US-primarily based industrial biotech corporation, Industrial Microbes (iMicrobes), has introduced the successful scaled manufacturing of a 100% bio-based, high-purity acrylic acid via advanced fermentation technology.
With backing from BioMADE, a public-private Manufacturing Innovation Institute (MII) funded by the US Department of Defense, the accomplishment represents a big step toward decarbonizing one of the chemical industry’s most ubiquitous materials. Acrylic acid is important to hundreds of applications, and its market is projected to attain $18-bn by 2030.
“This venture is a great example of how US bio-industrial production can supply essential materials without depending on foreign inputs,” stated Mr. Ashley Arnell, Technology Program Manager at BioMADE.
From lab to market
In collaboration with the incorporated Bioprocessing Research Lab (IBRL), iMicrobes has quickly scaled its proprietary bioprocess from gram-scale to 20-kg manufacturing batches, whilst increasing fermenter volume from 2-litre to at least 1,500-litre reactors. “This dramatic 750x rise shows the technology’s scalability for commercial deployment,” the corporation stated.
“We have developed an elegant bio technique that can make bio-primarily based chemicals economically competitive with petro-chemicals,” stated Mr. Noah Helman, CEO and co-founder of iMicrobes. “By engineering our technique with price as an rigid design constraint, we’ve built a solution which can compete on economics and give net-zero materials.”
The corporation’s breakthrough lies in its streamlined manufacturing method. Using ethanol as a renewable feedstock and its proprietary engineered micro organisms, the iMicrobes bioprocess combines multiple chemical reactions in a single reactor at moderate temperatures. Their progressive purification method eliminates toxic solvents and complex extraction steps, permitting for a potential cost benefits as compared to traditional methods.
The iMicrobes platform technology extends beyond acrylic acid to other associated chemicals which includes acrylonitrile, that’s used to make sturdy and light weight carbon fibre. The acrylonitrile approach leverages the same bioprocess coupled with different downstream chemical reaction, increasing the product development cycle and shortening the time-to-market for bio-acrylonitrile.
iMicrobes stated it has secured more than one Letters of Intent from industrial partners throughout the value chain and is actively exploring additional partnerships.
“The chemical industry, as well as consumer brands, are hungry for bio based, drop-in solutions that don’t compromise on overall performance or economics,” stated Mr. Helman.
