New Wave Biotech partnered with the UK’s Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) to apply hybrid AI-powered simulations to one of industrial biotech’s persistent challenges: lipid extraction. The collaboration aims to optimize both solvent and non-solvent routes, reduce trial-and-error in downstream processing, and explore how digital-first methods can improve scalability across multiple applications. The work extends to intracellular bioprocesses and includes techno-economic and sustainability assessments to support earlier process decisions.

“ We’re excited to work with CPI to optimize 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 the platform “achieves high accuracy from minimal data, allowing us to identify the best downstream routes much earlier and with greater confidence.” The partnership builds on earlier work in which New Wave Biotech reported predictive results from a single dataset with up to four times the accuracy of industry norms. The project is supported by an Innovate UK grant under the UKRI National Engineering Biology Program.

For related coverage on sustainability in raw materials and process innovation, see our Sustainable topic.