Upscaling Industrial Biotechnology: Pathways, Networks, Bottlenecks

Modern industrial biotechnology – now brimming with fermentation opportunities  – has entered the “Valley of Death,” a risky period when exciting R&D must be transformed into positive cash flow …… or perish.  History is marked by both successful journeys (e.g., antibiotics, nutrients, organic acids, polysaccharides, proteins and ethanol) and unsuccessful ones (e.g., chemurgy, single-cell protein).  What are key technical success factors in scaling up the current wave of industrial fermentation chemicals and fuels, as well as critical areas for improvement going forward?

Frankly, all of the scale-up success factors could be viewed as “tried-and-true….. nothing new”:  design for purpose; secure feedstock, utilities, coproducts, regulatory approvals; global process integration; process validation; construction quality/cost/schedule; robust plant commissioning, start-up and operation.  But it’s essential to recognize that a) all these elements are necessary to get scale-up done right and b) omissions, compromises, short-cuts and/or fundamental errors can be fatal.  Insights and guidance will be offered on how to maximize the chances of scale-up success.

To this point, modern projects that have crossed the Valley of Death take too long and cost too much.  Looking forward, improvement can be expected through iterative learning (e.g., the ethanol learning curve in Brazil; e.g., amino acids; e.g., industrial enzymes).  More specifically, here are technical areas that will be described in terms of their potential impact on timeline and cost:  feedstock and microbes for purpose; product tolerance; waste minimization; effective screening for improved microbe performance; data access and mining (bioinformatics); anaerobic fermentation; continuous fermentation; effective process translation.