Partner to enhance production in Biorefining

Starting in January 2016 the project is part of Innovate UK’s ​‘production of commodity, platform and intermediate chemicals and materials industrial biotechnology challenge’.

The project will progress an innovative technology which suspends unnecessary cell metabolism and growth while maintaining the production of chemical products, a state known as quiescence. The advantage of quiescent cell technology (Q‑Cells) is the abiity to maintain productivity whilst reducing feedstock utilisation and waste generation. The technology will be investigated using industrially relevant process parameters under scaled-down conditions. This study will assess the techno-commercial potential of the technology to improve the competitiveness of industrial biotechnology to produce bulk chemicals. The project will continue to develop and translate previous research undertaken by Dr David Summers, Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge. David has developed the proof-of-concept technology for Q‑Cells in E. coli.

CPI will lead the project at its headquarters in Wilton working alongside the University of Cambridge. The partnership combines the process knowledge and industrial network of CPI with the academic expertise in microbial genetics, synthetic biology and strain engineering of the University of Cambridge. The project will evaluate the Q‑Cell performance under process relevant conditions by monitoring the production of 3‑hydroxybutyrate, a chiral molecule which is a building block for biodegradable polymers (bioplastics).

The UK chemicals industry has a turnover of >£57bn, of which £4 – 12bn will be generated from industrial biotechnology by 2025. More specifically, bioplastics, a replacement for hydrocarbon plastics, is a rapidly expanding market predicted to grow from 1.4M T in 2012 to over 6M T by 2017.