How to build new eco-designed biotransformation routes ? – NewEco-Routes

In order to develop the proposed methodology, the project is divided into 5 work packages: 4 scientific work packages and 1 work package dealing with project management.
The 4 scientific WPs are thought out iteratively in spiral model
WP1 concerns the definition of an initial methodology for new eco-biotransformations.
WP2 is dedicated to the acquisition of data on unit operations developed in the project i.e. the microbial reaction and the separation process. These experimental data will allow the development of relevant mathematical models which will be integrated into
WP3 deals with the integration of unit operation models (existing or developed in the project) in a process simulator and its coupling to a life cycle analysis tool.
WP4 will carry out environmental impact calculations, in particular by considering the influence of operating conditions in order to move towards a decision support tool. The results of WP4 will thus make it possible to modify the V0 version of the bioprocess to a V1 version, considering both the economic and environmental impacts.
A new cycle of the spiral then takes place to improve the process and obtain a V2 version, and so on.

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To be sustainable, bioeconomy routes must integrate both environmental, social and economic issues. Using biotechnological processes is a promising way to produce added-value molecules from various renewable biomass resources and by-products. Relevant and efficient combinations of unit operations must be involved to transform available resource(s) into chemical(s) integrating economic and environmental assessments at early stage. This project proposes the development of a methodology for optimizing a bioprocess which considers both production performance (productivity, yield, titer), extraction (yield, selectivity, purity) and the environmental footprint (LCA, Life Cycle Assessment). By combining (bio)chemical engineering models with environmental assessment (LCA), the objective will be to optimize the overall integrated process by considering multiple criteria at the same time, including an emerging approach of coupling bioconversion and recovery, and therefore to find sustainable (bio)production chain configurations.

As a proof of concept, the proposed methodology is based on the environmental assessment of a microbial transformation process of bioresources into volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which requires on-line separation operations to tackle product inhibition towards the producing microorganisms. Thereby, substrates (coming from different bio-based sources) will be converted microbially into chemicals of interest (herein VOCs such as 2 phenyl ethanol, acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate…) which can be used as natural flavourings for different industrial applications (detergents, cosmetics, food…).

The project is divided into 5 work packages: 4 scientific work packages and 1 work package dealing with project management.
The 4 scientific WPs are thought out iteratively in order to develop the proposed methodology.
WP1 concerns the definition of an initial methodology to explore the new eco-routes including biotransformations. Based on literature data, all partners will define the methodology to be followed for the environmental assessment linked to the chosen biotransformation. WP2 is dedicated to data acquisition on unit operations developed in the project i.e. the microbial reaction and the separation process. These experimental data will allow the development of relevant mathematical models which will be integrated into WP3. Indeed, WP3 is interested in the integration of unit operation models (existing or developed in the project) in a process simulator and its coupling to a life cycle assessment tool. After these 3 steps, WP4 will carry out environmental impact calculations, in particular by considering the influence of operating conditions in order to move towards a decision support tool. A final iteration is planned at the end of the project to question and / or consolidate the methodology choice performed during WP1, and methodological improvements could be proposed.

Therefore, this project aims to propose an eco-design methodology for emerging biotechnological processes at an early stage. The ambition is to make life cycle assessment more predictive in order to offer eco-designed bioproductions and to provide the developed tools for implementation to scale-up at an industrial level.