Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are industrially-recognised microorganisms for their lactic acid applications and for their probiotic benefits. Although the process is a well-known fermentation
that has been followed for a number of years, lactic acid bacteria suffer from substrate-inhibition and product-inhibition. Product inhibition is considered to be a key reason for not achieving biomass yield
and maximum theoretical conversion efficiency.
Conventionally, lime is used to reduce the product inhibition, but this process results in very high amounts of solid and liquid wastes that are high in salts and need to be treated before disposal.
Extractive lactic acid fermentation by using liquid-liquid extraction systems, membranes, adsorption resins in fed-batch fermentation mode is gaining attention as it takes care of the product and substrate inhibition.
Lactic acid bacteria are hetero- and homo-fermentative. However, this is not straightforward as, under slow growth rates, mixed acids will be formed even with homofermentative bacteria.
It is important to select the strains that are homo-fermentative, have no racemase activity, and are tolerant to inhibitors that are present in industrial by-product streams that have
significant amounts of: starch e.g. starch production and processing plants (potato, cassava, sweet potatoes etc); sugars (e.g. lactose whey permeate); and cellulose (e.g. paper industry streams).
How Celignis Can Help
At Celignis we have expertise and experience in screening lactic acid bacteria for the selection of substrate- and product-tolerant strains.. We can also develop:
fed-batch strategies to achieve high cell mass, and in situ product recovery techniques to separate lactic acid from the fermentation broth. Our experts
will work with you and develop bespoke lactic acid fermentation methods for your feedstock or industrial waste streams.
Propionic acid can be produced from a variety of substrates such as glucose, ethanol, lactose, glycerol, and pectin. So, several industrial streams
will be suitable to produce propionic acid, if the bacteria are adapted to the inhibitors present in the waste streams and fermentation is optimised to
achieve high cell densities and high product concentration.
We can perform anaerobic fermentations and develop fermentation strategies to achieve high cell mass and in-situ product recovery techniques.
We can screen your feedstock for propionic acid production, adapt the strain to any inhibitors present in the feed, and develop bespoke fermentation
and product recovery processes.
Butyric acid is biologically produced by Clostridium species and like other acids (acetic acid, lactic acid, propionic acid),
it is toxic to the bacteria after a certain concentration. Hence, the product titres are generally low which makes downstream expensive.
In order to reduce these costs, in situ removal of butyric acid can be developed. In situ removal strategies are not yet industrially applied for butyric acid, but
it is a key area where progress has to be made to make the process economically sustainable.
At Celignis, we have strong expertise in Clostridial fermentation. We can isolate and or adapt the strains that are suitable for your feedstock and can
develop fermentation strategies to reduce substrate and product inhibition. We will innovate with you for you.
Butanol fermentation is also one of the difficult fermentation pathways due to substrate and product inhibition. However, this can be
avoided by fed-batch fermentation and in-situ stripping of butanol. Also, reducing the feedstock and enzyme costs will make the process more
economically viable. Through using industrial waste streams (negative costs), enzymatic cocktails tailored for the feedstock (allowing low-enzyme dosages), and
with high sugar yields, the right choice of microbial strain, and an effective in-situ removal technology, it is possible to develop an economically-viable butanol process.
At Celignis, we have considerable expertise in Clostridial fermentation and especially butanol fermentation.
Our Chief Innovation Officer Dr Lalitha Gottumukkala has extensively worked in this area and has isolated novel strains and developed novel
methods for non-acetogenic butanol fermentation as part of her PhD.
Natural microbes that produce 1,3-Propanediol are Klebsiella, Clostridia, Citrobacter, Enterobacter
and Lactobacilli. They all use glycerol as a carbon source and produce 1,3-PDO through 3-hydroxypropionaldehyde route
using glycerol dehydratase enzymes and 1,3-propanediol oxidoreductase enzymes.
At Celignis, we have expertise and experience in performing anaerobic fermentations
and developing fermentation strategies to achieve high cell mass and in situ product recovery techniques. We can screen your feedstock for 1,3-Propanediol production,
adapt the strain to any inhibitors present in the feed, and develop bespoke fermentation and product recovery process.
PHA is one of the most complicated fermentation processes, but the possibility to use mixed microbial cultures and the avoidance of sterilisation costs
makes it an interesting process to produce bioplastics. Also, PHA blends are becoming more and more popular to increase the tensile strength and
flexibility of the polymer, possible by using mixed culture substrates.
At Celignis, we have experience in enrichment of desired microorganisms, fed-batch and continuous fermentations
with cell-recycling. We can design and develop the most suitable process for your feedstock by using mixed or mono-culture fermentations.
We can also develop cost-efficient downstream processing steps for efficient PHA extraction by using non-toxic and environmentally friendly techniques.
Yeast fermentation is one of the oldest fermentations and is used in everyday life to produce a variety of commodity products including bread, beer, wine,
cheese, and soy sauce. A few decades ago, yeast gained popularity as an industrial strain for biorefinery and biofuel applications.
Algal cultivation is complicated and requires optimisation to achieve high biomass yields. Algal biomass production depends on nutrient uptake and
other environmental conditions such as temperature, pH, salt concentration etc. It is important to select the strain based on the type of
production (open ponds, photobioreactors), feedstock and application. We have particular expertise in the evaluation and optimisation of algae thorugh
our Chief Innovation Officer, Lalitha, who is currently undertaking a Marie-Curie funded project at Celignis on this topic.
We are available to answer any questions you may have on how to get high value chemicals and biofuels from biomass through fermentation processes.
Just get in touch with us by sending us an email info@celignis.com, giving us a call at (+353) 61 371 725, or through
our contact form.
€1.6m Funding Success for Celignis in 2024 CBE-JU Calls
We have secured funding for involvement in 4 collaborative research projects
We are delighted to announce that Celignis has been successful in 4 project proposals submitted for funding to the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) programme.
These projects will provide funding of 1.6m EUR to Celignis over the next few years and build upon the 3 projects (worth 1.5m EUR) we secured last year and the 4 previous CBE/BBI projects that Celignis participated in.
Details on the projects are provided below:
WoodVALOR - This RIA project concerns the valorisation of contaminated/post-consumer wood waste (WW) via: (i) thermal conversion to biochar; and (ii) fractionation followed by conversions to paints & coatings ingredients. Celignis is involved in the chemo-enzymatic fractionation of decontaminated wood (DW) to sequentially extract/purify lignin and hemicellulose, and in developing hemicellulose-based emulsifiers/stabilizers and binder monomers for industrial formulations. Additionally, Celignis is involved in metals/mineral recovery from decontamination wastewater using
New Publication from a Celignis Bioprocess Development Project
The article, available in "Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery" is entitled "Process development for efficient pectin extraction from tobacco residues and its characterisation"
We are please to announce the publication of a peer-reviewed scientific article based on some of the research outputs of a Bioprocess Development Service (BDS) project undertaken by Celignis.
The article, entitled "Process development for efficient pectin extraction from tobacco residues and its characterisation" details the results of experiments targeting the optimised extraction of pectin from the laminae of a number of different varieties of tobacco plants. These tobacco-derived pectins were found to have a medium molecular weight and low methoxy content and our findings indicated that this feedstock could be suitable for the production of pectin with dietary applications.
Meeting takes place at the coordinator's (ITA) headquarters in Zaragoza, SPAIN
Celignis personnel are today attending the kick-off meeting of the CBE-JU project MANUREFINERY at the facilities of the project's coordinator (ITA) in Zaragoza, Spain.
MANUREFINERY concerns the development of a small, decentralised, modular biorefinery concept for farms that converts manure and ammonia emissions into seven marketable bio-ingredients (animal-feed proteins, caproic acid, and fertiliser salts/ashes). The solution integrates fixed/mobile units across three valorisation lines (gas, liquid, solid) and a digital twin for optimisation and scale-up, targeting TRL6-7 validation on four EU demo farms.
Celignis has a number of key roles in the project, including:
- Comprehensive analysis of the feedstocks and products of the process.
Meeting takes place at the coordinator's (AIMPLAS) headquarters in Valencia, Spain
PROMOFER, is an Innovation Action project funded by the CBE-JU, under topic HORIZON-JU-CBE-2023-IA-03 (Improve Fermentation Processes (Including Downstream Purification) To Final Bio-Based Products).
This project started in June 2024 with Celignis, an SME partner and full industry BIC member, playing a pivotal role in the project. Our core activities include undertaking the pre-treatment and hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass at scaled-up (TRL7, 1 m3) volumes. The resulting sugars are then provided to other partners for downstream fermentations.
Today Celignis's CIO Lalitha is attending the kick-off meeting of the project, at coordinator AIMPLAS's headquarters in Valencia, Spain.
We're attending the kick-off meeting for BIONEER in Trondheim, Norway (SINTEF)
Lalitha is attending the kick-off meeting of our CBE-JU project BIONEER, located at the coordinator's (SINTEF) premises in Trondheim, Norway.
BIONEER has the title "Scaled-up Production of Next-Generation Carbohydrate-Derived Building Blocks to Enhance the Competitiveness of a Sustainable European Chemicals Industry". It is a 4-year Innovation Action project with 7.5m EUR of funding provided by the CBE-JU.
Celignis plays a key role in BIONEER, being responsible for the scaled-up (TRL7) production of platform chemicals.
Thanks for contacting us. One of our representatives will be in contact with you shortly regarding your inquiry. If you ever have any questions that require immediate assistance, please call us at +353 61 371 725.
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