Scotland’s first open-access 300-litre fermenter promises to provide a major boost for the country’s bioeconomy, explains IBioIC’s Neil Renault.
Located at the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre’s (IBioIC) FlexBIO facility at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, the fermenter is a type of bioreactor used to grow microorganisms at scale. Funded at a cost of £847,000 investment by Scottish Enterprise, it will give early-stage companies the opportunity to trial and scale up bio-based processes without needing to invest in costly infrastructure.
Neil Renault, IBioIC’s scale-up facilities manager, outlines what makes the new equipment unique, and what it means for Scotland’s industrial biotechnology capabilities.
What are the key technical specs of the fermenter?
Technically, we call it a 300-litre fermenter, but the working volume is around 200 litres, you always need to leave space for foaming and gas exchange. It’s fitted with different impellers – a double Rushton for high-intensity mixing and a pitch blade impeller for gentler flow – so we can adapt depending on the microorganism we’re working with.
We have mass flow controllers for oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and air, which allows us to maintain control over the gas environment.
We can replicate the full process, including extraction and purification, just like in a commercial setting. That’s where we can really add value – helping companies see the full picture and reduce risks early on
We can also measure the gases coming out too. There’s also a clean-in-place (CIP) system that can clean and disinfect everything automatically when connected to the right chemicals.
And we’ve got some redundancy built in. There are two probes for measuring pH and dissolved oxygen, so if a single sensor goes down mid-run, we won’t have to worry about losing a high-value batch.
How does this enhance FlexBIO’s scale-up capabilities?
Until now, our upper limit was around 30 litres, which is fine for early-stage work but still quite a bit off industrial scale. The new fermenter takes us from coffee cup scale right up to 300 litres, a tenfold increase in capacity. That opens the door to more than just testing. We can now produce material in useful quantities – enough for customer trials or demonstrating to investors that there’s a tangible product behind the pitch.
It also gives us more scope for downstream processing, which is what happens after fermentation to extract or purify the product. That’s where most of the cost and complexity lies, so being able to support both ends of the process is a big step forward.
What types of processes can it support?
Pretty much anything microbial, the system has been designed to be as versatile as possible. It’s also compatible with a wide variety of feedstocks. That matters more and more these days – the kinds of microbes people are using are incredibly diverse, so it needs to be ready for whatever comes through the door.
What challenges are there to scaling up and how does this acquisition help?
Downstream processing is a big one. A lot of focus tends to go on growing the cells, but often not enough thought is given to what comes after. You need to plan early on how you’re going to separate, purify and stabilise the product, otherwise you could reach scale and realise it’s not actually viable.
This system lets us look at everything in a joined-up way. We can replicate the full process, including extraction and purification, just like in a commercial setting. That’s where we can really add value – helping companies see the full picture and reduce risks early on.
Can you walk us through how a typical company might use the fermenter?
It usually goes one of two ways. Some companies come to us at a really early stage. We might start them on parallel two-litre reactors, then step them up to 30 litres and then 300 – all while thinking about how the downstream process fits in.
Others might already be working at 30 litres elsewhere and want to go further. In those cases, we often start by replicating their process in our seven-litre glass system. It’s a lower-risk way to understand how the process behaves before we scale it up into stainless steel.
In both cases, it’s about de-risking. We look at mass transfer, run the numbers, and make sure the process works across different volumes. It’s not just a case of scaling up and hoping for the best – it’s a technical, deliberate approach.
How does this investment support Scotland’s bioeconomy?
This is the only open-access fermenter of its size in Scotland. If you’re a biotech start-up, your local options for scaling are limited. Having this here allows companies to grow in Scotland and stay here.
It’s also a really valuable training tool. At this scale, you’re not pouring flasks anymore – you’re handling drums, thinking about safety, planning cleaning cycles. It’s a different mindset, and it gives people proper hands-on experience. That’s how we build the workforce Scotland needs to run these systems long-term.
How important are academic and industry partnerships here?
They’re essential. A lot of great ideas come out of universities, but for them to make a real-world impact, they have to be aligned with what industry actually needs – that’s where we come in.
We often get involved early through grant-funded projects. Even if a company isn’t ready to scale for another year or two, we’ll sit in on meetings, offer advice, and help them think through the challenges. So by the time they are ready, they’ve already worked through a lot of the potential pitfalls. That early involvement helps build trust and makes the scale-up process smoother.
What’s next for FlexBIO?
Commissioning the system was a milestone. Now, we’re refining procedures, doing more training, and finalising safety elements. It’s been a steep learning curve, but we’re nearly there.
Our first full commercial run is booked for this summer, with a company we’ve already supported at a smaller scale. We’ve also recently joined the Pilots4U COPILOT programme, which maps scaleup infrastructure across the UK.
At the end of the day, FlexBIO is about bridging gaps – between research and industry, upstream and downstream, people and technology. If we can’t help someone directly, chances are we know someone who can.
