Industrial Biotechnology study tour of Norway

Transcription

1 Industrial Biotechnology study tour of Norway NAME OF ORGANISATION: Paper and Fibre Research Institute Paper and Fibre Research Institute (PFI) is a Norwegian research institute with offices in Trondheim, Norway. PFI performs research on processes and products based on wood fibres, within the focus areas mechanical pulping, new biobased materials, printing paper, biorefining and bioenergy. The institute is a subsidiary of the Swedish Innventia group, with head offices in Stockholm. New biobased materials PFI has performed considerable research on production of, modification of and applications for microfibrillated cellulose. Application areas are vast, and PFI s research includes e.g. paper additives, oxygen barriers, biomedical applications, rheology additives, emulsifiers and composites. Pilot equipment for production of microfibrillated cellulose is available at PFI. Another research area is new wood fiber composites, where wood fibres are combined both with polyolefines and biobased matrix materials. PFI has excellent techniques and expertise for characterisation of material structures all the way from macroscale to subnano level. Biorefining In the biorefining area, PFI performs research both along biochemical and thermochemical conversion routes. PFI holds high quality expertise on biomass characterization and wood chemistry, and has performed considerable research on a large range of different pretreatment and separation processes. Examples include various mechanical, chemical and enzymatic pretreatments, such as steam explosion, sulphite treatment, strong acid, organosolv, ionic liquids, torrefaction and pyrolysis. An important aim in PFI s research is to achieve effective extraction of wood components from the biomass, and to provide good separation of the wood constituents, suited for further conversion to chemicals, materials or energy. Mechanical Pulping PFI has considerable experience on research for cost-effective production of mechanical pulp. One important field has been reduction of energy consumption in refining by targeted chemical and mechanical pretreatment. This research has led to the development of the ATMP-process, in cooperation with Norske Skog and Andritz, opening for up to 40% reduction in energy consumption for production of mechanical pulp. Another research topic is reduction

2 of bleaching chemical costs, including reduction of brightness losses from the bleaching tower to the paper machine. High quality fibre analysis techniques are valuable tools in PFI s research. Printing paper Cost-effective production is an important driver in PFIs research within printing paper. A key competence is the relationship between furnish composition and paper properties, and the relationship between paper properties and printability and print quality. Examples of research include new furnish compositions allowing for reduced furnish costs and reduced steam consumption for drying. PFI also performs research on developing new paper qualities with targeted properties, including use of microfibrillated cellulose. Bioenergy PFI performs research on liquid and solid biofuels, both along biochemical and thermochemical conversion routes. Different pretreatment processes for improved carbohydrate lignin separation are explored. PFI also performs research within pyrolysis processes for production of biooil. Application areas for biooil are explored, including direct use as fuel oil, or upgraded for use as vehicle fuels or functional chemicals. PFI also has expertise in torrefaction processes. Torrefied wood may be used e.g. for torrefied pellets with high energy density, or as an intermediate product for further gasification processes. NAME OF ORGANISATION: FMC BioPolymer NAME OF PARTICIPANT: Trond Helgerud FMC BioPolymer is one of the world s largest manufacturers of microcrystalline cellulose, carrageenan, and alginate products for food, pharmaceutical, personal care, and biomedical markets. The Norwegian operations are primarily based on alginate, a polysaccharide biopolymer extracted from brown seaweed. Alginates are used as pharmaceutical actives and excipients, texturizing agents in foods, cosmetics and toiletries, oral care, and an increasing number of other specialty applications. There are two FMC sites in Norway; the alginate extraction plant in Haugesund (118 employees) and a smaller site in Sandvika including Alginate Core Technology and NovaMatrix (26 employees). NovaMatrix is a business unit of FMC Biopolymer which produces and supplies ultrapure (low endotoxin) bio-compatible and bio-absorbable biopolymers for use in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications, such as drug delivery, advanced wound care, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, cell encapsulation, and medical devices. The unit manufactures ultrapure alginates and chitosans,

3 and is a supplier of high purity hyaluronan. FMC BioPolymer/NovaMatrix production facilities are designed and operated in accordance with current GMP guidelines and ISO standards. The organization has highly educated and experienced scientists, and the laboratories have equipment available for biopolymer characterization including an NMR-instrument, and SEC- MALLS for determining molecular mass and polydispersity. The laboratory is also equipped with oscillatory rheometry and a texture analyzer for determining material properties. NovaMatrix has a cell culture laboratory equipped with a fluorescence confocal microscope and a flow cytometer, and a separate microbiological laboratory. NAME OF ORGANISATION: Nofima AS, NAME OF PARTICIPANT: Inge Nilsen, Research Director, Marine Biotechnology Nofima, the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fishery and Aquaculture, was established January 1, Nofima is Europe s largest institute for applied research within the fields of fisheries, aquaculture and food. Division Fisheries, Industry and Market: The Marine Biotechnology department (Nofima), has long-term experience and competence in bioprocessing and bioprospecting raw materials of marine organisms. We are dedicated to contribution for an increased and higher valued utilization of rest materials from commercial seafood productions. Typical rest material products in focus are oils/lipids, protein fractions and enzymes. We have broad experience with a large number of marine products, from high-molecular weight polymers (i.e. chitins and DNAs) and low-mw drug-like metabolites (i.e. enzyme inhibitors) to marine hydrolysates. These marine bioproducts are applied in various market sectors like agri- /aquaculture feed, cosmetics, biotech, petfood, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. Our collaborators and customers characteristically seek new and sustainable sources for their products, or alternatively optimization of present bioprocessing lines, or look for novel substances or bioactivities to include in their product portfolio. Our competence is broad as exemplified by some of our on-going projects: A) works on technology development for industrial production of high-quality marine phospholipids for nutraceutical applications. B) the utilization of herring rest materials as a source for enzymes of industrial interest and for low-mw protease inhibitors associated to infectious agents (i.e. HIV, C. albicans) or to dementia (i.e. Alzheimer s disease). C) new findings on both enzymes/inhibitors whose existence or characteristics were not previously known or even studied. The work on marine is well recognized through achievements of commercialization and publications. Best publicly known is perhaps the shrimp alkaline phosphatase (SAP) used for DNA cloning/sequencing all around the world. Nofima work in areas of molecular biology;

4 isolation of enzyme from marine rest materials, enzyme characterization test of applications, protein sequencing, gene isolation and recombinant production, IPR protection (i.e. patenting) and out-licensing. We have also achieved groundbreaking results from studies of marine lysozymes, antibacterial first- line--defense enzymes from fish and marine invertebrate. The work has contributed significantly to describe the invertebrate-type of lysozymes and shown unexpected distribution and roles of lysozyme types in marine organisms. A recent PhD thesis defended by our scientists described optimization of for decontamination of persistent organic pollutants in fishmeal and fish oil. The bioprocessing and marine product refinement research also include physicochemical characterization of protein ingredients related to extruded fish feed production, protein hydrolysis and application of separation technology. Nofima has long term proficiency in unit operations from lab- to pilot-scale bioprocessing of raw materials. We are now establishing a large national industrial scale production plant for bioprocessing offering expertise on marine raw materials. The 1,200 m 2 facilities offer continuous feeding biomass conversion, of any raw material, in a fully automated and integrated process line. This includes large reactors for hydrolysis by enzymes or acid treatment, volume concentration by evaporators, raw oil removal in optional decanter/ tricanter separators, molecular weight discrimination by filtration and final drying to a solid product. With the new facilities, Nofima will be able to offer a product range from lab-scale R&D to full-scale production. TYPE OF COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS SOUGHT: We seek co-operations in any areas related to our described fields of expertise in competition or contract projects with academic or industrial R&D collaborators (preferably as part of funded projects): NAME OF ORGANISATION: Nofima AS, NAME OF PARTICIPANT: Helga Næs, Research Director, Food Safety and Quality Nofima, the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fishery and Aquaculture, was established January 1, Nofima is Europe s largest institute for applied research within the fields of fisheries, aquaculture and food. The institute has around 410 employees and has an annual turnover of about NOK 500 million. We carry out internationally recognized research and develop solutions that provide a competitive edge throughout the value chain. The head office is located in Tromsø, and the research divisions are located in Averøy, Bergen, Sunndalsøra, Stavanger, Tromsø and Ås.

5 Division Food Science: Biotechnology has a long standing tradition in the food safety & qualiy area at Nofima, which hosts the major part of the activities in the microbiology area. Researchers working with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were the first at the institute making use of the new gene technology methods available at that time. LAB have since been the focus of much of the biotechnolgy activities, although biotechnological methods are now used in all areas of microbiology and also in other departments, e.g. activities related to protein quality in cereals and meat and interactions between food components and cells. Research on LAB has been focused on understanding important properties for their use in food as starter cultures, as inhibitors of unwanted microorganisms and recently also as probiotics. In this regard, Nofima has been in the forefront in research on LAB bacteriocin production and applications. The molecular and genetic background for production of these antimicrobial substances was characterized. From the knowledge of these systems, inducible gene expression systems for lactobacilli were developed. These systems have been utilized in the more recent activities regarding LAB research, which concerns the primary metabolism and metabolic engineering and also in identifying molecular mechanisms behind the interactions between certain LAB and human intestinal cells. Biotechnological methods, such as genomics and transcriptomics, are also central in systems biology research on LAB where Nofima has been involved in a European cooperative project. Cereal fermentation to release bioactive components from fibers is another area where biotechnological research on LAB is important and where Nofima is active. Nofima is also heavily involved in projects on bacterial community analysis where highthroughput DNA based methods are central. These projects are related to bacterial communities both in food and in the gut of animals and man. Bacterial community analysis will be increasingly important also in more traditional food microbiology areas such as hygiene and biofilm research. Nofima has long experience in enzymatic protein hydrolysis, both in laboratory scale and pilot scale. We possesses equipment for size fractionation, concentration, and drying of hydrolysates. The institute has an analytical laboratory specialized in chemical reference analyses for the fish and feed industry, which are used in numerous projects. Nofima, has a strategic focus on using biotechnological methods in treatment of by-products, and a novel processing unit is currently being build at Kaldfjorden (ton scale) outside Tromsø. To get the most out of our biotechnological research using enzymatic protein hydrolysis, we add our long experience with the development and use of rapid spectrocopic techniques for food quality measurements and process monitoring. The institute also has worked extensively with the development and use of multivariate analysis and experimental design in the last decades.

6 TYPE OF COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS SOUGHT: Seek collaboration in the areas described above NAME OF ORGANISATION: Nofima AS, NAME OF PARTICIPANT: Gunn Berit Olsson, Research Director, Fish health Nofima, the Norwegian Institute of Food, Fishery and Aquaculture, was established January 1, Nofima is Europe s largest institute for applied research within the fields of fisheries, aquaculture and food. The institute has around 410 employees and has an annual turnover of about NOK 500 million. We carry out internationally recognized research and develop solutions that provide a competitive edge throughout the value chain. The head office is located in Tromsø, and the research divisions are located in Averøy, Bergen, Sunndalsøra, Stavanger, Tromsø and Ås. Division Aquaculture: The biotechnological focus in the aquaculture area in Nofima has been related to using knowledge from genes, gene expressions, genetic signatures to improve tools for selective breeding. By using different sets of markers and genetic linkage maps the most important genes controlling specific characteristics can be identified. Resent developments in sequencing and genotyping technologies are providing more rapid and efficient means for identifying new markers and creating such linkage maps. Nofima has been active in developing such resources for salmon and cod but also for new species of international importance. QTL-mapping and marker assisted selection are important tools for the aquaculture industry by giving the opportunity to speed up genetic improvements (compared to traditional breeding) for disease resistance, robustness, specific beneficial characteristics etc. Gene expression profiles provides information about how the fish responds to handling, disease challenge etc. which can be used in efficient selective breeding but also as an early warning of stressors in the aquaculture environment. Nofima are also involved in projects regarding novel vaccination strategies strongly based on biotechnological methods. By targeting factors involved in germ cell survival and development the vaccines are expected to alter the normal maturation of germ calls and thereby prevent early maturation in fish. TYPE OF COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS SOUGHT:

7 Seek collaboration in the areas described above NAME OF ORGANISATION: Borregaard AS NAME OF PARTICIPANT: Gudbrand Rødsrud, Technology Director Business Development Borregaard is the world's leading supplier of wood-based chemicals with 8 manufacturing sites around the world. Borregaards manufacturing plant in Sarpsborg, is considered to be the worlds most advanced biorefinery in operation today. Borregaard is a leading supplier of specialty cellulose (used for further chemical processing by our customers), is the global leading lignin supplier with approx. 50% market share and the only producer of vanillin from biomass. Borregaard has been producing lignocellulosic ethanol by fermentation of wood sugars since 1938 and was still the global largest producer of lignocellulosic bioethanol with a capacity of 20 mill litres in Borregaard is today transforming more than 90% of its biomass feedstock to marketable chemicals, and the final 10% of the biomass for internal energy production (steam and biogas). Borregaard have 1100 employees, whereof more than 70 is working in innovation. We spend 2.5 3% of the turnover on innovation which is 6x more than traditional pulp and paper industry. Borregaard is expanding its biorefinery concept in both ends. We seek to process other biomass feedstocks than wood, preferably cheaper biomasses. Further, we seek to expand our product range made from biomass and we aim to be very flexible on the choice of biomass. In addition, we also seek to expand our lignosulfonate operations, and since the availability of sources from traditional sulphite pulping is declining, we have developed a process for co-production of lignosulfonates (from any biomass) and sugars in solution (as a starting point for biochemical conversion to both ethanol and a range of value added chemicals as well as proteins (for animal and fish feed). This technology is named the BALI technology. Borregaards BALI Demo plant is now in full operation and can process 1 ton dry matter biomass pr day, run 24/7. It is a flexible and fully integrated, fully automated downsized manufacturing plant that can take any lignocellulosic biomass and process it continuously to water soluble lignosulfonates, glucose solution and hemicelluloses sugars in solution. Further it can also ferment the sugars to chemicals or biomass (single cell proteins) in a flexible fermentation plant (batch, fd batch, continuous, aerobic or anaerobic). We possess fermentors of 30, 300 and 3000 litres.

8 TYPE OF COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS SOUGHT: Borregaard seek co-operations in the following areas (preferably as part of funded projects): 1. Microbial or chemical conversion of pentoses to valuable chemicals 2. Microbial conversion of pentoses to single cell proteins for animal and aquaculture feed 3. Conversion of lignosulfonates to aromatics and phenolic platform chemicals and performance chemicals, most probably by thermochemical processes, potetntially in combination with microbial/enzymatic processes 4. Conversion of lignosulfonates to vanillin (new process to replace todays catalytic oxidation) NAME OF ORGANISATION: SINTEF NAME OF PARTICIPANT: Trond Erling Ellingsen, Research Director of Materials and Chemistry, Department of Biotechnology Trond Erling Ellingsen is research director at SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, Department of biotechnology. He is also adjunct professor at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU), Department of Biotechnology. Ellingsen have been leading projects since His research activity has been focusing on microbial production of amino acids (lysine, glutamate), enzymes, antibiotics, biopolymers (alginate), microbial upgrading of oil and bioprospecting the Trondheims fjord of Norway. He has recently been heavily involved in and in two international SYSMOprojects related to systems biology (antibiotics and alginate respectively). The contract research has contributed to the development of different fermentation processes, some of them have resulted in the establishment of highly competitive manufacturing processes that are implemented in full production scale. The potential marked of the raw material of these products (antibiotics) for the company Alpharma was estimated already in 2000 to more than 50 mill. USD. Ellingsen has since 2000 published 55 scientific papers in international journals. His work has contributed to the establishment of the companies Biosergen AS (developing derivatives of the antifungal nystatin) and MarBileads AS (antimicrobial and anticancer compounds from bioprospecting in the Trondheim s fjord). The department has focused on metabolic engineering in the 1990's and later also on Systems and Synthetic Biology. Ellingsen has had a leadership related to these strategic priorities. Ellingsen has a leading strategic role that have resulted in new equipment at SINTEF and NTNU (Pilot Plant for Bioprocesses, Fermentor laboratory with 40 small scale fermentors, laboratory for automatic screening and analyses of microorganisms and bioactive molecules).

9 NAME OF ORGANISATION: Cambi AS NAME OF PARTICIPANT: Paal Jahre Nilsen, Director Technology Cambi Thermal Hydrolysis effective Sludge Pre-treatment Technology for Enhanced Anaerobic Digestion of Municipal and Industrial Sludge. Cambi s Thermal Hydrolysis Process (THP) is a proven and reliable technology that has been used around the world since THP has been implemented in existing and green field projects designed to reduce disposal quantities and the cost of building and operating digesters. Cambi THP is a high-pressure steam pre-treatment for anaerobic digestion of municipal and industrial sludge and bio-waste. Applying THP technology results in: Doubled digester loading Increased biogas production Pathogen-free and stabilized biosolids product with increased cake dewaterability The production and quality of the resultant biosolids save transport and energy costs as well - the end product can be applied directly to agricultural processes or composted or dried for use as fertilizer or bio-fuel. In addition to optimizing energy-efficiency and lowering operating costs, THP also eliminates odour problems associated with the treatment of organic materials. Cambi THP plants can be combined with cogeneration plants, which produce green electricity and provide hot steam for the Thermal Hydrolysis Process. Resultant biogas can also be cleaned for use as vehicle fuel or as a replacement for natural gas. Cambi offers a variety of products and services from our core THP technology to complete turnkey digestion plants. We also possess the skills and expertise to oversee plant operations and maintenance. Our THP plants normally treat sludge from wastewater treatment plants for populations over 100,000 people, or over 3,000 metric tons/year of sludge. Cambi s THP enhanced sludge treatment maximises both flexibility and profitability. TYPE OF COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS SOUGHT: Cambi seeks partners in advanced pretreatment and energy conversion of all sorts of biomass; sludge, organic waste, lignocellulosic etc. for biogas applications.

10 NAME OF ORGANISATION: NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim NAME OF PARTICIPANT: Gudmund Sjåk-Bræk The Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology at NTNU conducts research and education in the natural sciences, environmental science, biotechnology, chemistry, physics, materials, and chemical engineering. The faculty's research is of a high international caliber, with topics that reflect NTNU's own priority areas, such as Materials and Energy & Petroleum - Resources & Environment. Other research efforts include cooperative projects with domestic or international research institutes and industry, the public sector and SINTEF, or as a part of the European Union's framework programmes. The faculty's newest research areas are systems biology and nanotechnology. One of the NTNU projects, led by Gudmund Skjåk-Bræk, professor at the Institute of Biotechnology and director of the Norwegian Biopolymer Laboratory, has received 40 million NOK in funding from the Norwegian Research Council in The project is entitled Enzymatic modification and the upgrading of marine polysaccharides and has a total budget of 56 million NOK. Useful links: NAME OF ORGANISATION: UMB - University of Life Sciences, Ås NAME OF PARTICIPANT(s): Vincent Eijsink and Colin Murphy The Dep. of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science at the University of Life Sciences represents a broad spectra of scientific fields encompassing basic natural sciences as well as application of these towards food, biotechnology and environmental issues. The Dep. of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science aims to strengthen its position, and has several collaborations, networks and research projects both international as well as within UMB/Campus Ås and in Norway. Our goal is to further develop these collaborations. Research areas The department has 12 active research groups within the following areas: Chemistry and biochemistry

11 Microbiology and microbial genetics Bioinformatics and analysis methodology Food technology and -quality Integrative neuroscience and sociogenomics One of the UMB projects, led by Prof. Vincent Eijsink is entitled Enzyme development for Norwegian biomass mining Norwegian biodiversity for seizing Norwegian opportunities in the bio-based economy. One of our main focuses is on understanding and exploiting enzymes, for example to improve the value of bi-products from agriculture, aquaculture and food industry. This group combines basic research, published in top-level scientific journals with applied studies and innovation. NAME OF ORGANISATION: Statoil NAME OF PARTICIPANT: Hans Kristian Kotlar Statoil is an international energy company with operations in 36 countries. Based on 40 years experience in the oil and gas production on the Norwegian continental shelf, we use technology and innovative business solutions to meet the world's energy needs in a responsible manner. Statoil s R&D activities focus on: Biofuel Seaweed to ethanol project (find presentation here) Participation in demonstration projects R&D activities on butanol and etanol fermentation Evaluation of biorefinery concepts Biotechnology Bio prospecting Designer organisms for Enhanced Oil Recovery