The 40 Hottest Technologies of 2018 – as voting gets underway, the nominees in depth

Microvi MicroNiche Engineering (MNE)

What does it do, how does it work, who is it aimed at?

MicroNiche Engineering (MNE) is a materials science technology that creates habitats to enhance the use of nearly any microorganism or microorganism community. MNE utilizes an in-silico model, creating biocatalyst composites that are fit-for-process and can be placed in a vessel/reactor as part of the bioconversion process. MNE expands the use of biocatalysis in the water and biobased chemicals industries. Benefits include: increased organism lifetimes; reduced startup time, solid debris and carbon use; maintaining 10X bioactivity compared to planktonic systems; operating continuously without organism regrowth/replacement; regaining steady-state bioactivity after shutdowns; increased tolerance to toxins and temperature fluctuations; attenuating adventitious contamination and automutation; increased titer reducing downstream separation costs. MNE has been used for bioethanol production from corn mash and lignocellulosic hydrolysate, butanol production and gas-to-liquids.

Using single-step bioprocesses, MNE biocatalysts produce renewable chemicals and clean water at significantly higher yields and productivity. Their high biocatalytic density and modular nature of the composites allows various geometric configurations without sacrificing transport and bioavailability. Achieving and maintaining high cell populations plays a large role in increased reaction rates and smaller reactor footprints. The phenotypes enabled by MNE enhance yield and conversion efficiency and reduce secondary waste production. 

Competitively, what gives this technology an edge?

Third-party validation by Lawrence Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Biofuels Process Demonstration Unit found that a comparison between Microvi’s ethanol technology and conventional Ethanol Red showed higher yields and titers, and improved productivity. Compared to conventional fermentation, MNE biocatalysts doubled the productivity (8.15 g L-1 h-1) vs (3.95 g L-1 h-1), reached 98-100% theoretical yield vs 75-80% and unprecedented titers of 24% vs 18%.

What stage of development is this technology at right now?

Microvi has commercial operations in US and Australia and are conducting numerous demonstrations worldwide.  they also work closely with partners to identify opportunities to enhance and improve their existing processes.

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