TFTAK and ÄIO Launch DigiFoundry 2.0 to Advance Microbial Oil Production Technologies

(TFTAK) DigiFoundry 2.0 – Bioprocess Efficiency Increase via Digitalisation (DF2.0) is a three-year research and development project aimed at making microbial oil production more efficient, scalable and cost-competitive.

Building on previous collaboration between TFTAK and ÄIO, the project will combine synthetic biology, precision fermentation, automation and digital process development to support the production of oils and fats from food, agricultural and wood industry side-streams.

DF2.0 continues the work started in the original DigiFoundry project, which ran from 2023 to 2026.

The first project focused on creating a prototype platform for automated microbial strain design and establishing a Design-Build-Test-Learn workflow for microorganisms capable of producing specialised fats through precision fermentation. TFTAK contributed to the development of this workflow, microbial screening methods, sensory analysis, pilot-scale fermentation and techno-economic assessment.

DF2.0 extends this work from strain development to the wider production process by connecting biological development with improved fermentation, automation and digital process control.

Within DF2.0, TFTAK contributes expertise in synthetic biology, precision fermentation and bioprocess development.

Fermentation processes generate data on microbial performance, process conditions, productivity and product characteristics. Integrating these data into automated development workflows can help researchers learn more from each development cycle and use the results to improve the next one.

For companies developing precision fermentation products, this approach could support earlier identification of how strain characteristics and fermentation conditions affect productivity and product quality, providing better information for process optimisation and scale-up.

“DF2.0 brings together two areas that are essential for the next generation of industrial biotechnology: advanced biology and intelligent process development,” says Dr. Steven van der Hoek, Precision Fermentation Scientific Lead at TFTAK. “By integrating synthetic biology, fermentation and digital tools, we can generate much more information from every development cycle and use that knowledge to make the next cycle better. This collaboration allows us to build technologies that are scientifically ambitious but, importantly, designed from the beginning with industrial application in mind.”

ÄIO develops fermentation technologies that use organic side-streams from the food, agricultural and wood industries as feedstocks for microbial production of oils and fats.

Instead of relying on conventional oil crops or animal-derived fats, specialised microorganisms are used as biological production platforms. According to ÄIO, its fermentation process can reduce land use by up to 97% and water consumption by up to 90% compared with conventional production methods.

DF2.0 will support the development of processes that can use locally available side-streams while improving the efficiency and scalability of microbial oil production.

“With DigiFoundry, we built the foundation. With DF2.0, we are connecting biology, fermentation and digitalisation into one integrated production system,” says Prof. Petri-Jaan Lahtvee, Co-founder and COO of ÄIO and Professor at Tallinn University of Technology. “Our goal is to make microbial oil production not only sustainable, but also highly efficient and economically competitive at an industrial scale.”

By combining strain development, fermentation and digitalisation, DF2.0 aims to establish a technological foundation for developing new fermentation-derived ingredients and moving them towards industrial production.

The knowledge and workflows developed in the project can also strengthen TFTAK’s ability to support clients across precision fermentation development, from strain engineering and fermentation optimisation to pilot-scale testing and preparation for scale-up.

Excerpt from Bioenergy International: The project has received EUR 1.94 million in funding through the Applied Research Programme (RUP) of the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency (EIS), with a total project budget of approximately EUR 2.53 million. READ MORE