Article from Bio based Industries Consortium :
"For the second year running, a French student team has won prizes of 5,000 euros and one-year complimentary BIC membership. Team Biosurfers was chosen by the expert judging panel and will receive their prize at the BIC Networking Event on 2 October.
Team BIOSURFERS representing AgroParisTech came in first place with their innovative method for producing a biosurfactant lipopeptide, whilst eliminating some of the problems of this process. The team members of Biosurfers are Erick Cruz, Sajjad Malekzadeh, Carla Mendiola, Luisa Olarte, Rangsimatiti Saichompoo and Raffi Shakhmuradian.
Surfactants - like those often used in detergents, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and more - are often petrochemical based. Bio-based replacements, that is bio-surfactants, are becoming increasingly important as a way to lower environmental impact. However, it is difficult to commercially scale up production of lipopeptides to replace the conventional surfactants because bio-based lipopeptides come with challenges such as excessive foaming during aerobic production, alteration of surfactant properties in the presence of antifoaming agents and expensive downstream processing.
Biosurfers’ competition entry focused on making an enhanced amount of the lipopeptide lichenysin through using a genetically modified strain of bacillus licheniformis. Furthermore, the process is more sustainable and reduces waste because the fermentation byproducts can be used for producing biogas.
The annual BISC-E competition is part of BIC’s efforts to promote entrepreneurship in education by challenging students to propose breakthrough bio-based innovation to resolve environmental, societal or economic issues. National heats take place in several European countries. National winners compete in a first round where a jury of academic experts selects the top five. The five finalists then present to the industry expert jury and engage in Q&As."
The origin of “Biosurfers” content is based on the Green Line Project topic of Track 4, which is “Innovative Production of Microbial Lipopeptides: Lichenysin from Modified Bacillus licheniformis Strain”. The topic comes from a proposal of Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (University of Liège) based on the work of “TERRA Teaching and Research Centre” researchers who recently started a European project CBE on the subject. After a bibliographic study dedicated to the subject during the first semester in URCA (Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne), the team began the experimental part of this GLP during the second semester of the master. They worked with the bioreactors and equipments of the joint research unit SayFood (between AgroParisTech, INRAE and Université Paris-Saclay) under the supervision of associate professors and engineers from AgroParisTech. They now continue their experimental work as well as reinforce the techno-economical study and life cycle assessment at Gembloux this semester.
It is worth mentioning that one member of the team also took part in the Erasmus + project FOEBE+ (Fostering Entrepreneurship For The Bioeconomy), coordinated by AgroParisTech.
Updated December 2024