New Wave Biotech and CPI tackle lipid extraction challenges
Credit: CPI
New Wave Biotech has partnered with CPI, the UK’s national translational research and innovation organisation, to apply hybrid AI-powered downstream processes simulation to one of industrial biotech’s most persistent bottlenecks: lipid extraction. The project will also extend to intracellular bioprocesses, exploring how digital-first methods can improve scalability across multiple applications.
Demand for lipid-based ingredients is rising across food, feed, personal care and healthcare. Lipids are central to everyday essentials, from baked goods to chocolate. In the UK, food security concerns are mounting, with the Office for National Statistics reporting a 5.1% rise in food prices over the past year. Unlocking more efficient downstream lipid processing has a direct impact on affordability, supply resilience and sustainability for both industry and consumers.
Despite the urgency for efficient lipid extraction, the process has remained a bottleneck for more than a decade. Solvent-based processes are widely used but rely on large volumes of toxic, flammable chemicals and demand energy-intensive recovery. Non-solvent methods, while safer and cleaner, remain costly and inconsistent, slowing efforts to scale sustainable alternatives to palm oil, cocoa butter and animal fat replacements.
Through this collaboration, New Wave Biotech will provide CPI with its hybrid AI-powered platform to optimise both solvent and non-solvent lipid extraction. By running thousands of in-silico simulations, CPI can assess performance, cost and sustainability trade-offs upfront – cutting trial-and-error and helping clients scale faster.
“We’re excited to work with CPI to optimise lipid bioprocesses, which are essential for scaling many of the next generation of sustainable products,” said Nix Hall, CTO of New Wave Biotech. “Lipid costs are visible in everything from food to cosmetics, and solving this challenge is key to making alternatives affordable and accessible. By combining predictive accuracy with techno-economic and sustainability insights, our platform helps innovators cut down on trial and error and move faster towards solutions that benefit both industry and consumers.”
Stephen Wright, manager – downstream processing at CPI said, “Partnering with New Wave Biotech gives us powerful new tools to help clients scale sustainable products. Unlike many AI/ML tools that need huge datasets, this platform achieves high accuracy from minimal data, allowing us to identify the best downstream routes much earlier and with greater confidence.”
