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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - MARISURF (NOVEL, SUSTAINABLE MARINE BIO-SURFACTANT / BIO-EMULSIFIERS FOR COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION)

Teaser

Summary

Surfactants (SAs) & emulsifiers are an important class of chemical agents widely used in almost every sector of modern industry. SAs reduce the surface tension and are used widely in detergents, dispersants &foaming agents. Emulsifiers can be used as an additive to stabilise oil in processed foods or cosmetic creams. The huge market demand is currently met almost exclusively by synthetic, mainly petroleum-based, chemical products, which are usually non-biodegradable & mostly toxic or GM plant based products (used in foods), which are undesirable by some end-users. Their biologically produced counterparts (i.e. biosurfactants & bioemulsifiers) offer more green sustainable alternatives. This has led to a number of manufacturers looking for ways to increase competitiveness through searching for underexploited sources such as the marine environment.
The MARISURF consortium has 12 partners:
5 academic Institutions: Heriot Watt University (HWU) , Ulster University, Democritus University of Thrace (DUTH) , University of Patras (UPAT), Northumbria University (UNN)
4 industrial companies: Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant VZW (BBEU), EcTechSystens Srl (ETS), Nova-Institut fur politische und okologische innovation GmbH (NOVA), Acondicionamiento Tarrasense Association (LEITAT)
3 end-user companies: APIVITA SA, Marlow Foods Ltd (MF),Nanoimmunotech SL (NIT).
Our objectives are:
â€¢ to develop innovative approaches in discovering, characterizing & producing novel marine-derived biosurfactants from a large bacterial collection (greater than 500 strains) housed at HWU, originally isolated from various coastal & open ocean waters around the world
â€¢ to develop novel, economic, & eco-friendly end-products with commercial applications in order to replace synthetic counterparts
â€¢ to demonstrate the functionality of new product development for commercial exploitation.
The MARISURF project has a budget of 4,749,649 euros, started in September 2015 & will finish in August 2020. The consortium has the expertise to deliver the objectives. During the first period the consortium identified promising strains for ongoing development work, & in period 2 and 3 , work has been ongoing to characterize the bio surfactants (structural, functional & toxicological) produced by these strains, & to scale up fermentation to pilot scale. The 3 end-users represent different commercial sectors & have played a key role in highlighting the properties they require from the biosurfactants / emulsifiers. The diagram below highlights the work planned for the project.
MARISURF will improve the quality of life by using natural ingredients produced by marine microbes to make consumer products more sustainable & healthier.

Work performed

During the first 48 months, the MARISURF team has screened more than 500 marine bacteria strains for SA / emulsifying activity. The industrial end users have identified the desirable properties for the bio-surfactants & 79 have been identified with promising properties that could potentially replace the current mainly petroleum-based, chemical products. LEITAT & ULSTER optimised the fermentation process at laboratory scale of the most promising candidates. LEITAT concentrated on strains with promising emulsion & gel forming characteristics. Ulster concentrated on strains with an ability to reduce surface tension. From this work, 4 promising strains ( 2 biosurfactants & 2 bioemulsifiers) were selected for pilot scale production at BBEU with further lab scale optimisation work done for 2 back up strains. ULSTER genetically sequenced the 79 promising strains & is exploring possibilities for increasing yield using genetic modification. UPAT established isolation/purification protocol of SAs & is conducting NMR analysis & other identification techniques.
UNN , DUTH , HWU, ETS and NIT completed functional characterisation and some toxicity testing of the strains. UNN , DUTH , HWU, ETS and LEITAT have now completed further testing to highlight other properties the promising strains may have such as anti-inflammatory/ anti-aging properties.
BBEU has developed an efficient process for polymer production . From the 4 selected strains, yield was an issue for 2 of the strains and this has meant that production at BBEU has now been concentrated on 2 strains with one showing more promising results from the end users. A larger scale run of the most promising strain is planned in the last period to allow all end users to test this strain further.
All deliverables & milestone have been met and the project is proceeding as planned. 6 monthly consortium meetings & regular technical work package meeting have been occurring. A website has been established & a flyer has been distributed to all partners & partners have been disseminating information on the project . This dissemination has included public events for all, academic papers, conference papers, presentations & updates to key influencers.

Final results

From the initial screening process, the number of strains with promising properties was high. Clearly it has not been possible to optimise all these strains within the Marisurf project but from the 4 selected strains, the consortium has been able to scale up production successfully with 2 of these strains and the end user feedback for the functionality of these strains has been very encouraging. This indicates that there is clear potential for these strains to be useful in commercial applications but further investment would be required to ensure the cost efficacy of production.
This has huge potential impact as:
â€¢ The strains are derived from a sustainable & non-pathogenic marine bacterial strain collection. They are of biogenic origin so have a much better environmental profile compared to petroleum based surfactants (SAs) which are commonly used in industrial applications.
â€¢ To date, there are very few microbially derived SAs in the marketplace.
â€¢ SAs are used in numerous applications that include but not limited to food, healthcare, agriculture, public health, textiles & environmental pollution control.
MARISURF puts the end user in the driverâ€™s seat & the consortium has taken time to understand what desirable characteristics these end users would like from a new SA. These 3 end users all work in different sectors & although some of the properties they desire in a SA are similar their application is different & this therefore gives a broad scope for testing the commercial viability of SAs developed in the project. The consortium has 12 partners situated throughout Europe & also an advisory board with key biotechnology expertise. The consortium has the skills to develop promising naturally derived SAs from discovery, through to proof of concept, industrial production & application in product formulations by commercial end users. This is exciting & novel. The collaboration within the consortium is also leading to further opportunities to integrate industrial & academic research.
MARISURF supports the European Commissionâ€™s blue growth strategy with the prospect of expanding the potential field of commercialisation for marine microorganisms. This will lead to the creation of jobs & financial benefits & enhance the competitiveness & sustainability of European biotechnology industry. The surfactants being developed are likely to be less or completely non-toxic, biodegradable & more environmentally friendly than their synthetic chemical compounds. This will benefit consumers.