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Gaining an in-depth understanding of the technical feasibility and commercialization potential for the cold-active amylase enzyme

Project description

Commercialisation of a cold-active amylase

Enzymes that function at low temperatures are known as cold-active enzymes and constitute an ongoing field of research. There is strong commercial interest for such enzymes in the pharmaceutical, textile, food and beverage industries. Currently, cold-active enzymes are employed in detergents and function mainly at temperatures down to 30 °C. The EU-funded CLEANprocesses project will investigate the performance of a cold-active amylase enzyme. The goal is to utilise this enzyme at even lower temperatures, such as that of tap water, with obvious environmental benefits and financial savings. The project aims to finalise the development of this enzyme prior to its commercialisation in different markets.

Objective

CLEANprocesses (CoLd-active Enzymes and New sustainable Processes) will analyse the technical feasibility of a cold-active amylase enzyme as well as its commercial potential in various markets.
Enzymes are a key ingredient in many consumer products, such as food & drinks, textile, pharmaceuticals and detergents, and the enzyme market has become a multibillion dollar industry worldwide. For decades, it has been a goal for enzyme producers to discover truly cold-active enzymes, due to their performance at low temperature industrial processes resulting in significant reduction in energy and costs. However until now, results have been insufficient, as only partially cold-active enzymes have been achieved.
The cold-active enzymes on the market are mainly active at temperatures down to 30° and the best in class is active down to 16°. But if the goal is to be able to use these enzymes in tap water with a temperature around 7°, there is still a long way to go as even the best in class will be almost inactivated at this level.
Coldzymes (CZ) is the first company in the world to discover and develop truly cold-active enzymes with industrial relevance and potential. These stem from ikaite pillars in Greenland, which are made up of unusual minerals that precipitate when ion-rich spring water from Greenland mixes with seawater. In particular, CZ has discovered the α-amylase AmyI3C6, which has already been proven in cold wash detergents. It acts optimally at 5-20°C and still maintains over 70% of its activity at 0-1℃.
The market for enzymes is global, and the top three enzyme producers hold app. 75 % of the market share. CZ will develop and test the cold-active AmyI3C6 before selling the DNA sequence to the large enzyme producers. In turn CZ will receive royalties for the sales of the AmyI3C6, as the enzyme producers will include it in their portfolios on equal terms with their other enzymes. This business model entails that the enzyme is commercialised broadly.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

NUNAZYMES APS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
NUUKULLAK 35
3900 NUUK
Greenland

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
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