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To take it a step further, I wonder if it is possible to engineer better catalysts to speed up cell division. Evolutionary pressure should bias towards maximum reproduction rates (given a the right environmental conditions). But I wonder how much variation there is in cell division times between different species of bacteria.

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I think you're describing the field of [bioprocess engineering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioprocess_engineering). A lot of time is spent trying to balance cell growth with the possibility of mutations being introduced into the system. Even between different strains of E. coli the doubling rate can vary. Moreover, one also needs to contend with the fact that prokaryotes typically cannot produce very complex proteins. This leads some processes to need to use eukaryotes such as CHO cells, which are much slower.

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