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Arbiom demonstrates scale-up of wood-to-food technology
Biotechnology pioneer Arbiom achieves continuous process operations in demonstration programme of its wood-to-food technology.
Arbiom, an agricultural-biotechnology company developing solutions to convert wood into protein for feed and food applications, announces that it has successfully achieved a critical step in its Demonstration Programme by completing continuous, stable operation of its fermentation technology over a seven-day period without contamination or product quality issues.
Throughout the Demonstration Programme, fermentation and downstream process stages ran smoothly and continuously, to successfully produce over a half-ton of SylPro, which exceeded Arbiom’s initial target. To complete the continuous run, Arbiom worked with BBEPP, a partner in the SYLFEED Consortium, at BBEPP’s facility in Belgium.
Transitioning from batch to continuous operations is essential in scaling-up the company’s industrial biotechnology to commercial production, as this achievement strongly improves process economics of a representative commercial production facility.
Continuous operation of Arbiom’s fermentation process in partnership with BBEPP is a significant achievement in commercializing the company’s technology to economically produce SylPro, a protein-rich ingredient, from wood as a feedstock. SylPro is a nutritional, sustainable protein-rich ingredient for feed and food applications.
“This significant achievement is a testament to our strong collaboration with Arbiom and the dedication of everyone on the team,” said Muriel Dewilde, Business Development Manager with BBEPP. “We look forward to working with Arbiom to build on this successful demonstration as the company continues to scale-up its process technology,” Dewilde said.
“We are very pleased to have achieved this latest advancement in commercialisation of Arbiom’s technology, with continuous operation and stable, robust process performance, at Demonstration-scale,” said Marc Chevrel, Arbiom CEO. “It is a critical milestone for Arbiom’s team and partners, who are dedicated to the success of Arbiom’s mission: To lead the future of food production by commercializing Wood-to-Food technology, as a nutritional, sustainable solution to feed society without harming the planet,” said Chevrel.
To date, Arbiom has completed more than 1,500 hours of process scale-up operations. By the end of 2020 Arbiom will have run its bioconversion process continuously at the 15m3 scale (15,000 litres) as part of the critical path within the company’s Demonstration Programme.
