Award details

Newton Bhabha Industrial Waste BIOREVIEW

Reference	BB/S011994/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr David Neil Bryant
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Adam Charlton, Dr Robert Morus Elias, Dr Narcis Fernandez-Fuentes, Professor Joseph Gallagher, Dr Sreenivas Rao Ravella, Dr Ana Winters
Institution	Aberystwyth University
Department	IBERS
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	1,001,109
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/09/2018
End date	28/02/2022
Duration	42 months

Abstract

unavailable

Summary

BIOREVIEW is a biorefining collaboration between industry and academics in UK and India that aims to develop novel industrial biotechnology (IB) processes to produce value added products from waste streams of the Indian sugar industry. The pilot scale (TRL 4-6) IB solutions will process sugar cane bagasse (SCB) and spent wash (SW) at sufficient quantities to demonstrate viable economic opportunities and waste management options through the development of a bio-product portfolio. This involves demonstrating bio-production of higher value volatile fatty acids (VFAs), xylitol and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) for the agri, food and pharmaceutical sectors. The scalable IB procedures offer improved environmental sustainability options over conventional manufacture and use membrane technology to increase the product value alongside a novel high productivity IB process for xylitol production from SCB. Delivery of a validated integrated biorefining process design evaluated for its economic, social and environmental benefits will inform diversification strategies and investment plans of the Indian sugarcane industry for commercial production of these commodities from waste streams.

Impact Summary

The industrial biotechnology consortium of BIOREVIEW are well placed to commercialise the pilot-scale bioprocesses and portfolio of bioproducts to be developed from the waste streams of the Indian sugarcane industry via translation of academic expertise and industrial "know-how". Activities described in BIOREVIEW are timely in the sense that there are identified business opportunities for diversification of the sugar mill product portfolio to meet identified market demands that are currently met through imports. The key opportunities for market entry come from xylitol and VFAs, which can gain an economic advantage from the biorefining processes being reverse integrated in to a commercial Indian sugar mills. Consortium member Gayatri sugars Ltd, have the refining infrastructure in place to support industrial fermentation of sugarcane bagasse through to xylitol and are an end user for the proposed commercial solutions to the issue of spent wash disposal from onsite ethanol production. As part of the Gaytri Group, a respected and large Indian multinational company, GSL have the commercial ability to scale these emerging bioprocesses to an industrial level and develop the supply chain necessary to bring these products along with microcrystalline cellulose and VFA activated water filters to market. BIOREVIEW will deliver a validated, pilot scale integrated biorefining process design to inform investment plans of GSL and other Indian sugar mill owners for diversification and commercial production of these commodities from current waste streams. The impact of BIOREVIEW will directly relate to and support the UK Government's Industrial Strategy, with biotechnology identified as a key growth sector in this years' Green Paper, where the use waste as a feedstock rather than food is a key feature. BIOREVIEW has brought together UK waste biorefining, engineering and environmental companies, Fre-Energy, Membranology, Manrochem and LCAworks to address industrial waste issues in India and has connected them with a sugar refinery capable of adopting these UK technologies to meet the sugar industry's needs. The Executive Director of Gayatri Sugars, Mrs T. Sarita Reddy, is also the President of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA). The ISMA has a membership of 201 sugar mills and is recognised by both Central and State Governments as the primary voice of sugar industry in India. The ISMA maintains close contacts with all regions through a network of regional associations and with international organisations through transnational bodies. The ISMA also acts as an interface between the industry and Government on matters relating to sugar policy, statistics, sugar price movement etc. The ISMA will greatly enhance the ability to disseminate project outcomes and impact directly to both potential industry end users and government policy makers. Once the pilot scale demonstration units have been commissioned and are operational, a series of knowledge exchange workshops will be promoted through Gayatri Sugars and the ISMA to encourage technology take up within existing Indian sugar mills. In the UK we will engage with local authorities and regional agencies through direct presentations and targeted project dissemination events. We envisage an on-going relationship fostered by regular contacts between the University networks and local and national policy makers. Due to the cross-disciplinary nature of the project (food, IB, chemistry, engineering, water, waste management) final research outcomes will be disseminated to relevant research funding groups (Innovate UK, BBSRC, EPSRC, NIBB networks, etc.) to enhance impact and encourage policy changes to support similar cross-disciplinary funded projects. Masters and PhD students will be taught the latest technological advancements in waste bioprocesses from genome engineering, fermentation science, scale-up and downstream processing for product recovery.

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Industrial Biotechnology, Synthetic Biology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Newton Fund Open Call (NF) [2015]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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