Biosurfactant process engineering and a new era of white unit operations

The Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil leak from the Macondo well into the Gulf of Mexico illustrate the twin compromises made when we exploit petroleum and its derived products: Firstly, the extreme environment where the leak occurred is a symptom of petroleum oil's finite supply and its increasingly expensive production. Secondly, chemicals and products made out of petroleum, including the 6.6 million litres of dispersants used to manage the spill, tend to be toxic and persistent in the environment. Biosurfactants are the various chemicals produced by nature to help change the surfaces that occur between things - for example, the stickiness forces in a new born baby's scrunched up lungs are weakened by biosurfactants and enable her to breathe in for the first time, and other remarkable things. Biosurfactants produced through fermentation have the potential to outperform traditional surfactants for many tasks, such as cleaning up after oil spills, decontamination ground left toxic by old factories, improving the quality of personal care products like face creams or household products like laundry powders. Not only this, they are also fundamentally more sustainable through their whole life from when they are made to to when they are disposed of. However, the cost of production of biosurfactants is currently far too high to make their widespread use possible - by weight they are ten or a hundred times more expensive to buy than gold. This is because the currently available fermentation production capacity is based around old reactor technology. This research will advance the process engineering science underlying the high cost of biosurfactant production and deliver a coordinated set of solutions which will enable commercial viability, and therefore more widespread exploitation, of biosurfactants.Based on this success, the research group will also work to apply this way of adding new engineering to reduce production cost to a wider range of what could be very useful biologically produced materials, chemicals and fuels and help make them become everyday things like petrol and washing powders are today.

The proposed work will have impact across the four sectors - Knowledge, People, Economy and Society. Each of these is considered in turn below with the key beneficiaries identified and the way in which they will benefit explained. A. Knowledge (i) Future generation process engineers: The Case for Support details how the academic community will benefit from knowledge created during the project. However, one of the enduring outcomes of this project will be the secondary impact of this knowledge. The aspiration is for this project to lead to the first comprehensive undergraduate textbook on white unit operations from which future generations of academics and industrialist will shape their understanding. (ii) The public understanding of science: The popular conceptualization of science and engineering as an exciting field which delivers clear benefits will be partly informed through the nature and marketing of many of the consumer products which will be affected by this project. B. People (i) MPG alumni: The project will directly train up the 3 PDRAs and 2 PhDs funded by the project into researchers highly skilled in an engineering field of growing importance. (ii) CEAS alumni: CEAS is the runs the largest undergraduate chemical engineering programme in the UK and currently some 250 undergraduates enrol on it each year. This project will help support the continuation of pilot scale undergraduate laboratories using CASTLE facilities, giving students a unique semi-industrial learning experience and support the improved teaching of bioprocessing. (iii) Employees of consortium companies: The improved economic performance of their employers brought about by this project will directly lead to improved job security and enhanced career prospect. C. Economy (i) Increased profitability for consortium partners: This project will lead to improved margins, increased market size and greater market share. (ii) Manufacturing growth in North West England: This area has been the traditional home of chemical manufacturing in the UK and this project will introduce new high value added processes which will profitably sustain this activity into the future. D. Society (i) Sustainable development: This project will lead the substitution of non-renewable, toxic and persistent petroleum derived surfactants with renewable, biocompatible and biodegradable alternatives. (ii) Quality of life: Widespread access to the novel and improved properties of biosurfactant will lead to new products offering better results and more convenience. (iii) Industrial biotechnology policy: Engaging with professional bodies and the media through the course of this project will lead to a better informed discussion about these growth areas of manufacturing and the application of new science through biotechnology.