The State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering (SKLBCE) is affiliated with the Institute of Process Engineering (formerly the Institute of Chemical Metallurgy), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). It was approved for establishment by the State Commission of Planning and Development (SCPD) in 1988 and opened to the public in 1992. SKLBCE was officially approved by the SCPD in 1995, and successively passed three assessments organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2017. The current director is Prof. Guanghui Ma, and the chairman of the academic committee is Prof. Guoping Zhao, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Biochemical engineering, which was founded in 1980s, is an interdiscipline of biotechnology and chemical engineering. On the one hand, it introduces biotechnology to the traditional industries with chemical industry as a representative to address the growing tension of resources and environmental issues. On the other hand, it applies the theory and experience of chemical engineering to biological engineering, and solves the bottleneck of biological products from the laboratory to the industrialization process. So in recent years, it is called bioprocess engineering. It is an important constitute of modern biological technology and the bridge to create economic value and to serve community.

The laboratory is based on technological innovation, positioning in the national energy, resources, medicine and other significant demand. From the practical application, the basic scientific problems of biochemical engineering is extracted, and the basic research on the combination of theory and application is carried out, and the technical bottleneck in the process of industrialization is emphasized. The main research is to utilize a variety of resources, especially biomass renewable resources as raw materials to manufacture fuel, chemicals, materials, pharmaceuticals, food and other commodities through the three processes of biochemical reaction, separation and formulation.