Making Low Cost Biosurfactants a Reality during lockdown
Holiferm is a biotechnology and advanced fermentation technology startup which was spun-out of The University of Manchester, UK. Over the last 18 months we have rapidly expanded from two cofounders to a team of nine, based at Manchester Science Park, UK. We are transforming biosurfactant production by taking traditional, expensive batch fermentation and developing commercially viable, continuous manufacturing processes.
At Holiferm, we have recently refitted our 1000 ft2 lab to meet our exacting specifications in the midst of the current pandemic. We are currently producing sophorolipids to meet the demand of our collaborators and commercial clients, so they may test our sophorolipids in their own formulations. Our scientists are currently performing extensive downstream and formulation work and are in the process of increasing our analytical capabilities, including HPLC, which will help us better characterize our products and certify product quality. Taken together this will enable us to supply all markets, including household, I&I and personal care. During this difficult time with COVID-19, we have also been releasing non-commercial formulations of various household and personal care cleaning products, with our liquid hand soap formulation being the latest addition to this series.
A large scale gravity separator was constructed and arrived during April, as part of a successful Innovate UK project. Integrated gravity separation is Holiferm’s enabling technology, which has been shown to significantly increase fermentation productivity for biosurfactant production, the construction of the separator is a significant step in proving our technology at industrial scale. We are now working with BPES and Solaris Biotech on our pilot project, in order to create a facility which will enable full demonstration of the technical performance of our integrated gravity separation and fermentation process, as well as production of test batches of material for further commercial development. The 600L capacity pilot facility will have the ability to manufacture more than 20 tonnes/annum of Holiferm's HoneysurfTM sophorolipid products. Sophorolipids will be available at the tonne scale for both commercial formulation and application testing and small-scale commercial use in Q1-Q2 2021.
We are still expanding our team with the introduction of Magnus, a BBSRC DTP student on placement, at the beginning of August. We are still looking to add three new team members, including a senior fermentation expert, within the coming months, with our next step being the complete realisation of a 1000 tonne per annum commercial sophorolipid manufacturing facility. This facility will allow us to reduce our sophorolipid cost and enable us to serve all markets. Holiferm continue their fundraising efforts in order to deliver on our long-term strategy to bring low cost biosurfactants to market.
For more information, get in touch with Holiferm.
