Continuous biomanufacturing company Pow.Bio has announced the scale-up of its platform to 3,000 liters. The milestone was achieved in partnership with industrial solutions provider Bühler Group and industrialization accelerator ATV Technologies.
The scale-up took place at ATV’s facility in Compiègne, France, and successfully produced three times more high-quality dairy protein than its equivalent fed batch process. The project demonstrates that continuous fermentation has the potential to be seamlessly integrated at larger scales.
Before the trials began, Bühler conducted a comprehensive pre-qualification of ATV’s site to ensure it aligned with continuous fermentation requirements. Additionally, the company supported the adaptation of existing infrastructure to enable continuous operation, and facilitated a smooth technology transfer from Pow.Bio to ATV.
“Working with Pow.Bio challenged us to rethink what’s possible in fermentation,” said Karima Zitouni, General Manager at ATV Technologies. “By combining continuous processing with intelligent ML optimization, we achieved results that far exceeded our expectations. We’re proud to help prove this technology’s potential to scale and reshape the industry.”
“Unmatched economic viability”
The project was found to reduce the projected costs of goods sold (COGS) by over 50% compared to a typical process. Furthermore, Pow.Bio’s advanced machine learning (ML) algorithms and model predictive control systems significantly improved process outcomes through novel optimization strategies.
The news comes after Pow.Bio opened a new 25,000 square foot facility in Alameda, California, earlier this year. The site serves as a model demonstrating the scalable deployment of the company’s fermentation platform.
“ATV has been a reliable partner with a highly skilled team who have helped bring our technology to life at a larger scale,” said Shannon Hall, CEO and co-founder of Pow.Bio. “This collaboration proves that our continuous fermentation platform delivers reliably at scales that matter with unmatched economic viability. What excites me the most is that our customers can now leverage our technology to get to market faster than ever before. As we advance toward even larger scales, this is one of many partnerships that validate our approach to transforming global biomanufacturing.”
“This is a significant step toward dependable continuous operation at larger scales, particularly in the demanding markets of food, feed, and ingredient biomanufacturing,” added Thierry Duvanel, Director of Innovation at Bühler Group.
