 25 l bioreactor at 30 °C (thermophilic condition) and pH controlled at 7. POME activated sludge and cow manure at ratio of 1:2.5 POME was used. The biogas produced is 7.825 l at hydraulic retention time of 44 days. The peak biogas production occurs at day 24 until day 34 and the production starts to decrease after day 35 due to the availability of nutrient that has decreased tremendously. Modeling studies showed that the linear plots of biogas production rates with the R² of rising and failing limb ranged from 0.926 to 0.954 while the exponential plot shows the R² range from 0.775 to 0.940.

The continual usage of petroleum-sourced fuels is now widely recognized as unsustainable due to the depleting supplies, and the contribution of these fuels to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the environment. A suitable alternative is the utilisation of renewable transport fuels. These fuels are environmentally friendly and economically sustainable. Biodiesel and bioethanol derived from plant lipids and carbohydrate-based crops are potential renewable alternatives to petroleum fuels. In recent years, the cultivation of microalgae as an alternative feedstock for the production of biofuel has received significant attention. This is as a result of the fact that, they have a fast growth rate, can accumulate high quantities of lipids and carbohydrates intracellularly for the production of biodiesel and bioethanol, respectively. That notwithstanding, the processes involved in the cultivation of microalgae, dewatering, biochemical extraction, and conversion to biofuels are energy intensive and as a result undermine its full-scale application potentials. This therefore has necessitated the need for an intensive attention and research in order to debottleneck the aforementioned areas. Electroporation, High pressure homogenization (HPH), Ultrasonic and Bead mills are examples of present cell disruption technologies. However, the electroportation process which at present seems more energy efficient than the rest has only been tried on a lab scale, and yet to be experimented on an industrial scale capacity. In this work, a successful design of an energy-efficient cell disruption technology that can treat up to a mass scale of 10,000 gal/annum of lipids was designed by means of thermal lysis. A comparative analysis with other methods reveals that the designed system is significantly reliable, with the least fractional energy registered as low as 0.41 at an algal concentration of 6 kg/m³.

Biomethanation of poultry litter is one of the remunerative options for farmers to get revenue in terms of bio-energy and bio-manure by simultaneously addressing the issues of waste disposal. Current waste management practices, associated problems and need for improvement to incorporate biogas technology in poultry farm are discussed in this chapter. In many places conventional cow dung digesters are being used for generation of biogas from poultry litter. The failure of these conventional digesters with respect to the characteristics of poultry litter and designs are examined in this chapter. The carbon to nitrogen ratio is low for poultry litter than optimally required for biomethanation and hence needs a special attention while designing the process scheme. In addition to this, high rate biomethanation process is emerging out to be viable option for most of the organic solid wastes. The chapter also analyses novel anaerobic digesters developed for the treatment of poultry litter for the possibility of powering the poultry farms with biogas.

Following the increasing energy demand due to rapid industrialization and anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission from fossil fuel consumption, there is a need to identify a replacement of non-renewable sources for power generation to control the CO₂ emission to the atmosphere. Though there are many renewable energy options available, these renewable sources have their limitations. Biogas production from anaerobic digestion (AD) can be a viable source of renewable energy especially when the feedstock for anaerobic digestion is taken from wastes generated by various industries. Treatment of these wastes not only reduces the environmental impact but also continuously generate renewable energy that could reduce the reliance of power consumption of an industry from the grid. This chapter provides an overview of AD process, current practices of AD of industrial wastewater and methods that could further improve biogas production from AD.

Bioenergy is a renewable source of primary energy, and its sustainable use does not emit carbon dioxide. Two main drivers have pushed renewable energy production to the top of global agendas: climate change and energy security. Rising concern over depleting fossil fuel and greenhouse gas limits has resulted in a high level of interest in non-conventional fuel originating from bio-renewable sources including sugars, starches, lignocellulosic materials and algal biomass. Bioenergy crops can be grown for two contrasting markets: power generation (electricity, heat, and combined heat and power) and liquid transport fuels. Although over one billion tons of biomass per year would be potentially available to meet the 30 % replacement of petroleum derived gasoline in 2030, the high cost of biomass could be a serious hindrance if potential lands and feedstocks are not managed and utilized efficiently. Biofuels such as Ethanol, Butanol, Hydrogen gas etc. produced from various lignocellulosic materials such as wood, agricultural and forest residues has the potential to be a valuable substitute for, or complement to, gasoline. Oil-seed crops are also by far the largest group of exploitable renewable biomass resource for liquid fuel such as biodiesel and energy generation. Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly fuel that can be used in any diesel engine without modification. A technology using microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that convert the energy stored in chemical bonds in organic compounds to electrical energy achieved through the catalytic reactions by microorganisms has generated considerable interests among academic researchers in recent years. Currently, real-world applications of MFCs are limited because of their low power density level of several thousand mW/m².

Experimental studies on the production of hydrogen (H₂) gas from catalytic co-gasification of mixtures of plastic high density polyethylene (HDPE) derived from municipal solid waste (MSW) and biomass rubber seed shell (RSS) are conducted in a non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) equipment coupled with mass spectrometer (MS). A commercial nickel is selected as the catalyst in this process. The main objective of the present study is to assess the combined effect of the operating parameters such as temperature, HDPE particle size, RSS particle size, and percentage of plastics in the mixtures on the response variable i.e. production of H₂ from the system. The steam generated by the superheater at temperature of 110 °C is injected at flowrate of 0.005 mL min⁻¹ meanwhile argon gas is supplied at flowrate of 100 mL min⁻¹ into the TGA-MS system. The steam to feedstock and catalyst to feedstock ratio of 1 and 0.1 are used respectively. A central composite design (CCD) based on response surface methodology (RSM) is used for the experimental design. The studies are carried out at temperature of 500–900 °C, HDPE particle size range of 0.125–0.625 mm, RSS particle size of 0.125–0.625 mm and percentage of HDPE in the mixture of 10–40 wt% on the response variable of H₂ production. The optimum process parameter for maximum H₂ production in the system is determined.

Experimental studies on liquefaction of three types of Malaysian oil palm biomass, namely empty fruit bunch (EFB), palm mesocarp fiber (PMF) and palm kernel shell (PKS) using water at subcritical and supercritical conditions are conducted in an Inconel batch reactor. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the effect of variation in process parameters such as temperature, pressure and reaction time on the bio-oil yield from the hydrothermal liquefaction of the biomass feedstocks. At the end of the chapter, a general life cycle assessment (LCA) of a liquefaction process is conducted to evaluate the impacts on the environment. In the present study, it is found that the optimum temperature and pressure for maximum bio-oil yield for all the three biomass feedstocks is at supercritical condition of water (390 °C, 25 MPa) and the optimum reaction time is 2 h for EFB and PMF and 4 h for PKS. The LCA indicates that liquefaction process has the highest influence in global warming potential, while other impacts such as acidification, eutrophication, toxicity and photo-oxidant formation are negligible.

The agricultural residue as a source of biomass could be an ideal source for the production of bio-oils and can be used as a substitute for the existing conventional fossil fuels which are at the verge of getting extinct. Though there are many biomass conversion processes like combustion, gasification pyrolysis and liquefaction, pyrolysis has gained special attention as it can convert biomass directly into solid, liquid and gaseous products by thermal decomposition in absence of oxygen. In the present study, rice straw, cassava, cotton seeds and red grams outer cover were pyrolysed at a temperature of 400 and 500 °C. The effect of temperature on yield of pyrolysis liquid product was studied. The various characteristics of liquid product obtained were identified on the basis of standard test methods. The structure of the cotton seed oil was investigated using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and chemical composition of the cotton seed oil was determined by Gas Chromatography equipped with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS).

In principal, biomethane can be used for exactly the same applications as natural gas, if the final composition is in line with the different natural gas qualities on the market. Therefore, it can be used as a substitute for transport fuels, to produce combined heat and power (CHP), heat alone or serve as feedstock for the chemical sector. It can be transported and stored in the facilities and infrastructure available for natural gas. Biomethane can be produced by upgrading biogas. Biogas upgrading includes increasing the energy density by separating carbon dioxide from methane. Furthermore, water, hydrogen sulphide and other contaminants are removed, sometimes before the upgrading process to avoid corrosion or other problems in downstream applications. Today, a range of technologies for CO2-separation are on the market. It is difficult to specify the exact characteristics for an upgrading technology, since the design and operating conditions vary between the different manufacturers, sizes and applications. The key quality criteria for the upgrading technologies are the energy demand and the methane loss during upgrading.

Torrefaction can be defined as “a thermochemical process in an inert or limited oxygen environment where biomass is slowly heated to within a specified temperature range and retained there for a stipulated time such that it results in near complete degradation of its hemicellulose content while maximizing mass and energy yield of solid product”. Biomass torrefaction is considered as a pre-treatment technology. Torrefaction can significantly reduce the energy requirement for grinding biomass. The equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and the immersion tests are two tests commonly used to measure the hydrophobicity of torrefied biomass. Pyrolysis is a thermal decomposition of organic materials in the absence of oxygen, producing a solid residue rich in carbon, condensable volatiles (bio-oil) and non-condensable gases (producer gas). The design and optimization of biomass pyrolysis reactors requires analytical description of the process. Simplifications have led to the development of lumped models containing conceptual or pseudo-reactions for modeling pyrolysis. Available models can be arranged into three main groups: one step models, model with competing reactions and models with secondary reactions. Gasification is a partial combustion process that converts carbonaceous materials like biomass into useful gaseous fuels with a useable heating value or chemical feedstock. Combustion of biomass proceeds in various forms: evaporation combustion, decomposition combustion, surface combustion and smoldering combustion.

The optical purity of non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is one of the concerns in pharmaceutical industries, since the enantiomers demonstrate distinct physical and chemical characters. The production of single enantiomer of NSAIDs through dynamic enzymatic kinetic resolution (DEKR) has been pinpointed as among the promising approach developed in recent years. The substrate conversion and product enantioselectivity could be improved as compared to the conventional kinetic resolution. A combination of enzymatic kinetic resolution (EKR) and base-catalyzed racemization process can guarantee racemic substrate conversion of more than 80 %. The utilization of hollow-fiber membrane as enzyme-mediated reactor significantly improves the DEKR operation. This chapter describes the DEKR of a racemic ibuprofen in enzymatic membrane reactor (EMR), which system has been intensively investigated. From the experimental work, high conversion of the substrate (>90 %) and opticaly pure product (ee _P  > 95 %) have been obtained. The kinetic model was integrated with that of the mass transfer in the cylindrical hollow-fiber module in order to simulating the entire system by the interaction between the EKR and racemization reaction. The product ((S)-ibuprofen acid) was crystallized and the preliminary toxicity studies were carried out. In conclusion, DEKR of NSAIDs is a promising technology for the production a single enantiomer of NSAIDs.

Industrial enzymes represent the heart of biotechnology processes and utilization of industrial waste for enzyme production could make the enzymes cheap and process sustainable. In this study, catgut waste was used as a novel substrate for protease production using Bacillus subtilis. Catgut is an absorbable surgical suture obtained from the animal tissue containing >97 % pure bovine serosa. Catgut waste finely ground to powder was supplied to Bacillus subtilis as a substrate to produce protease enzyme in a submerged fermentation. The process conditions such as pH, substrate concentration, inoculum level, inoculum age, temperature, duration and mixing intensity were optimized using Plackett Burman design and Response Surface Methodology. The maximum protease activity was found to be 111.36 U/ml at optimum process condition level of 4 % substrate concentration, 5 % inoculum level, 18 h inoculum age, pH 7, 140 rpm, 40 °C and 96 h incubation period.

The objective of this work is to present the integration of membrane processes in the field of bioenergy resource and wastewater treatment using microalgae. There are two main processes involved: carbonation and separation, which were conducted and reported as a separated work within this chapter. The chapter begins with the introduction of membrane processes, followed by carbonation of microalgae and separation of biomass from the wastewater effluent. The experimental work on the carbonation aims to evaluate the effectiveness of hydrophobic hollow fibre membrane in transporting CO₂ into microalgae culture and microalgae accumulation within the membrane. The experimental work on the separation process of microalgae biomass from the wastewater effluent on the other hand, aims to evaluate Ultrafiltration (UF) membrane capability in removing BOD and COD as well as its ability to retain microalgae biomass which were used by the turbidity reading of the membrane permeate. The application of hydrophobic membrane in the carbonation process has increased the carbonation efficiency up to 83 % in comparison with the carbonation without membrane and only a small amount of mirage was accumulated within the membrane. The experimental result also shows that, the carbonised microalgae can be further used for wastewater treatment. Based on the result of separation process of microalgae biomass of wastewater effluent, the UF membrane utilization shows high separation efficiency in turbidity to lower than 5 Fau, and was able to facilitate in nutrient removal for less time required compared to the biological treatment without application of the membrane.

With a growing need to produce low-carbon fuels and chemicals for sustainable economic development, there is growing interest in utilizing lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock resource for the emerging bioeconomy. Lignocellulosic biomass is currently available in large quantities as crop and forest residues or organic wastes, and could be produced at high yields by planting dedicated energy crops, but is not as easily processed by biochemical or thermochemical conversion technologies as other bio-based feedstocks such as sugars, starches, or oils. Many approaches to utilizing lignocellulosic resources and converting them into value added products first require deconstruction the plant cell wall polymers into their constitutive sugars for fermentation or chemical conversion, and often recover lignin as a co-product. This process of plant cell wall deconstruction, or hydrolysis, includes both pretreatment technologies that degrade the lignin, and saccharification technologies that produce sugar monomers and oligomers from sugar polymers such as cellulose and hemicellulose. This chapter reviews leading technologies for deconstructing lignocellulosic biomass, including mechanical, chemical, and biological approaches, and evaluates the advantages and tradeoffs among them.

Beverage alcohol production faces the challenges of staying relevant to the current consumer market while producing products that are of high quality and are environmentally friendly. Alcoholic beverage production is a very large and varied industry with many different types of beverages, ranging from small traditional local products produced in small villages in Africa to the modern global mega-breweries and distilleries, able to churn out vast quantities of products standardized to specific quality parameters. This chapter highlights some of the recent developments in the alcoholic beverage industry, with an emphasis on innovations in yeast biotechnology, and discusses the changes in consumer perceptions of genetically modified (GM) organisms. High gravity brewing and immobilized cell technology are discussed. The rapid rise of craft brewing and distilling companies and their contribution to innovation are highlighted.

Practice of starter culture is an age old practice but without any scientific basis. With the awareness of need of microbial inoculations for regulation of fermentation process for quality production of desired quality foods innovative development have taken place. Development of new strains for elite strain which can improve the quality, stability, flavor, texture and phage resistant starter cultures are raised on a variety of medium depending organism as well as product to be developed. The starter culture are classified based on their composition growth requirement and methods of propagation. These starter cultures are preserved by different methods they can be available all the time. Though commercial strains are available their isolation and subsequent improvement through different genetical methods are desirable to get a novel strains with unique properties of commercial importance. Among different microorganisms such as lactic acid bacteria, yeast (Saccharomyce cerevisae, Penicillium camembertii, P. roquefortii) and Rhyzopus (R. oryzae, R. sojae) are extensively used for this purpose. Perfection in the preparation, storage and propagation need to be improved. Mixed starters with symbiotic activity have to be formulated.

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been used for food fermented products since ancient time, which not limited to dairy products. Some Asian traditional food is produced through LAB fermentation. LAB consist of the Gram-positive genera including lactobacillus, which produce lactic acid as the end product of a carbohydrate fermentation. Lactobacillus is one of the important LAB that have been widely applied in food fermentation because of their fermentative ability to enhance food safety, nutrition and to improve health related benefits (as probiotics bacteria). Lactobacillus also received much attention for lactic acid production. This is because lactic acid is highly demanded for the production of poly-l-lactate biodegradable plastics in recent days. The viability and microbial growth of Lactobacilli have been known to be inhibited by its end product (i.e. lactic acid). One of the common solutions to overcome the inhibition issue is by using encapsulation technology. Encapsulation offers several advantages for lactobacilli fermentation which included protection to the bacterial from harsh environments (e.g. pH, temperature, shear stress), retaining cells in continuous process, and allowing reuse of the bacteria. Encapsulation can be achieved in two forms; beads or capsules. Apart from beads, the capsules consisted of a defined inner core which surrounded by a semi permeable membrane. The content of the inner core could be in the form of liquid or solid. Liquid core capsules provide plenty of space for microbial growth (in inner core), eliminate cell release to fermentation medium and minimize mass transfer resistance of solutes. The main focus of this review was on the liquid core capsules produced by Ca-alginate bio-gel. In general, Ca-alginate liquid core capsules can be produced using single step methods or multiple steps methods. The details of the method used to produce the liquid core capsules were described and discussed. The use of the capsules for lactobacilli fermentation is limited because they are easily destabilized by chelating agents and eventually dissolved. The counter measures to strengthen the stability of the capsules were discussed. The previous studies showed that the viability, microbial growth and productivity of the encapsulated lactobacilli (in liquid core capsule) were better than those of either free cell and entrapped lactobacilli (in beads). Lastly, the authors give several recommendations to expand the potential of using the liquid core capsules to improve Lactobacilli fermentation.

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) occupy the center-stage when path-breaking technologies are adopted in product manufacture for the benefit of the society. Timely protection of IP plays a crucial role in enjoying the exclusivity over the products by the brand name companies, of course, paving a way towards the entry of the generic players during the life cycle of the product(s). Several domestic and international policies, rules and regulations guide/affect at every stage of the life cycle of the product. Intellectual property rights (IPRs) are the integral part of the executive bodies of the companies in general and in specific to the bio-process technology. A product’s success in the markets can be attributed to its beneficial distinctive features over the existing products/knowledge. Non-existent prior art pertaining to the product/knowledge gives the defined distinctiveness and enable the manufacturer to enjoy the exclusivities for a definite period of time. Innovations relating to the bio-processing sector normally see the churning out of ideas, reduction to practice and ultimately taking them to the market place.