Process integration and control in continuous bioprocessing

Biopharmaceutical industry is presently facing multiple economic, political and regulatory challenges. The adoption of continuous bioprocessing is expected to partly alleviate these. Over the years, many technology solutions have been developed for various biotech unit operations which were hitherto operated in batch fashion. The next challenge is to integrate all unit operations to create a fully continuous manufacturing system. In this article, we discuss recent developments in process integration and control under a proposed framework consisting of modular, adaptation and merger approaches of integration with a particular emphasis on developments that have occurred in the past five years (2013-2018).