Pow.Bio and Bühler fermentation platform halves biomanufacturing costs

A significant hurdle in the commercial scaling of precision fermentation has been addressed as Pow.Bio, the pioneer in AI-enabled continuous fermentation technology, and Bühler Group, the global solution provider for food, feed, and advanced materials, announce a joint effort to bring an integrated continuous precision fermentation platform to market.

The collaboration is designed to fundamentally advance industrial biomanufacturing by accelerating process development and drastically reducing unit production costs — a major constraint currently limiting the sector.

The core of the offering lies in replacing traditional batch or fed-batch processes — the stop-and-start methods requiring tanks to be emptied and cleaned between runs — with a streamlined, ultra-efficient continuous system. This solution brings together Pow.Bio’s proprietary continuous fermentation technology with Bühler’s 165 years of engineering, installation, and commissioning services, all underpinned by advanced model-driven control software.

“Our collaboration with Bühler sets a new benchmark for biomanufacturing: not just faster, but smarter and more robust,” said Shannon Hall, CEO and co-founder of Pow.Bio. “Clients can now capitalise on proven technology and global deployment expertise to unlock commercial-scale production with lower risk and unprecedented efficiency.”

The joint platform is specifically designed for companies commercialising fermentation-derived products — ranging from enzymes and organic acids to novel categories like functional proteins, specialty lipids, and bioactive compounds — that are currently constrained by the cost and inconsistent output of traditional systems.

By providing a continuous, model-driven system, the platform offers a more cost-effective production pathway with significantly higher productivity and improved process consistency, leading to a faster, low-risk pathway from lab to pilot and full industrial scale.

Thierry Duvanel, Bühler’s North American director of innovation, highlighted the industry alignment. “Precision fermentation has the potential to impact the food, feed, and specialty ingredients industries,” Duvanel said. “By joining forces with Pow.Bio, we take a clear step toward reducing unit production costs in biomanufacturing, combining complementary expertise to accelerate innovation and deliver a fully integrated system backed by experience, service, and reliability.”

The confidence in the integrated system follows Pow.Bio’s successful 3,000 L scale-up (achieved with Bühler’s support). The combined team is now prepared to onboard customers, addressing the long-standing hurdles that have slowed scale-up in the precision fermentation sector.

Adham Rizk, sales and commercial manager at Bühler Group, confirmed their readiness, stating: “With the technology validated and the full system in place, we are prepared to onboard customers and support them through deployment and scale-up.”

The platform promises customers predictable performance and a direct path to establishing precision fermentation capacity faster than ever before.