Commercialization of fermentation processes: The value of contracted piloting

Scale up and piloting of fermentation processes is expensive.  It is crucial to understand what the demands of your intended commercial system are.  This will drive laboratory development so that key decision points are addressed with commercial targets in mind.  In fact, it is more expensive than most people believe it can be.  It is even more expensive if you don’t do it right.    That means piloting at a commercially relevant scale.  Some pilot plants still use a variety of lab scale apparati and control systems that are not reproducible at commercial scale.  This requires even more piloting or demonstration scale operations that pile on more expense.  At the same time, piloting at a commercially relevant scale should not forgo many of the highly analytical techniques used in the laboratory to better understand any differences in process trends attributable to increased scale.  Fermentation pilot plants that provide these types of facilities, equipment, and services are worth every penny they cost.  In the end, they save the technology provider costs of facilities and equipment that are of passing value, they provide a trained staff familiar with the challenges of scale up, and they are able to produce data and quantities test product required to move forward to commercialization.