Revision as of 22:18, 17 October 2018

Entrepreneurship

From Bench To Business

Overview Entrepreneurship Business Model Cost Evaluation References

Overview

Fig 1. Flow chart of E. coli carbon utilization system

Product design

In this project, we, the NCKU Tainan Team, have proposed an alternative way to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Referring to the opinions and feedback from industry experts and professors, we design a new factory flow to capture CO₂ by E. coli. Not only our device meets the specs to be commercialized, but it also demonstrates high cost performance.

The emission of CO₂ has been a serious problem for centuries. The steep increase in atmospheric concentration of CO₂ could potentially lead to a further increase in temperature and climatic change. Therefore, scientists and governments may need to take carbon capture technology to the next level.

Enterprise interview

We completed the whole product design and proposed to several industrial. Through the interview with our potential customers, we modified and improved our project from their perspective. We found out what we were weak in the design and then figured out the solutions with the enterprise support.

Our major potential customer, China Steel Corporation, which is the largest integrated steel maker in Taiwan. The iron making process involves reacting iron ore with a reducing agent, like coking coal, and produces large volumes of CO₂.
Taiwan's largest high-tech applied research institutions, Industrial Technology Research Institute, which has proposed several carbon capture technologies for use in industry.
An industry-university cooperative research project ,Biofixation of flue gas CO₂ with microalgae , worked on the same goal with us : reduce CO₂ emission in industry with biology method.
We collaborated with King Membrane Energy Technology Inc., which is a company that capable of providing customized pervaporation systems and membrane distillation systems for use in industries. They replace traditional energy-using distillation with advanced energy-saving membrane technology.

Entrepreneurship

China Steel Corporation

Fig 2. Picture of CSC interview

Meeting with experts and stakeholders is important in shaping our project to fulfill the needs of our target user. China Steel Corporation is the largest integrated steel manufacturer in Taiwan. Also, they have been adopting the algae bio-sequestration by cooperating with the research group from our university, NCKU Tainan.

Process

We met with the senior executive of China Steel Corporation to gain invaluable insight for our research. The interview started with our project presentation, including the introduction of bioreactor design and the industrial model. By listing out all the aspects we had considered, we would like to obtain advice on the practical and social considerations involved in the application of our project in industry.

Suggestion and Question

Will the high concentration of CO₂ retard growth of engineered bacteria?

Microalgae is reported resistant to SOx and NOx. Does E. coli survive under such conditions?

The two questions above were the main concern of CSC. Basically, the best condition for engineered E. coli to capture CO₂ have to be lower, without too much SOx and NOx particles. However, we won’t be able to provide an ideal culture condition in industrial application. After researching the tolerance of E. coli, we concluded that E. coli is possible to survive in factory condition while the concentration of SOx and NOx were much lower than CO₂. Besides, we will dilute the concentration with gas that the small fraction of SOx NOx can only effect the expression ofE. coli. In other words, it may not capture as much CO₂ as culture in the lab.

It is important to define a specific commercial product that can be truly produced since our user may consider its economic viability. They stated that a product that can be widely used is better. At the same time, we should consider current GMO legislation if we want to commercialize those products. The actual condition is not as ideal as in the laboratory, we should optimize the condition to maximize the carbon fixation ability of the microbes.

Interview record

The record can be separated into two parts. One is the feedback documentation during the interview, another one is customer investigate questions. We use CSC represent China Steel Corporation.

Click to see complete interview

Part1. Interview record

Date：September. 15, 9 am.

Location：China Steel Corp. conference hall

CSC： What is the adaptability of E. coli for the corporate? Do you have any doubt about the actual application?

It can be explained from the following points:

Concentration:

Bacteria can tolerate the increase of CO₂ concentration. However, there is limit in the input, and our team is targeting this system.

A shunt is designed to slow down the rate of input to enter the bacteria rapidly.

Temperature:

In this system, 42 degrees Celsius is our limit, and we need to overcome by technology in the high temperature.

The problem is that our team will lower the temperature through other devices.

Waste:

Our team solves the problem of waste by recycling and filtering out.

CSC ：From the perspective of the company, how much additional benefit can it bring to the output value of the products in their downstream of system?

At present, the product of downstream in our system is glutamine, and the reason why we choose is because glutamine is accessible and easy to operate for us. Its additional benefit refers to the different application. Take the market value of glutamine as an example, the additional benefit can reach 10 times larger of the E. coli culture cost, ignoring the fixed cost of the whole system.

Besides, E. coli was regarded as high potential species to produce all kinds of protein. Including essential amino acid that cannot be synthesized by organism, or forage for stock farmer. Therefore, our system has high potential output value to bring great additional benefit.

CSC：China Steel is one of the largest carbon consumer in our country. In your presentation, you mentioned that two-thirds of Taiwan's area was required to balance one-tenth of the current emissions. In practice, it is still too far away. Is it possible to match the materials with 3D layout?

We want to save the space and culture in high density concentration:

Reduce the volume of culture material
Stacking the bioreactors

CSC： How to deal with the waste of this system? Is there a problem with super Cryptococcus neoformans?

The protein needs to be separated before produced. At the same time, this process will produce the bio-waste. The special process is high temperature and high pressure. It can be used in the factory's original waste system under the high temperature and high pressure environment.

We use the general strains, and there is no possibility of mutations. In addition, with the monitoring of environmental, the probability of mutation is greatly reduced to reach biosafety.

CSC position description：

Algae is one of the implementation of the CCS plan, and they always want to build a multi-system. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, what we proposed was one more choice for them and they were glad to hear that E. coli and contribute to CCS & U (Carbon Capture Storage and Utilization).

Part2. Customer demand investigation

The research and development of new technologies, which level will be considered to mature and worthy investing specifically?

There are three conditions:

1) Feasibility of laboratory technology: It’s okay with technical confirmation.

2) Feasibility of engineering: It’s feasible under engineering equipment construction, application of space and on-site environmental conditions.

3) Feasibility of economic: total cost (input, output) must be positive benefits.

There is a problem of limited space in Taiwan, how much space that we need to reduce at least in the enterprise?

This proposition should be how much CO₂ the technology can absorb per unit area. Based on this basis, industrial will evaluate the existing space of the factory, consider how much CO₂ can be absorbed, and investment cost of equipment. Therefore, a certain amount of CO₂ can be reduced. We will also calculate the input and output to evaluate if it has positive benefit.

We will consider the secondary cost of waste disposal, just like the application of CSC unit in basic-oxygen-furnace slag, will you consider the cost of waste recycling be beneficial? Or is there a problem caused by China Steel and secondary pollution?

This part cannot be provided due to operational confidentiality. It is recommended that this proposition should be turned into be directly used as a marketable product. The cost of the resource should be assessed by the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a whole.

Since our project is facing the problem of the higher cost of culture medium, we would like to ask the question about the benefit of carbon fixation and cost of carbon fixation method.

The cost of carbon fixation depends on the carbon capture and storage methods used. For example, the calcium circuit developed by the Industrial Research Institute is used to capture carbon. The recent cost of carbon capture is intended to be reduced to US$30 per ton, and US$10 per ton of geological storage is required. Competition between carbon capture methods can be assessed by cost and overall utilization of reuse.

Regarding the part of industry-university cooperation, Why CSC chose to cooperate with Annan Campus in NCKU for microalgae carbon fixation.

When the former academic research unit strives for the NEP project (National Energy Program), the technology that the audited authority usually requires that project must be adopted by the industry. Therefore, both the academic research center and the industry usually sign the cooperation letter of intent for review. For China Steel, it is willing to support the academic research community to conduct forward-looking technical research with national resources to provide the technical information needed to evaluate feasibility.

The medium we need will still consume energy in the process of preparation, and it may cause carbon emissions simultaneously. We wonder how to regard upon overall carbon footprint may be increased from the perspective of enterprise.

If the overall footprint of the carbon fixation process developed may be positive (increased), in general, from the perspective of carbon reduction within the enterprise, there is no possibility of application. If the derived external carbon reduction benefit is greater than the internal carbon loss, it proves to have a positive net benefit to the environment. As long as it meets the feasibility of engineering and economic, the enterprise is willing to adopt it.

Research on carbon fixation, what is the driving force for China Steel in addition to economic benefits?

Regulatory requirements, corporate identity and social responsibility.

Part3. Picture Record

International Technology Research Institute

Fig 3. Picture of ITRI interview