Pow.Bio, which specializes in AI-enabled continuous fermentation technology, and the Bühler Group, are teaming up to bring an integrated continuous precision fermentation platform to market. Officials at Bühler and Pow.Bio, who say the collaboration advances industrial biomanufacturing by accelerating process development, reducing unit production costs as the result of a continuous process, and improving operational performance, add that they are now ready to begin onboarding customers.
Unlike traditional fermentation approaches that rely on batch or fed-batch processes (stop-and-start methods that require the tank to be emptied and cleaned between runs), the companies now offer a streamlined solution, maintains Shannon Hall, CEO and co-founder of Pow.Bio. The collaboration brings together Pow.Bio’s proprietary continuous fermentation technology with Bühler’s engineering, delivery, installation, and commissioning services.
Fermentation-derived products
The platform is designed for companies commercializing fermentation-derived products that are currently produced in fed-batch systems but constrained by cost, scalability, or inconsistent output, points out Hall. From established ingredients such as enzymes and organic acids to categories like functional proteins, specialty lipids, and bioactive compounds, the Pow.Bio-Bühler solution offers a continuous, more efficient production pathway, she continues, adding that by replacing traditional fed-batch processes with a continuous, model-driven system, customers can achieve significantly higher productivity, improved process consistency, and more cost-effective manufacturing through an established, low-risk pathway from lab to pilot and full industrial scale.
“Our collaboration with Bühler sets a new benchmark for biomanufacturing: not just faster, but smarter and more robust,” says Hall. “Clients can now capitalize on proven technology and global deployment expertise to unlock commercial-scale production with lower risk and [higher] efficiency.”
“Precision fermentation has the potential to impact the food, feed, and specialty ingredients industries. Companies are already using it to produce dairy, meat, and egg substitutes, alternative oils and fats, and even novel pet food. We are only at the beginning of what this technology can unlock,” according to Thierry Duvanel, Bühler’s North American director of innovation.
“By joining forces with Pow.Bio, we take a clear step toward reducing unit production costs in biomanufacturing, combining complementary expertise to accelerate innovation and deliver a fully integrated system backed by experience, service, and reliability.”
