Cellulose microbeads for biocatalysis applications

For tens of thousands of year humans relied on nature to provide them with clothes and materials for shelter and other uses. This changed in the first half of the 20th century as organic chemistry developed methods to create new synthetic fibers and materials. Plastic rapidly replaced natural fibers for clothing and wood for furniture and many other everyday items.

The 21st century might see an inversion of this trend: Stricter environmental regulations and the increasing impact of plastic waste in landfills and in the environment are pushing companies to look for more biodegradable and environmentally friendly materials.

In this industrial research project, Naturbeads aims to contribute to this trend by replacing polluting plastic carriers used in biocatalysis processes with cellulose based carriers.

Carriers are used in biocatalysis processes to immobilize enzymes to reduce downstream processing costs and improve the enzymes' stability towards different organic solvents in a wide range of temperatures. These carriers are mostly based on synthetic polymers in form of spherical, porous microparticles.

Due to the enormous environmental impact of polymeric microparticles (microplastics), the European Chemical Agency is now considering banning plastic smaller than 5mm in all applications.

For this reason, industry players are actively looking for more environmentally friendly replacements to plastic microparticles.

Naturbeads is scaling up a process to produce cellulose, usually available in fibre form, in a spherical form as a direct replacement for spherical plastic microparticles. Cellulose is natural, renewable and 100% biodegradable. Naturbeads also holds the know-how to tailor the surface, mechanical and optical properties of the cellulose beads to mimic the properties of different polymers.

In this project, Naturbeads will work with Prof. Edler of the University of Bath and ChiralVision to optimize the performance of cellulose beads as enzyme carriers. The project brings together the expertise of the Naturbeads team in cellulose beads production and customization with the expertise of Prof.

Edler in enzyme immobilization. ChiraVision will validate the outcome of the process by testing selected carriers and enzyme/carrier combinations in small scale industrial processes. The immobilized enzymes will be tested for their activity, selectivity and stability in standard tests like hydrolytic and esterification reactions as well as their leaching behaviour to evaluate their recyclability.

The project's goal is to produce a scalable protype that Naturbeads will manufacture (with a scale up partners) and ChiralVision will commercialize as a green solution for the biocatalysis industry.