Fractionating of synthetic biology waste stream into nutrient rich extract for cosmetic industry

Abstract

Extended Abstract: Amyris is a world-leading manufacturer of sustainable ingredients producing environmentally friendly products. Biofene® (or trans-β-farnesene) is a synthetic biology derived product using yeast fermentation of sugarcane. This production originates spent broth, an aqueous waste stream typically applied to land by fertirrigation. On one hand, spent broth contains recoverable added-value compounds; on the other hand, an improper disposal of this waste stream could result in negative effects and give rise to environmental concerns. Hence the importance of implementing the bio-waste refinery and circular bio-economy concepts for recovering high-value bio-products. Cosmetic industries are committed to find natural, sustainable, and functional ingredients meeting consumer’s and entities rigorous demands. Spent broth may be a source of such ingredients. Thus, the objective of this work was to assess the fractionation of the spent broth stream from Biofene® production to obtain a concentrated nutrient rich extract with potential application on cosmetics. The spent broth’s was pretreated for mineral recovery, using a chemical free process developed within the Alchemy Project. The pre-treated spent broth was then fractionated in a cascade membrane filtration process, in an attempt to recover a rich peptide and minerals fractions. This process comprised three steps: microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), and nanofiltration (NF). The composition of the obtained fractions was monitored in terms of total proteins and minerals contents, amino acids profile, and antioxidant capacity. All experiments were done in a crossflow filtration unit (Sepa CF, Sterlitech), coupled to a pump (G13-X, Hidra-Cell®) applying a feed recirculation of ca. 250 L/h. Microfiltration aimed to the clarification of the pre-treated spent broth, fermentation spent broth stream. The product preliminary characterization reveals interesting nutrients and bioactivities, suggesting a potential application in cosmetic industry.