• Bioprocess Development
    By a Lab Dedicated to Advancing the Bioeconomy



At Celignis we have a dedicated bioprocess group with a team of experts that can design and develop the best suited biomass conversion technologies for your choice of feedstock and products.

Have surplus feedstock or process residue and want to valorise it?
Want to make a product and need help in selecting the feedstock and process?
Already have a running process and want to increase the revenue?

We can help you from stage 0 to complete process and product development. We can be your consultant or research lab or both.

Extraction





We develop bespoke extraction methods suitable for your needs with high selectivity, efficiency and low environment impact. Plant biomass, macro and micro algae are rich in bioactive compounds which are considered highly valuable in food, feed, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. But for efficient extraction of these components, in depth knowledge of the biomass and desired component is required to develop the most suited, sustainable and environment friendly process for optimum product yield and purity.

Extraction of desired component in high purity is usually a multi-step process. Pretreatment of the biomass such as reduction of particle size is the very first step of extraction process. Generally smaller the particle size, higher the extraction efficiency.

However, too fine particles can increase the solvent holding capacity of the biomass which will eventually cause issues in product recovery. Pretreatment is generally followed by extraction. Extraction method is decided based on thermal stability, polarity and functional groups of the compound of interest. Traditionally maceration and percolation are used for thermo-labile compounds, while decoction, reflux extraction and Soxhlet extraction were used for thermo-resistant compounds. Maceration and percolation are time-consuming processes, while decoction, reflux and Soxhlet extraction are known to degrade the products and reduce yields. In order to extract the desired compounds in their most natural form (non-degraded and non-modified) alternative green extraction technologies such as micro-wave, pressurised liquid extraction, ultra-sound, enzymes, super-critical CO2, pulsed electric field, hydrodynamic cavitation etc are preferred. An extraction technology can be called “Green” if the feedstock is renewable, product is not hazardous, catalyst or solvent used is reaction specific and eco-friendly, extraction process is energy and chemical efficient, zero or less eco-toxic bi-products.

While developing the extraction method for the desired product, it is important to know the regulations of the product in the market region. For example, extraction of cannabinoids is done by using solvents or supercritical CO2, but as they are considered a novel food in Europe, you cannot sell CBD extracted with these methods in the EU unless you obtain a novel food licence. However, cold pressed oil from hemp seeds and other parts of hemp can be sold without any license requirement.


At Celignis, we can help you in developing the best suited economically viable green extraction method for your product based on the feedstock, application and market regulations. We can also optimise your current method of extraction by either developing a bolt-on solution or by modifying the process parameters such as solvent type, concentration, time, temp, pressure etc.

Get more info...Full Extractives





Pretreatment





To increase the extraction efficiency and/bioprocess conversion of biomass, several pretreatment methods are followed. The harvested biomass is sorted and cleaned before the pretreatment to avoid any contaminants. The choice of pretreatment varies with the biomass and the end-product requirement. In bioconversion process, pretretament is followed by enzymatic hydrolysis to release the monomers for fermentation.


Get more info...Pre-treatment Methods





Enzymes





Enzymes play key role in environment friendly, selective conversion of biomass to desired product. In most of the cases, enzymes cannot act directly on feedstock and requires pretreatment. The most commonly known industrial enzymes are

Amylases: Converts starch to glucose
Cellulases: Converts cellulose to glucose
Xylanases: Converts xylan to xylose
Lignin modifying enzymes (LMEs): Catalyses breakdown of lignin
Lipases: Hydrolyses fats to free fatty acids
Proteases: Hydrolyses proteins to peptides and amino acids

Speciality enzymes such as carrageenase, agarase, laminarinase are reported for seaweed extractions and processing, however they should be used in combination with other enzymes to achieve required yields. Currently, enzymatic extraction of seaweed is still in its infancy due to the lack of efficient enzyme cocktail for that application. At Celignis, we use our biomass expertise and enzymes knowledge to develop a bespoke enzyme solution (from currently available commercial cocktails) for your process needs. We take an impartial approach in screening and selection of enzymes in order to deliver best results.

We can optimise your current enzymatic process by identifying the required accessory enzymes to reduce the overall enzyme dosage and increase the yields and productivity.

We can help you to switch from chemical process to enzymatic process through a very smooth transition ensuring high product quality and low costs.

Get more info...Enzymes





Fermentation





Fermentation is a well-known industrial process; however, development of fermentation process requires knowledge of biomass, microbes used for fermentation, nutrient media, fermentation conditions, etc. Fermentation can be divided in to four types

Bacterial fermentation
Yeast fermentation
Fungal fermentation
Algal fermentation

Get more info...Fermentation







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