Undergraduate Course – BE

Undergraduate in Biochemical Engineering

The course of biochemical engineering aims to train professionals able to act in the design, development, management and control of biological processes in industrial scale, preparing a professional qualified to work in a modern interdisciplinary area that integrates chemical engineering, biochemistry and biology.

The counterpoint between the chemical engineer and the biochemical engineer is that the first receives formation essentially associated with the chemical and physical transformations of matter, while the second studies, with greater emphasis, the processes where the agents of transformation are living cells, enzymes or other related systems. In this context, the biochemical engineer is able to work in traditional areas of chemical engineering, as well as to act differently in the sector that uses industrial biological processes, looking to the demand of some specific market segments that include:

a) the production of foods by fermentative processes;

b) the processing of vegetable biomass in sectors such as sugar-alcohol, pulp and paper and bioenergy and biofuels;

c) the production of inputs for modern agriculture, including the production of bioinsecticides and agents for the biological control of pests;

d) the production and application of enzymes;

e) the production of fermented and distilled beverages;

f) the handling and treatment of industrial and municipal wastes;

g) the production of antibiotics, vaccines, feeds and other products for human and animal health.

In addition to the aforementioned competences, the biochemical engineer graduated from the Engineering College of Lorena will be able to act with great ease in the research and development sector, since its training involves multidisciplinary knowledge and is developed in an integrated way with the graduate program and the research in industrial biotechnology.

The programme of the biochemical engineering course is structured in a format in which the first semesters are dedicated to the fundamental disciplines of chemical engineering (mathematics, physics and chemistry) and the introductory disciplines of biochemical engineering. In the following semesters, the engineering disciplines are mixed with specific disciplines that range from microbiology and biochemistry to the typification of industrial processes that employ biological agents, enzymes or related systems.

The course of Biochemical Engineering in numbers:

– Admission: 40 students/year (30 by FUVEST exam and 10 by SISU selection)

– Students enrolled in 2013: approx. 200

– Biochemical engineers graduated up to 2013: 253

Coordinator:

Prof. Valdeir Arantes

E-mail: valdeir.arantes@usp.br

Tel: (12) 3159 5009

Secretary:

Lilian Cristina Marton Robin

E-mail: lilian@debiq.eel.usp.br

Tel: (12) 3159 5165