Application of Chemical Engineering Methodology in Process Development: A Case Study of MenD-catalyzed Synthesis of 6-Cyano-4-oxohexanoic Acid

To speed up evaluation, development and upscaling of new processes, the use of engineering methodology can have a great impact. Here we show the application of an engineering approach to find the reaction conditions allowing the best process metrics. An experimentally validated mathematical model for the MenD-catalyzed synthesis of a commercially unavailable product 6-cyano-4- oxohexanoic acid, with a potential industrial use as a building block, was used for process optimization. Using the optimized conditions, 62.4 g dm3 of product, volume productivity of 87.1 g dm3 d1, product yield of 96 % and biocatalyst productivity of 25.8 kgP kgMenD1 can be achieved. Based on the optimized production procedure, economic analysis was performed to determine minimal product price required for project to be profitable in 8 years economic lifetime. In addition, Monte Carlo analysis (MCA) was used to assess the influence of uncertainties in estimation of input variables on overall economic performance.