Digital technologies for cost-efficient and climate-neutral biotech production
M2Aind BioProcess Monitoring develops a multimodal, complementary monitoring of biotechnological fermentation processes based on ion mobility and FT-IR. It lays the basis for building a deep learning platform for digitized quality and quantity assurance of manufacturing processes.
In industrial biotechnology, complex manufacturing processes are used to produce important biopharmaceuticals, foodstuffs or semi-finished products and thus represent an essential building block in the modern process industry. In contrast to other (chemical) processes, fermentation monitoring is still relatively simple, e.g. by measuring the balance sheet of pH values, CO2 and O2. For an optimization of the yields and a comprehensive understanding of the process in terms of a sustainable, resource-saving process, there is a need for improvement at this point in the process.
M2Aind BioProcess Monitoring should therefore go a new way and build a complementary, multimodal monitoring platform that can characterize the gas phase using ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and the liquid phase using FT-IR. The data generated from the two compartments are ideally complementary and through intelligent combination can lead to a better understanding of the processes. Robust, high-performance sensors that can collect high-dimensional data and are suitable for processing using machine learning are used. Due to the high complexity of such data streams, modern and novel machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) approaches are required that have not yet existed in this area.
The project creates the necessary basis for this. With the help of ML / DL techniques, processes can not only be recorded quantitatively (e.g. determination of substrate concentration), but their condition and quality can also be assessed. The aim is to establish such an ML / DL platform for example processes in the M2Aind partnership by the end of the intensification phase, thus creating the basis for the digitization of fermentation processes and initiating the transfer into practice.
GAS. Instruments take advantage of the selectivity of gas chromatography and the excellent sensitivity of ion mobility spectrometry to test foods, flavors, and beverages as they are. The combination of both physical working principles ensures maximum reproducibility and enables a reliable and impartial taste analysis and documentation either by quantifying marker compounds or by fingerprint analysis.