Rational Fermentation Scaleup: Response of Metabolic Kinetics to Hydrodynamic Variability

Lead organization: Iowa State University

Project partners: Cargill, Geno

Year launched: 2022 

Researchers at Iowa State University, together with their industry partners Cargill and Genomatica, are developing a state-of-the-art methodology for fermenter design and scale-up. Translating fermentation technologies developed in a laboratory into large-scale manufacturing facilities is an essential but high-risk endeavor. However, current practices are expensive, time consuming, and largely based on empiricism, which severely limits their success rates and can result in processes that are expensive to build and operate. This project will help mitigate the intrinsic risks of fermentation scaleup by developing scaledown tools, guidelines, and best practices. Researchers at each of the project participants will focus on fermentation scaledown before scaling up, i.e. the simulation of the manufacturing-scale fermentation process in computational models and laboratory equipment. The resulting generalized framework for rational scaleup will be translatable to different microbial strains and processes and, therefore, help accelerate technology commercialization in the biomanufacturing industry.

Funding source: BioMADE Project Call 1.0