Scottish government to award £10,000 in funding to scale up biomanufacturing projects at 300 L fermenter

Dennis Schroeder / NREL

THE SCOTTISH government has allocated funding that could award biobased manufacturing startups £10,000 (US$13,600) to scale their technology at a 300 L fermenter in Edinburgh. 

The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) has invited companies and academics developing biobased manufacturing processes to apply for funding through its BioProcess Scale-up Accelerator Competition. 

IBioIC, which secured government funding to address bottlenecks in the route to market for biotechnology startups, opened a 300 L fermenter at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh last year. The organisation hopes the fermenter will serve as an accessible pilot-scale facility for companies struggling to upscale their technology from the lab. 

Oxford-based HydRegen, a company developing enzyme technology that could replace heavy metal catalysts, has already benefitted from the fermenter. Previously constrained by a 5 L lab process, it was able to produce a 200 L batch of enzymes at the Heriot-Watt facility while confirming the viability of the process at larger scale. 

Chief operating officer Matthew Hodges described it as an “excellent experience”. He said: “Access to the facilities and technical expertise has enabled us to successfully demonstrate our technology at a larger scale, giving us greater confidence as we continue towards commercialisation.”

Applications to the funding are open until 1 September, and applicants must propose projects that will run no later than March 2027. They must also demonstrate they will be able to secure follow-up investment.

Neil Renault, IBioIC’s director of bioprocessing scale-up at the fermenter, said: “Scaling up isn’t just about making more product. Every process behaves differently as volumes increase, so it’s essential to understand how fermentation, downstream processing and product recovery perform at scale before making further investment.

“Through the BioProcess Scale-up Accelerator Competition, we want to help more companies reduce risk and advance the development of sustainable bio-based manufacturing in Scotland.”