Scalable Downstream Processing of Fermentation Derived Cellulose

Innovationssamarbejde (Erhvervsfyrtårnet for Biosolutions)

Scalable Downstream Processing of Fermentation Derived Cellulose

Bacterial cellulose, a biopolymer produced by bacteria transforming sugar, is highly stable in diverse environments, making it a promising alternative to petrochemical ingredients across industries. This project aims to address a key challenge: developing an efficient method to separate bacterial cellulose from the fermentation broth.

Foto: Lab-scale fermentation setup illustrating the production of bacterial cellulose, a sustainable biopolymer with potential as an alternative to petrochemicals (photo: iStock).

From petrochemical ingredients to sustainable biopolymers

Many current products depend on petrochemical ingredients as emulsion stabilizers or active components to achieve the ideal rheological properties.

This poses a challenge, as both society and consumers increasingly demand bio-based, sustainable products with comparable performance.

In this project, Cellugy ApS and the Danish Technological Institute (DTI) are developing an efficient method to extract bacterial cellulose from the fermentation broth.

A method for downstream processing of bacterial cellulose

Bacterial cellulose has a high-water holding capacity, which results in a very viscous material that challenges its separation and drying processes.

Cellugy currently uses dynamic cross-filtration to separate bacterial cellulose from the fermentation broth, but this equipment is costly and not widely accessible at manufacturers. This limits production capacity and slows the transition from petrochemical ingredients to sustainable biopolymers.

To address this, Cellugy and DTI are collaborating to develop an alternative, scalable downstream processing method for bacterial cellulose production.