HIGH RISK, HIGH PROFITS
How C3 Biotech uses bacteria to produce acrylic glass
Your Challenge:
Circular Biomanufacturing
Until now, our manufacturing processes have almost entirely been based on the use of newly, mined raw materials with not enough coming from the recycling of waste streams. This places an enormous burden on the environment and our society. In addition, dependencies remain in global supply chains that could be reduced through access to local materials.
Instead, we can create a circular economy in which new products are manufactured locally, using valorized waste streams as a source for raw materials, to build more sustainable and resilient production platforms.
To achieve this, biomanufacturing processes must be developed to market maturity and directly integrated with modern production processes. Scientific advances in recent years have produced new findings and methods that can significantly increase the performance of biomanufacturing processes and open up new application possibilities. Although alternative ways of producing a wide range of products to replace the conventional petrochemical or chemical manufacturing processes have gone to market, breakthroughs have so far only been achieved in niche applications. We need to reach the goal where the majority of bulk products are made through biomanufacturing processes that enable the use of locally available raw materials.
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The challenge: to develop an end-to-end prototype that processes various carbonaceous waste streams into new products as a continuous bioproduction process.
The prototype must demonstrate how carbonaceous waste streams can be processed and fed to microbes as food. The overall bioproduction process shall not use E. Coli or Saccharomyces cerevisiae and shall demonstrate continuous production over a period of at least 180 days during the Challenge. At the end of the process, at least three different products should be produced using a modern manufacturing process, such as additive manufacturing.
The Challenge runs over a three-year period. A panel of globally recognized experts will assist SPRIND in evaluating the applications and select up to eight teams to participate. During the Challenge period, teams further develop their bioproduction technology to achieve the Challenge goal.
Teams participating in this Challenge are fully challenged. SPRIND therefore provides intensive and individual support. This includes funding the teams with up to €1.5 million in Stage 1 of the Challenge, which started in November 2023. In order to unleash the full potential, SPRIND also provides a coach to accompany each team's work, advise them and network them. After one year and after two years, the jury reconvenes in each case to evaluate the interim status and decide which approaches have the greatest breakthrough innovation potential and which teams can prove themselves in the Challenge until the end.
In October 2024, the expert jury, on behalf of SPRIND, selected the participants for the second phase of the Circular Biomanufacturing
Challenge. Over the next 12 months, the six teams will each receive up to 2 million euros to further develop their technology. The teams will also be supported by SPRIND, advised, and connected with additional experts and coaches. After one year, the jury will assess the progress of the developments and decide which teams will advance to the third stage of the Challenge.
The Teams
Science Youtuber Jacob Beautemps introduces the Challenge teams at Breaking Lab
Do you have further questions?
Please feel free to contact us at challenge@sprind.org.
More about this topic
More Challenges and Funken
Prof. Nigel Scrutton likes to swim against the tide. He always has.
I am quite a stubborn individual. So if someone gives me a difficult problem, I stick to it.The 61-year-old has spent many years of his life working on quantum effects in proteins.
Other scientists thought I was crazy. But I stuck with it for 20 years and finally got it to the point where it's an acceptable idea and now it's mainstream.He himself has long since moved on. He has been working in synthetic biology since 2000.
So when people tell me that you'll never be able to make commodity chemicals using biology because of the cost barriers, I say, well, okay, give me 10 years and I'll try to do it.He admits:
I might fail, but I am prepared to embrace failure.
The bacterium produces a biological precursor molecule. This is chemically converted into a monomer and finally polymerised into PMMA – also known as acrylic glass – in the final step of the process.
To illustrate the potential, C3 Biotech has already produced a torch lens and small building blocks that look like toy bricks. At the moment, however, the focus is entirely on the production of PMMA. For the future the scientist sees a particularly good area of application:
PMMA can be 3D printed, it can be cast or injection moulded, you can make a whole range of different types of products based on it,says the biochemist, explaining the potential applications of acrylic glass.
To illustrate the potential, C3 Biotech has already produced a torch lens and small building blocks that look like toy bricks. At the moment, however, the focus is entirely on the production of PMMA. For the future the scientist sees a particularly good area of application:
Children's toys are usually made from petroleum-based plastics. But many parents are very concerned about sustainability. I think there is definitely a market we could tap into.
In 2015, Nigel Scrutton founded C3 Biotech, a spin-off from the University of Manchester, where he is a professor of biophysical chemistry. The company specializes in the construction of pilot plants. For SPRIND's Circular Biomanufacturing Challenge, the CSO wants to build pilot plants that can convert waste streams into acrylic glass anywhere in the world.
Specifically, the company is working on fermentation with a salt-loving bacteria that can feed on various agricultural waste.
Specifically, the company is working on fermentation with a salt-loving bacteria that can feed on various agricultural waste.
This could be waste from sugar beet, starch from the potato industry or waste from biodiesel plants. Fatty acids are also possible,Nigel Scrutton lists and proudly adds:
The bacterium is not fussy – it makes chemicals from a wide range of wastes.
Until then, however, several hurdles remain:
To support this vision, the company builds its own fermenters – cost-effective, customised and patented.
When you work in biomanufacturing, you usually operate under sterile conditions. We don't. And that's incredibly risky.Nigel Scrutton sums up:
The biggest risk is contamination. If the process is contaminated, the product cannot be successfully produced.So why take the risk?
Because the benefits and profits are enormous. In theory, you can use much cheaper equipment if you grow bacteria under non-sterile conditions,explains the scientist.
The current industry standard is to use fermenters, which are very expensive to buy and operate. That's why we set out to radically rethink biomanufacturing.
To support this vision, the company builds its own fermenters – cost-effective, customised and patented.
The reactors we have developed are quite simple. The biggest challenge we have is that we are in the field of commodity chemicals,says Nigel Scrutton. This means that the industrial plants are huge. C3 Biotech wants to produce at least 10,000 tonnes of PMMA per year using a process that is economically viable.
In general, Nigel Scrutton focuses on collaboration:
The 61-year-old is passionate about making it all work:
It's not just about C3, but also about our subcontractors, SPRIND and the mentors: We all work together. We have a common agenda because we all want it to work.He affirms:
It can't be done alone.
The 61-year-old is passionate about making it all work:
I'm no spring chicken, but I'm not thinking of retiring.The Briton is driven not only by the idea of sustainability, but above all by his European perspective:
The world is becoming more fragmented and politically uncomfortable. We have lost a lot of our manufacturing capacity. Everything is done in the US or China. It's important to me that we produce more locally again. I want to do something innovative that also makes a difference in Europe.
SPRIND gives us the freedom to try very risky technology developments because it embraces the idea that failure is part of the process
SPRIND gives us the freedom to try very risky technology developments because it embraces the idea that failure is part of the process,says Nigel Scrutton, summarising the benefit of the challenge programme and admitting:
And we fail many times.As a result, he particularly appreciates the freedom his company is given to explore new directions.
That wouldn't be possible with normal venture capital funding.
In addition to the funding, he finds the SPRIND mentoring programme particularly enriching:
The mentors are as enthusiastic as we are, but they are also critical friends. They point out obstacles and give us important advice.
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