Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining The Centre for Process Innovation From innovation to commercialisation
The High Value Manufacturing Catapult is a partnership between industry and government, which is a catalyst for the future growth and success of manufacturing in the UK. Its long-term goal is to stimulate growth in the manufacturing sector and grow the sector s contribution to UK GDP to a level more commensurate with that of competitor economies. It does this by helping businesses accelerate new concepts (often started in research institutions) to commercial reality (where they can be funded through market sources). In doing so, the Catapult reduces companies risk in innovation, and it enables the UK to address market needs in key areas, making the country more competitive on the global stage. The High Value Manufacturing Catapult combines the strengths of seven UK technology and innovation centres, each focusing on major underpinning manufacturing technologies. The Catapult brings these centres together to develop cross sector manufacturing capabilities, which can span from raw materials to finished processes. It also enables innovation to cut across sectors by bringing together businesses from diverse industries and giving them access to a pool of world-class expertise, equipment and processes invested and supported by UK government.
The Centre for Process Innovation From innovation to commercialisation The Centre for Process Innovation is the UK s national technology and innovation centre to serve and support the process manufacturing industries. We are chosen by key industry leaders and SMEs to develop, prove, prototype and scale up the next generation of products and processes. We work across a range of technology platforms, each of which have the potential to generate a substantial impact on the future of manufacturing. We provide product and process development facilities and expertise in industrial biotechnology and biorefining, formulation and flexible manufacturing, printable electronics and biologics with the overall aim of creating less waste, cleaner, more efficient and more economic products and processes. Our open innovation model enables our clients to develop products and prove processes with minimal risk. We provide assets and expertise so our customers can demonstrate the process and prove it is feasible before investing substantial amounts of money in capital equipment and training. New products and processes can be proven; on paper, in the lab and in the plant before being manufactured at an industrial scale. By utilising our proven assets and expertise companies can take their products and processes to market faster. There is no down time in production as all of the process development is completed off-line. Better Products, Faster We help our clients to produce better products with increased quality and performance. We can create processes with higher yields and reduced manufacturing time with faster conversion of raw materials or feedstock to product. Low Cost, Low Waste Manufacturing We enable companies to decrease capital and manufacturing costs by facilitating batch to continuous processes, increased automation and reduced manufacturing time. We help reduce and reuse wastes, utilise natural materials and decrease reliance on fossil fuels.
Introduction Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining at CPI CPI provides assets and resources to support innovation in Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining. Through our range of technology development services and our Industrial Biotechnology facility, we help our clients to derisk process development and provide proof-of-concept testing at scale. Our core competency lies in assisting in the development of novel bio-based concepts into robust and economic processes using our stateof-the-art industrial biotechnology facility. From initial program scoping and planning through to techno-economic modeling, process demonstration and scale-up, we have a range of services to help you commercialise your ideas and bring them to market faster. To date we have received significant investments to develop assets and resources. This ongoing financial commitment has resulted in an innovative and fast growing organisation with the international reach, operational capabilities and financial stability to give our clients confidence and security. CPI has core programs within each of the following biorefining themes: Generation and delivery of C1 gases into fermentation systems Generation and delivery of sugars into fermentation systems Fractionation and extraction of products from renewable materials Process development in anaerobic digestion We have the capability to deliver both in-depth development programs using our range of technology development services as well as less complex projects with a simple goal.
Technology Development Services Program scoping and planning Identification and engagement of key collaborators Public fund identification and consortium building Process modelling and simulation, improvement studies, technology evaluation Risk analysis and pre-emptive mitigation Economic evaluation and process economics Scaled down and scale-up process development and demonstration Process Scale-up and Facilities Technology transfer Data collection, analysis and reporting Laboratory (flask 10 litre) Pilot (10 750 litre) Demonstrator (10,000 litre)
Technology Development Services Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining at CPI CPI s business model supports strategic collaborative programmes through our operational and project management expertise. Our clients programs are taken through a process of commercial and technical road-mapping, driven by a full understanding of business needs, technoeconomic evaluation, modeling, development and demonstration. Delivered in combination with relevant partners, this approach maximises the chances of successfully meeting the clients requirements. CPI is currently working with world leading companies in utilising waste streams for the production of chemicals and energy. These technologies have the potential to transform the economic landscape of chemical manufacture both in the UK and abroad. Our key activities include: Programme scoping and planning Identification and engagement of key collaborators Fund identification and consortium building Process modeling and simulation, improvement studies, technology evaluation Risk analysis and pre-emptive mitigation Economic evaluation and process economics Scaled down and scale-up process development and demonstration
Application Areas Biorefining themes at CPI Delivering a diverse range of new bio-products requires the development of a whole new range of technologies. CPI has ongoing programs in each of the following four biorefining themes. These focus areas cover the majority of known methods to produce platform and specialty chemicals from renewable sources, reducing the reliance on fossil fuels.
Generation and delivery of C1 gases into fermentation systems Gas fermentation is of increasing commercial interest as a process technology. It can offer a novel approach to the conversion of biomass to biofuels and bio-based chemicals. Generation and delivery of sugars into fermentation systems Fermentation of sugars is a key technology in the production of liquid biofuels such as ethanol and butanol plus a large number of platform and specialty chemicals. Fractionation and extraction of products from renewable resources Biomass extraction offers considerable potential for the future as a biorefinery technology, providing higher added values for each of the components in the new and emerging bioeconomy markets. Process development in anaerobic digestion Many forms of biomass are suitable for conversion to energy using anaerobic digestion; biogenic wastes such as food waste, animal slurries and manures, energy crops and a wide variety of food crop residues.
Generation and delivery of syngas into fermentation systems While sugar based fermentation has been deployed commercially for many decades the fermentation of carbon rich gases is an emerging technology of increasing commercial interest. Gas streams include the increasingly abundant low cost natural gas from shale development, biogas produced from anaerobic digestion, carbon monoxide obtained from industrial flue gases and synthesis gas derived from the gasification of carbon rich raw materials such as biomass or post-consumer wastes. The gasification of carbon rich raw materials provides several key benefits, it allows; the conversion of mixed materials to a variety of simple gases the conversion of non-biological raw materials such as plastic to fermentable gases both the carbohydrate and lignin components of biomass to be used as a fermentation feedstock potentially leading to high yields of fermentation product. As an emerging technology, the industry faces a number of technology challenges in developing these commercial processes making the development of gas fermentation processes highly collaborative, requiring expertise in thermochemical processing to be combined with the biotechnology of gas fermentation. Full technical demonstration of processes also requires the on-site integration of gas generation, for example gasification rigs, and gas fermentation vessels. CPI brings together critical competences and facilities for gasification, anaerobic digestion and fermentation enabling integrated technology development and demonstration.
Generation and delivery of sugars into fermentation systems The commercialisation of fermentation processes based on industrial sugar remains technically challenging. Successful technical deployment requires the efficient and precise integration of five process operations; biomass preparation and pretreatment, carbohydrate hydrolysis to produce industrial sugar, sugar fermentation and finally; product recovery and purification. Each of these process units has their unique challenges, in particular; the pretreatment of lignocellulose to allow the breakdown of cellulose and hemicellulose into fermentable sugars development of new technology optimised for mixed sugar fermentation the development of efficient low energy product recovery systems. Additionally and most importantly these process units need to be optimised to both feedstock and product and efficiently integrated with respect to technology and economics. The raw material for these processes has traditionally been sourced from sugar or starch crops. However to avoid food chain impacts, decrease fermentable sugar costs and increase sugar availability, commercial interest is increasingly moving towards the use of industrial sugars derived from lignocellulosic biomass or the use of sugars in industrial or post-consumer waste. The competence provided by CPI s experienced and knowledgeable staff combined with world class infrastructure and facilities make CPI an ideal project development partner capable of integrated process demonstration at commercially relevant scale.
Fractionation and extraction of products from materials Currently a large emphasis is placed on specific platform technology e.g. fermentation, in the development of the overall technology for the conversion of biomass into fuels and chemicals. However, the overall conversion methodology must be accompanied by an integrated upstream (preparation of biomass) and downstream (recovery and purification of product) processing protocol. Upstream manipulation of biomass requires either a physical or chemical refining step to provide a substrate which is amenable for further processing. Typical physical processes involve techniques such as chipping or dry and wet milling to separate bulk fractions or optimise particle size. Chemical refining includes the pretreatment technologies that disrupt and release industrial sugars for downstream fermentation and extraction technologies that recover valuable plant metabolites. Downstream processing can be one of the largest cost components in biorefining especially where products are produced as dilute process streams. Product recovery can involve a range of techniques; distillation, crystallisation, chromatography, membrane-based separations, liquid-liquid extraction or gas stripping. The development of continuous extraction with aqueous or ionic liquids for end product recovery has the potential to improve product separation and also fermentation productivity through the prevention of inhibitor build up. The main challenge is optimising the efficient integration of upstream and downstream processing with the core process technology when taking processes to realistic economic scales. CPI provides the knowledge, experience and infrastructure to support clients in defining, optimising and integrating upstream and downstream processing with a client s core technology. Early integration of technology allows projects to efficiently move down the development pipeline through pilot runs, process demonstration and on to commercialisation.
Process development in anaerobic digestion Anaerobic digestion provides an ideal route to recover valuable energy from organic waste streams with high moisture contents and is therefore a key enabling technology in biorefineries operating fermentation processes with aqueous organic residue streams. Anaerobic digestion allows the conversion of these streams to biogas. Biogas can be used directly in engines to produce power or combined heat and power (CHP), burned directly to produce heat, or upgraded and injected into the natural gas grid to be used by consumers or liquefied and used as a vehicle fuel. The digestate in both liquid and solid forms can be used as a renewable fertiliser or a soil conditioner. Anaerobic digestion involves the sequential decomposition of organic matter by a complex microbial community. The key biochemical processes are hydrolysis, acid fermentation, acetogenesis and finally methanogenesis to produce methane. The biology of this process is extremely complex involving the synergistic action of microbial consortia. The challenge is how to increase gas yield through feedstock flexibility and improved plant operation by enabling the bioscience and engineering communities to understand and model the optimal microbial consortia and process dynamics. The anaerobic digestion process lends itself to a variety of configurations including the number and design of digestion tanks, the temperature of operation, the moisture content in the process and whether the digestion is operated as a batch or continuous process. The challenge for process development lies not only in the choice and development of each unit operation but also in their technological and economic integration. CPI provides the knowledge, experience and infrastructure to support clients in defining and optimising processes, moving technology down the development pipeline through to pilot runs for process demonstration and on to commercialisation support.
Our Facilities Lab to demonstration CPI s industrial biotechnology facilities enable our clients to develop products and processes with minimal risk. We offer a range of technology transfer, data analysis and reporting services which complement proof-of-concept testing and production at scale helping clients to demonstrate processes prior to expensive capital investment. To perform each project CPI has developed a skilled team of industry based scientists, technologists, process operators and engineers who can design and test process flows from the bench to manufacture at scale. CPI s industrial biotechnology facilities are noncgmp, operating to ISO9001, and can handle flows from pre-processing of biomass through to downstream processing of fermentation broths in a flexible plug and play format. For biochemical, chemical and thermal/physical process applications we can draw on a range of in-house technologies, hire equipment on short term loan or design or build bespoke rigs for specific applications. To date CPI has received investments totalling 24m to develop its asset and resource base. This ongoing financial commitment has produced an innovative and fast growing organisation with the international reach, operational capabilities and financial stability to provide industry with the confidence and security required to co-invest in large scale development programmes.
Process Development Shake flasks to 10 litre fermenters Downstream processing equipment Analytical capabilities Pilot Facility 20 750 litre fermentation facilities Pilot scale solvent extraction facilities Flexible plug and play downstream capability for: solid/liquid separation fractionation and extraction clarification, purification and concentration Demonstrator Facility 10,000 litre fermentation facilities Upstream processing capabilities for solids, slurries, aggregates and liquids. Pilot scale distillation Demonstration of process and product Inline analytical technologies Downstream processing capability for: solid/liquid separation fractionation & extraction clarification, purification & concentration
To find out more about our full range of services visit: www.uk-cpi.com call: +44 (0)1642 455 340 Industrial Biotechnology and Biorefining Printable Electronics Formulation Biologics Centre for Process Innovation Wilton Centre, Wilton, Redcar, Cleveland, United Kingdom, TS10 4RF T: +44 (0)1642 455 340 F: +44 (0)1642 447 298 E: info@uk-cpi.com W: www.uk-cpi.com