Arbiom successfully achieved a critical step in its demonstration program by completing continuous, stable operation of its fermentation technology over a seven-day period without contamination or product quality issues. Throughout the demonstration program, 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.
“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 the commercialization 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: lead the future of food production by commercializing wood-to-food technology, as a nutritional, sustainable solution to feeding 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 15 m3 scale (15,000 liters) as part of the critical path within the company’s demonstration program.
