Decarbonizing our economies within the race to struggle local weather change calls for a wholesale overhauling of all types of manufacturing processes to make them as sustainable as attainable. Greening chemical substances, that are used as components in all types of merchandise, is the place U.Ok. startup Deep Blue Biotech is placing its energies.
The biotech startup based in May 2023 is constructing a enterprise round a photosynthesis-based type of biomanufacturing that can allow it to fabricate chemical substances in a extra environmentally pleasant approach than typical manufacturing strategies, comparable to refining fossil fuels.
The startup additionally claims its technique can obtain value parity with typical chemical manufacturing for the reason that genetically engineered microorganism it’s utilizing to provide the chemical substances solely requires feeding with comparatively low-cost components: gentle, water and CO2.
It says this contrasts favorably with precision fermentation, one other microbe-based manufacturing technique that requires extra pricey feedstock (comparable to sugar), too.
Cyanobacteria
Deep Blue Biotech is working with a pressure of cyanobacteria — also referred to as blue-green algae (however word these single-celled microorganisms are literally prokaryotes, quite than algae) — utilizing genetic engineering and computational modelling to show micro organism which is usually colloquially often called “pond scum” into microscopic manufacturing factories for inexperienced chemical substances.
The startup says its technique is “net-positive” when it comes to carbon emissions, which means the method removes extra CO2 than it produces, since cyanobacteria eat the greenhouse fuel throughout photosynthesis.
It additionally claims its bioengineering method means it could actually produce extra efficacious chemical substances. It needs to enhance on earlier trade makes an attempt to formulate extra sustainable (chemical) components which regularly led to much less efficient merchandise, making for a harder promote to customers.
These are “inexperienced chemical substances” that can ship on each sustainability and efficiency, is Deep Blue Biotech’s pitch.
“The first technology of inexperienced chemical substances, sadly, they simply sucked,” co-founder Manuel Rios, a former VP of sustainable design at Unilever, tells TechCrunch. “They had been simply costlier and fewer efficacious, and we have to counteract that impact that occurred within the final 10 years.”
“What we begin to see with artificial biology, typically, is due to how we create and design the molecules, you may really go and purpose for performance — which is one thing that we weren’t capable of do up to now,” he additionally tells us.
“So we create that new technology of sustainable supplies, new technology of inexperienced chemical substances, which can be environmentally acutely aware — however primarily they’re superior in performance. That is what we need to create.”
Cost-effective components
The value of manufacturing the chemical substances could be one other key promoting level, relying on the trade vertical it’s focusing on, per Rios. The startup is utilizing computational modelling to find out which chemical substances are cost-effective to focus on the novel manufacturing technique at.
“We have chosen, chemical substances which can be north of $2,000-$3,000 per kilo, which permits us to have wholesome margins whereas nonetheless delivering a reduction versus the incumbent expertise,” he suggests.
Deep Blue Biotech is beginning with a gross sales pitch geared toward magnificence & cosmetics firms. Rios says the textile trade will probably observe — the place it might be pitching apparel-makers on extra environmentally pleasant cloth dyes.
The first substance it’s producing is hyaluronic acid, an ingredient in varied skincare merchandise and beauty remedies that may even have medical makes use of.
“We’re not going to avoid wasting the world with cosmetics however … what we’re making an attempt to do with that trade particularly is we imagine [it] has the flexibility to alter perceptions,” he says, including: “We imagine a accomplice like the sweetness trade — with excessive ranges of engagements — will enable us [to be] simpler.”
Cosmetics additionally supply a faster path to market in comparison with another functions it may have targeted on.
Rios notes the group had initially thought of producing biofuels — however determined it might take too lengthy to translate from lab to market. And he stresses they’re eager to have a optimistic influence sooner quite than later.
While there was curiosity in photosynthetic biomanufacturing prior to now — together with for producing biofuels — Rios suggests commercialization has been held again by low manufacturing charges. The startup reckons it’s made a breakthrough thanks to make use of of a comparatively lately found excessive productiveness pressure of cyanobacteria.
“The primary benefit that this pressure has is it’s 3 times sooner [growing] than some other pressure of cyanobacteria ever found and has seven occasions extra productiveness. So that sort of breaks the barrier when it comes to commercialization,” he suggests.
Pre-seed
It’s nonetheless early days for Deep Blue Biotech, which is saying an $800,000 pre-seed spherical to maintain constructing in the direction of a business MVP — a “small-scale demonstrator” of manufacturing on this context.
The spherical was led by Sustainable Ventures, with participation from One Planet Capital, PCSI, and SFC Capital. It additionally included two Innovate UK grants.
The funding might be used to kick off their first paid pilots, getting into into joint improvement agreements with clients to include the Deep Blue Biotech’s hyaluronic acid into their very own merchandise. (Rios notes they’ve a number of letters of intent signed with cosmetics companies it hopes might be future clients, together with his former employer.)
Additionally, they’ll use the capital to search out their second ingredient (most likely the aforementioned textile dye).
Part of the funding may also be spent on submitting a patent utility, in keeping with Rios, who confirms they intend to take steps to make sure their method is defensible. Growing the group to increase in-house experience in bioprocess engineering can also be on the playing cards, he says.
“We are within the experimental section as a result of we’re doing the dimensions up and the genetic engineering in parallel,” he tells us.
“Every vertical [we target] would have a unique business technique,” he provides. “But on the finish of the day, the dimensions up of this expertise — to start with, the truth that the downstream processing is so easy — it offers a really clear aggressive benefit versus some other expertise.”
He additionally suggests having a “modular” manufacturing course of is one other key element that may help quick scaling. Photobioreactors are used to create the suitable atmosphere to domesticate cyanobacteria. Unlike the stainless steel vats which can be typical of precision fermentation techniques, these machines function clear tubes to let in gentle, so the light-sensitive microorganism can feed and develop.
Rios says that including extra tubes permits for capability to simply be scaled up. “The approach the system is interconnected is in batches,” he says, additional noting: “We are working with [partners] which have this capability.”
In phrases of rivals, he name-checks the French biotech Microphyt, which has been working with microalgae for a few years, and inked a strategic partnership with cosmetics big L’Oréal again in 2022, as “attention-grabbing.” But he suggests their focus is “barely completely different.”
Another firm he mentions that’s working with cyanobacteria particularly — and utilizing the identical pressure — is Australia-based Bondi Bio.
“One of our benefits is, I do know what had been the suitable buttons to push within the trade,” Rios provides, on its positioning out there. “So we designed a selected hyaluronic acid … that we knew [would] have very quick traction out there, a low molecular weight hyaluronic acid with a selected property [of high skin penetration].”
