The Sprind Challenge “Circular Biomanufacturing” aims to develop new biotechnological processes for extracting raw materials from waste and residual materials and for subsequent integrated further processing. This is intended to advance the transition to a circular economy. Biotechnological processes are considered to play a key role. They are expected to be able to convert waste products into valuable raw materials with relatively low energy and material input.
A total of eight startups have now been selected for the challenge, whose research and development are to be funded. Starting on November 1, it has a total budget of 40 million euros for its duration of three years. In the first stage, which lasts one year, each startup receives 1.5 million euros from the pool. The teams are also supported, advised, and networked with further experts by Sprind. After one year and after two years, the jury evaluates the development progress and decides which teams will continue to receive funding.
Jano Costard, Challenge Officer at Sprind, explains:
“Within the Sprind Challenge Circular Biomanufacturing, an end-to-end prototype is to be developed that continuously processes various carbon-containing waste streams, provides microbes with food, and immediately processes the resulting synthesis products into an intermediate or final product. The goal is to establish new value chains based on locally available secondary raw materials. In this way, a completely closed, sustainable, environmentally friendly circular economy that is robust against market fluctuations is to be created.”
Among the eight selected startups are also two young companies from Munich: Insempra and Global Sustainable Transformation GST.
Insempra
The Biotreasure team at Insempra produces materials such as polyester and polyamide from plant residues, old cooking oil, or PET waste using a special yeast. These materials have so far only been produced petrochemically. In doing so, the team covers two plastic classes that are extremely versatile in their chemical composition and in possible applications and are present in almost all everyday products. Furthermore, the scientists led by CEO and founder Jens Klein are able to produce protein fibers that have excellent properties for use in the textile industry and other application fields.
Global Sustainable Transformation GST
The TUM spinoff Global Sustainable Transformation GST produces fats and long-chain hydrocarbons in yeasts to create various technically interesting, sometimes even edible, polymers from them. In the long term, other waste streams such as agricultural, bioenergy, and food waste are also to serve as the basis for this. In order to be able to represent this flexibility, the CircuMat-3D team led by Dr. Mahmoud Masri has developed a particularly versatile and sustainable fermentation platform. In the fermentation process itself, there should be almost no unused by-products or waste streams.
