Decarbonizing our economies within the race to combat local weather change calls for a wholesale overhauling of all kinds of manufacturing processes to make them as sustainable as doable. Greening chemical substances, that are used as substances in all kinds of merchandise, is the place U.Okay. startup Deep Blue Biotech is placing its energies.
The biotech startup based in Might 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 method than typical manufacturing strategies, comparable to refining fossil fuels.
The startup additionally claims its technique can obtain value parity with typical chemical manufacturing because the genetically engineered microorganism it’s utilizing to supply the chemical substances solely requires feeding with comparatively low-cost substances: gentle, water and CO2.
It says this contrasts favorably with precision fermentation, one other microbe-based manufacturing technique that requires extra expensive feedstock (comparable to sugar), too.
Cyanobacteria
Deep Blue Biotech is working with a pressure of cyanobacteria — also called blue-green algae (however be aware these single-celled microorganisms are literally prokaryotes, moderately than algae) — utilizing genetic engineering and computational modelling to show micro organism which is usually colloquially referred to as “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 devour the greenhouse gasoline throughout photosynthesis.
It additionally claims its bioengineering method means it may possibly produce extra efficacious chemical substances. It needs to enhance on earlier business makes an attempt to formulate extra sustainable (chemical) substances 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 primary era 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, usually, is due to how we create and design the molecules, you’ll be able to truly go and goal for performance — which is one thing that we weren’t in a position to do previously,” he additionally tells us.
“So we create that new era of sustainable supplies, new era of inexperienced chemical substances, which are environmentally aware — however primarily they’re superior in performance. That’s what we wish to create.”
Value-effective substances
The price of producing the chemical substances may be one other key promoting level, relying on the business vertical it’s concentrating 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 now have chosen, chemical substances which are north of $2,000-$3,000 per kilo, which permits us to have wholesome margins whereas nonetheless delivering a reduction versus the incumbent know-how,” he suggests.
Deep Blue Biotech is beginning with a gross sales pitch geared toward magnificence & cosmetics firms. Rios says the textile business will doubtless observe — the place it might be pitching apparel-makers on extra environmentally pleasant cloth dyes.
The primary substance it’s producing is hyaluronic acid, an ingredient in numerous skincare merchandise and beauty therapies that may even have medical makes use of.
“We’re not going to save lots of the world with cosmetics however … what we’re making an attempt to do with that business particularly is we imagine [it] has the power to alter perceptions,” he says, including: “We imagine a associate like the sweetness business — with excessive ranges of engagements — will permit us [to be] simpler.”
Cosmetics additionally provide a faster path to market in comparison with another purposes it may have targeted on.
Rios notes the crew 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 moderately than later.
Whereas 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 not too long ago found excessive productiveness pressure of cyanobacteria.
“The principle benefit that this pressure has is it’s 3 times sooner [growing] than every other pressure of cyanobacteria ever found and has seven instances extra productiveness. In order that type 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 industrial 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 will likely be used to kick off their first paid pilots, coming 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 will likely be future clients, together with his former employer.)
Moreover, they’ll use the capital to search out their second ingredient (most likely the aforementioned textile dye).
A part of the funding will even 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. Rising the crew to broaden in-house experience in bioprocess engineering can also be on the playing cards, he says.
“We’re within the experimental part as a result of we’re doing the size up and the genetic engineering in parallel,” he tells us.
“Each vertical [we target] would have a special industrial technique,” he provides. “However on the finish of the day, the size up of this know-how — initially, the truth that the downstream processing is so easy — it provides a really clear aggressive benefit versus every other know-how.”
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 fitting surroundings to domesticate cyanobacteria. In contrast to the chrome steel vats which are 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 way in which the system is interconnected is in batches,” he says, additional noting: “We’re working with [partners] which have this capability.”
By way of opponents, 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.” However he suggests their focus is “barely totally different.”
One other firm he mentions that’s working with cyanobacteria particularly — and utilizing the identical pressure — is Australia-based Bondi Bio.
“Considered one of our benefits is, I do know what had been the fitting buttons to push within the business,” Rios provides, on its positioning available in the market. “So we designed a particular hyaluronic acid … that we knew [would] have very quick traction available in the market, a low molecular weight hyaluronic acid with a particular property [of high skin penetration].”
