This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project proposes to develop and commercialize a new scalable manufacturing capability that will produce bio-based chemicals for surfactants, lubricants, and polymers. At the core of this new manufacturing platform is a re-designed microorganism that incorporates novel enzymes that determine the chemical nature of the omega-end of fatty acids. Computational prospecting of genomes by NSF's Engineering Research Center (ERC), CBiRC, has led to the discovery of these enzymes, and CBiRC has developed systems to accurately identify their biocatalytic capabilities in determining the omega-end of fatty acids. The CBiRC team will implement these systems and identify new superior biocatalysts. The company will utilize these discoveries by selecting optimized biocatalysts, and integrate them into a microbial platform for the scalable bio-based manufacture of omega-functionalized fatty acid chemicals. These functionalized fatty acids will display improved performance characteristics in applications such as surfactants, lubricants, and polymers, which are markets that are valued at more than $40B per annum.
The broader impact/commercial potential of this project, if successful, will be a new manufacturing platform for producing bio-based chemicals that are currently derived from petroleum-carbon. This proposed project has the potential of impacting the carbon and environmental footprints of the surfactant, lubricant, and polymer industries. The manufacturing platform will utilize biological carbon sources (sugars derived from plants), and, via novel microbial fermentation processes, will biologically transform the carbon to higher value products. This transformation is of significance in the context of company's geographic and intellectual inception. First, the company is based in a Midwestern State (Iowa), which is at the epicenter of this country's bio-based carbon-fixing industry (i.e., agriculture); the technology has the potential to add value to primary agricultural outputs, and therefore support rural development. Second, the company envisions forming industry partnerships in the context of the ERC-Industry collaboration (i.e., CBiRC's Innovation Ecosystem) that incorporates multiple companies along the value chain from agricultural commodity producers to chemical companies that are seeking to change from using non-renewable petroleum-derived carbon to renewable carbon-sources. Therefore, the technology has the potential of being a transformative force in contributing to a sustainable manufacturing base.
In this one-year project, OmegaChea Biorenewables LLC established the technological feasibility for the commercial production of w-hydroxy-branched fatty acids (w-HBFAs) via a microbial fermentation platform. The technological basis for OmegaChea is the bioengineering of a microbe using a key enzyme that determines the chemical nature of the w-end (i.e., the terminal end) of fatty acid molecules. The core business concept and commercial feasibility was explored and developed within an NSF I-Corps award made to the OmegaChea founders. OmegaChea’s w-HBFAs have utility in applications that range from polymers, surfactant and lubricants. In the completed Phase I project two overarching goals were delivered upon: 1) experimentally validated and identified the utility of 33 novel enzymes to support the biosynthesis of w-HBFAs; and 2) develop a bacterial strain that uses the "best" enzyme from among the 33 tested, and demonstrated a trajectory of improving productivity of w-HBFAs (see Figure 1). This resulted in the filling of a US Patent, and an accompanying International Patent Application. OmegaChea envisions market entry with high-performance lubricants, followed by selective market growth into surfactants for institutional cleaners, and a later effort in cosmetics and pharmaceutical chemicals. OmegaChea has elected to focus on the high-performance lubricants market as the entry-point and market example because market needs are well defined and multiple product applications are possible. OmegaChea has demonstrated the ability to conduct the appropriate research and development activities, and has established the feasibility of this innovative platform to produce bio-based chemicals. The OmegaChea manufacturing platform will utilize biological carbon sources (sugars derived from plants) and via novel microbial fermentation processes it will biologically transform the carbon to higher value products. This transformation is of significance in the context of OmegaChea’s geographic and intellectual inception. First, OmegaChea is based in a Midwestern State (Iowa), which is at the epicenter of this country’s bio-based, "carbon-fixing" industry (i.e., agriculture); hence OmegaChea will add value to primary agricultural outputs, and therefore support rural development. Second, OmegaChea envisions forming industry partnerships in the context of an existing Innovation Ecosystem that incorporates multiple companies along the value chain from agricultural commodity producers to chemical companies that are seeking to change from using non-renewable petroleum-derived carbon to renewable carbon-sources. Therefore, OmegaChea has the potential of being a catalytic transformative force in contributing to a sustainable manufacturing base.
