The SAPHIRE project was aimed at expanding Celignis expertise from analysis service provider to bioprocess development expert. The key objectives of the project are listed below:
1. Diversification of Celignis business.
2. Attract unique and rare skill set.
3. Increased visibility of the company.
In addition to the above-mentioned objectives, there were technical objectives for the project:
1. Develop novel technology for fractionation of hemicellulose from lignocellulosic biomass.
2. Develop plant-based hydrogels that can be used for cosmetic applications.
3. Complete mass balance of the process for providing the data for techno-economic analysis of the process.
The one-year project resulted in some significant business and technical outcomes which are listed below
Business Outcomes: Celignis has diversified its services from analysis service provider to bioprocess development service provider. The company has grown from 7 employees, at the project start date to 15 employees by 2022. Company has attracted 3 chemical engineers, one microbiologist, two biotechnologists and one-scale up engineer. This would not have been possible without the technical progress that has happened in SAPHIRE project.
Technical outcomes: A novel enzyme assisted hemicellulose extraction method was developed with the yields close to 70% and purities of the crude product reaching up to 80%. This purity is a great achievement because this reduces the downstream costs significantly. Prototypes of hydrogels with good emulsifying ability, thickening properties and stabilising properties were established. The mass balances and preliminary techno-economic analysis identified the enzyme cocktails required for producing the hydrogels with better performance (aiming at personal care and cosmetics industry) and the costs associated with procurement of these enzymes and their availability. This led to a multi-partner H2020 project proposal (EnXylaScope) being written by Celignis management. This proposal was successful and the project started in May 2021. EnXylaScope concerns the discovery of novel xylan-debranching enzymes and the development of their production platforms. Successful completion of that project will allow the enzyme suppliers to produce the required enzymes in bulk for low cost, a key requirement, identified in the SAPHIRE TechnoEconomic Analysis (TEA), for the development of a commercially-viable technology. SAPHIRE has taken an idea to proof of concept and from there to a multi-partner project where 13 partners are working for one main goal. This goal is to make xylan-based hydrogels to compliment the existing hydrogels from other polysaccharides in order to replace all the synthetic liquid plastics that are being used in personal care and cosmetic products.
