0 or 3 credits
Spring 2026 Lecture Laboratory Upper Division
The development of value-added fermentation processes requires a complex blend of technoeconomic and market awareness, resource gathering, strain selection and engineering, reactor optimization and operation, product recovery, and project management skills. Keeping these diverse aspects in balance while managing project timelines is essential to successful fermentation process - that is, one that is both technically and economically successful. This course is organized to develop your knowledge of the diverse inputs into design of microbial fermentation and your ability to apply concepts learned in prior fermentation classes to the design of a fermentation process, integrating microbiology, chemistry and processing with basic marketing and business concepts. Students will be organized into project teams for the semester and challenged to design market, develop, prototype, and scale up a new fermentation. Classes will include guest lectures from experts in the fermentation industry and academia. Project teams will be organized and project leaders selected to manage communication between individual groups and the instructors. Final product concepts will be presented to faculty and peers for evaluation.
Learning Outcomes1Apply and practically integrate fundamental aspect of fermentation microbiology, chemistry, and processing in the design and development of a new value-added process.
2Understand and navigate the challenges associated with scaling up a benchtop fermentation process.
3Apply knowledge of factors impacting fermentation design, productivity, yield, and stability to optimize economic value of a process.
4Generate an "elevator speech" to spur project investment.
5Manage projects in group contexts.
6Apply statistical principles in experimental design and assessment of experimental data as it relates to process control and product assessment.
7Discuss current topics in fermentation science competently.
Prerequisites
Restrictions
GPA by professor
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made by Purdue students.