News

We are looking for someone to join the Celignis team and spearhead our growth and expansion into new markets and territories.

The position has a salary of €69.5k for one year, plus €20k of training and €3.5k in relocation funds.

Please click here for further information on the position and how to apply.

We are pleased to announce that we have been selected to be awarded funding, through the Horizon 2020 Innosup Innovation Associate programme, to recruit a top-class person to lead the development of our bioprocess concept into a patentable process and prototype product with clear commercial potential.

The SAPHIRE (Self-Assembling Plant-based Hydrogels Induced by Redox Enzymes) project focuses on the production of environmentally-friendly, 100% plant-based, superior-quality hydrogels for food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications.

The position has a salary of €69.5k for one year, plus €20k of training and €3.5k in relocation funds.

Please click here for further information on the position and how to apply.

Illinois-based Ibiocat, founded by Charles A. Abbas, and Ireland-based analytical provider Celignis, founded by Dan Hayes, have come together to develop bespoke bioeconomy solutions for clients that are looking to add value to their process residues generated from 1G and 2G ethanol plants.

Click here to read more about this exciting collaboration and here to download a promotional flyer.

This two-day event will see all 16 project partners discuss the progress made in the first 18 months of our Horizon 2020 project ENABLING and make plans for the activities to be undertaken in the second half of the project.

The focus of the project is on supporting the spreading of best practices and innovation in the provision (production, pre-processing) of biomass for the Bio-Based Industry (BBI).

Click here for more information on ENABLING.

We are happy to announce that the 4th newsletter of the ENABLING project has been released.

ENABLING is a coordinating and supporting action funded by the H2020-RUR-2017-1 call of the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme.

The title of the project is an acronym that stands for 'Enhance New Approaches in BioBased Local Innovation Networks for Growth'. The focus of the project is on supporting the spreading of best practices and innovation in the provision (production, pre-processing) of biomass for the Bio-Based Industry (BBI).

Celignis will play a key role in the project with regards to stressing the importance of biomass composition in terms of evaluating feedstock and technology suitability. Over the course of the project we will also be contacting a number of stakeholders, both in Ireland and overseas, and will be involved in the organisation of a number of networking events.

Click here to read the newsletter.

Today Celignis's Dan Hayes attended a bioeconomy seminar, entitled 'Trends in Environmental Biotechnology', at National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG).

The event was coordinated by the research group of Professor Piet Lens at the Department of Microbiology at NUI Galway. This group of 25 PhD and post-doctoral researchers was funded through an investment under the Science Foundation Ireland research professorship programme: 'Innovative energy technologies for bioenergy, biofuels & a sustainable Irish bioeconomy'.

At the seminar Dan Hayes gave a presentation, entitled 'How to Match Feedstock and Technology for Effective Resource Recovery', which covered the expertise of Celignis's personnel in the optimisation of bioproceses for industry.

Click here to download a copy of the presentation.

Biofuels Digest, a leading news platform for biofuels and the bioeconomy, today published an article on our unique rapid analysis models for determining the lignocellulosic composition of biomass. Click here to read the article.

Today we are at the SEAI Energy Show 2019 being held at the RDS in Dublin. We are pleased that activities in the bioeconomy in Ireland are starting to accelerate and we are eager to discuss with event attendees how our analysis can help them make the most of programmes such as the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat.

Today a workshop, entitled 'Building sustainable value chains for the bio-based industry', is being held at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany.

The event is being organised as part of our Biomass Based Industries Joint Undertaking project BIOrescue.

Click here to see the agenda for the workshop and here to register.

Dan's presentation can be downloaded here.

We are pleased to annouce that Lalitha's co-authored publication on the enzymatic synthesis of fructo-oligosaccharides has been released. Click here to view it.

Title: Amberlite IRA 900 versus calcium alginate in immobilization of a novel, engineered beta-fructofuranosidase for short-chain fructooligosaccharide synthesis from sucrose

Authors: Bedzo OKK, Trollope K, Gottumukkala LD, Coetzee G, Gorgens JF

Abstract

The immobilization of beta-fructofuranosidase for short-chain fructooligosaccharide (scFOS) synthesis holds the potential for a more efficient use of the biocatalyst. However, the choice of carrier and immobilization technique is a key to achieving that efficiency. In this study, calcium alginate (CA), Amberlite IRA 900 (AI900) and Dowex Marathon MSA (DMM) were tested as supports for immobilizing a novel engineered beta-fructofuranosidase from Aspergillus japonicus for scFOS synthesis. Several immobilization parameters were estimated to ascertain the effectiveness of the carriers in immobilizing the enzyme. The performance of the immobilized biocatalysts are compared in terms of the yield of scFOS produced and reusability. The selection of carriers and reagents was motivated by the need to ensure safety of application in the production of food-grade products. The CA and AI900 both recorded impressive immobilization yields of 82 and 62%, respectively, while the DMM recorded 47%. Enzyme immobilizations on CA, AI900 and DMM showed activity recoveries of 23, 27, and 17%, respectively. The CA, AI900 immobilized and the free enzymes recorded their highest scFOS yields of 59, 53, and 61%, respectively. The AI900 immobilized enzyme produced a consistent scFOS yield and composition for 12 batch cycles but for the CA immobilized enzyme, only 6 batch cycles gave a consistent scFOS yield. In its first record of application in scFOS production, the AI900 anion exchange resin exhibited potential as an adequate carrier for industrial application with possible savings on cost of immobilization and reduced technical difficulty.

We are pleased to be exhibiting today at Bioenergy Future Ireland, the 18th national conference of IrBEA, the Irish Bioenergy Agency.

The event is taking place at Croke Park in Dublin and we are happy to talk with anyone attending about how our analysis can help them make the best use of their biomass feedstocks and optimise their biomass valorisation technologies.

We are particularly looking forward to helping companies move forward in their plans to grow the anerobic digestion industry in Ireland.

We are recruiting for a person who will undertake a post-doc position at Celignis. It will involve leading Celignis's activities in the prestigious European Union Horizon 2020 project UNRAVEL, run by the Biomass Based Industries Joint Undertaking, that we are currently involved in.

The position is available for immediate start.

Click here for more information.

Over the next two days Celignis will be hosting the other 9 project partners of the Biomass Based Industries Joint Undertaking project UNRAVEL in Limerick for the month 9 review meeting.

UNRAVEL addresses topic 2017.R2 of the 2017 BBI Work Programme - "Innovative technologies for the pre-treatment and serparation of lignocellulosic feedstock and complex composition streams into valuable fractions while maintaining key characteristics".

Celignis is leader of Work Package 2 which concerns the detailed analysis of selected feedstocks, with a particular focus on extractives composition, and the optimisation of a pre-extraction process that could improve the yields and product qualities in subsequent pre-treatment. Intial studies have shown that this pre-extraction is particularly effective in increasing the homogeneity of the feedstock composition and the purity of biorefinery products.

Click here to read more about our involvement in UNRAVEL.

Celignis's Lalitha Gottumukkala chapter on Solid State Fermentation, entitled 'Solid-State Fermentation: Current Trends and Future Prospects', has been updated. Click here to view the book.