Biosphere lands US$21 million to scale domestic chemical manufacturing

Biosphere has secured a US$21 million contract from the US Department of War to develop industrial biomanufacturing systems for domestic production of critical chemicals and materials, building on its acquisition of gas fermentation specialist NovoNutrients and an earlier Army nutrition project.

• Biosphere has secured US$21 million to develop industrial biomanufacturing systems for critical chemicals and materials.
• Funding supports a 20,000-liter bioreactor, manufacturing demonstrations, and engineering and economic analyses.
• The award follows its NovoNutrients acquisition and an Army nutrition agreement worth up to US$9 million.

Announced on October 28, the award was made through the Defense Industrial Base Consortium. It will fund development, commissioning and operation of a 20,000-liter industrial bioreactor, integrated manufacturing demonstrations, and engineering and economic analyses to support larger deployments.

The Oakland, California-based company is developing reactor technology intended to reduce both the capital cost of building biomanufacturing facilities and the operating costs of producing biologically derived materials. The latest agreement will also advance alternative reactor designs intended to improve production performance using simpler, lower-cost equipment and infrastructure.

“America's ability to compete with China depends in part on our ability to manufacture the materials that underpin our economy and national defense,” said Brian Heligman, CEO and co-founder of Biosphere. “Biomanufacturing offers an entirely new approach to this challenge. Instead of relying on complex global supply chains and highly specialized production facilities, we can use biology to manufacture a broad range of critical chemicals from domestically available feedstocks. We aim to make that capability economically competitive at industrial scale.”

Biosphere's platform combines advanced bioreactor architectures, process intensification, and proprietary automation and control systems. Its approach replaces conventional steam-based sterilization with UV sterilization, which the company says simplifies manufacturing infrastructure and gives engineers greater flexibility in reactor design.

The company strengthened those capabilities in July through its acquisition of NovoNutrients, bringing proprietary loop reactor technology, microbial strains and gas fermentation expertise into its portfolio. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 2017 and based in Sunnyvale, California, NovoNutrients developed technology to convert industrial carbon dioxide and hydrogen into single-cell protein for food and feed. Its reactor work focused on improving the transfer of gaseous feedstocks into biological systems at industrial scale.

According to Biosphere, the loop reactor architecture improves gas-liquid mass transfer and fluid circulation while reducing energy consumption and maintenance requirements compared with conventional mechanically agitated bioreactors. The technology had been validated in laboratory and pilot-scale systems and used to inform commercial-scale design and modeling.

At the time of the acquisition, Biosphere said combining that technology with its UV sterilization platform would support intensified bioreactor designs for both gas and carbohydrate feedstocks. Heligman also identified NovoNutrients' established FEL3 loop reactor pilot plant design as a foundation for further development under the company's defense contracts.

The latest program addresses industrial production capacity, with Biosphere arguing that common biomanufacturing infrastructure can support a broader range of chemicals and materials than facilities designed around individual products or tightly defined chemical processes.

“Building a resilient industrial base isn't simply about bringing existing manufacturing processes back to the U.S.,” Heligman added. “It's about developing fundamentally better ways to manufacture. If we can dramatically reduce the cost and time required to establish new production capacity, we can change the economics of domestic manufacturing and open up entirely new categories of products that are practical to make in America.”

The award follows an Army agreement announced in May with a total potential value of up to US$9 million over 42 months. That project focuses on a different application of Biosphere's infrastructure: producing protein-rich food in remote and contested environments.

Awarded through the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, the agreement includes a baseline effort and three additional options to design, develop and demonstrate a field-deployable biomanufacturing platform.

The proposed system uses gas fermentation to convert gaseous inputs, water and minerals into protein-rich microbial biomass for shakes, bars and ration components. Its first-generation design targets 2,800 calories per person per day for up to 18 personnel, with modeling planned for larger systems supporting up to 250.

In an earlier interview with Protein Production Technology International, Heligman identified maintenance, water and media handling, energy use, and downstream processing as challenges in making fermentation equipment deployable outside conventional facilities.

“Sterile operation is one of the most complex aspects of fermentation. If we can reduce dependence on traditional steam-in-place infrastructure, we can make reactors simpler, more automated, and more realistic to deploy outside conventional facilities,” he said.

Biosphere described the newly funded 20,000-liter facility as its first industrial-scale plant. The announcement did not identify the chemicals to be produced or provide a commissioning timetable.

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