In 1992, the well-known Anna College in Chennai began a pioneering undergraduate route in commercial biotechnology. The individual at the back of growing the syllabus for it was once Professor Kunthala Jayaraman, a girl of science and “the mummy of Business Biotechnology Schooling on the earth” — in step with a 2021 paper by way of P Kangueane revealed within the Bioinformation magazine.
For plenty of focused on studying on the intersection of organic sciences and engineering, this was once the route they coveted. One in every of the various scholars who took her route in commercial biotechnology at Anna College, was once Dr Ezhil Subbian, a researcher and an entrepreneur who based a groundbreaking biotech startup.
Established in 2013, String Bio, a Bengaluru-based startup, leverages biotechnology to unravel the issue of sustainable meals and animal feed manufacturing by way of using methane, a greenhouse fuel (GHG), as a useful resource. Their patent-protected platform for methane bioconversion referred to as ‘String Built-in Methane Platform’ or SIMP allows the introduction of carbon-friendly merchandise the usage of methane as a uncooked subject material.
Lately, they supply a variety of ‘environment-friendly answers’ for animal vitamin and treasured crop inputs, which no longer handiest building up yield and productiveness but in addition scale back methane emissions from the farming procedure. Their merchandise are being utilized by greater than 250 farmers.
What’s extra, about 30% of the group of workers at her startup is composed of ladies, which is exclusive for startups engaged in deep tech and production.
No project with out enjoy
Following commencement from Anna College with a BTech in commercial biotechnology, Subbian left for the US to review additional. There, she earned a PhD in molecular biology and biochemistry from the Oregon Well being and Sciences College.
By the point Subbian began String Bio in 2012-13, she had years of operating on state of the art bio-engineering, together with at Gevo, the California-based startup. Frances Arnold, the professor whose laboratory spawned Gevo, gained a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018.
“The usage of deep generation to allow sustainable meals techniques which can be local weather resilient is the principle driving force at the back of the paintings at String. Our focal point has been to make sustainability market-relevant by way of redefining production,” says Subbian, talking to The Higher India.
Why do we want SIMP?
Methane conversion is essential for a number of causes. Initially, methane is a potent greenhouse fuel, answerable for round 30% of the present upward push in world temperature, in step with the IEA. Alternatively, it’s also an economical supply of carbon. Regardless of this doable, methane has no longer been extensively utilised basically because of the loss of suitable conversion applied sciences.
“Because of the absence of strong conversion applied sciences, roughly 147 billion cubic toes of herbal fuel is flared into the surroundings every year. This wasted carbon provide may just as an alternative be harnessed for sustainable meals manufacturing,” explains Subbian.
“At the provide aspect, our generation platform gives an answer by way of enabling the manufacturing of various value-added merchandise from methane. The String conversion procedure takes position at nominal temperatures and pressures, making it possible to make use of even small or medium assets of methane which can be usually flared. Historically, the previous 200 years closely trusted coal and oil as number one carbon assets, ensuing within the underutilisation of herbal fuel. Lately, handiest 3% of the worldwide herbal fuel provide is utilised for more than a few packages,” she provides.
Lately, String Bio is one of the international leaders within the gas-based fermentation procedure for generating high quality protein components from methane the usage of SIMP, their proprietary platform. The important thing USP of the generation is scalability, modularity and potency.
How does it paintings?
Merely put, it starts with turning methane from biogas or herbal fuel into monomers — construction blocks of protein for more than a few makes use of.
Right here’s how Dr Subbian explains this complicated procedure in easy phrases —
“The best way to explain the method is by way of evaluating it to brewing, the place barley is used as a supply of carbon for yeast to make beer. In String Bio’s fermentation procedure, methane acts as a supply of carbon for the micro organism rising in a well-controlled surroundings to make protein. We will additionally make different value-added merchandise — the processes are very similar to the conversion described right here aside from that the fermentation and downstream processing [recovery and purification of biosynthetic products from natural sources] will range in response to the kind of product.”
Breaking floor
Within the early years, Subbian bootstrapped the Bengaluru-based startup via its generation building section with some give a boost to from govt grants and incubation centres. Vinod Kumar, her husband and co-founder, got here on board in 2015 to assist construct the industry after quitting his activity as a senior director at Juniper Networks, a US-based corporate.
Suffice to mention, the method of fermenting a fuel like methane with micro organism to supply protein with the appropriate set of amino acids for a particular objective could be very complicated.
“With the exception of expertise, there’s a large number of grunt paintings within the diversifications and combos to search out the appropriate variants of microbes and evolving them on other formulations of methane, ammonia and mineral salts. Upload to that the engineering to make it a advertisement procedure. US startup Codexis, the place Subbian was once a technical lead, had 20 robots to give a boost to the paintings,” notes this Mint document.
With out that advantage of automation in Bengaluru, she improvised. “This intended depending on ‘intestine really feel’ and experience in deciding what would paintings as an alternative of leaving all of it to the gadget. It was once like going from riding a Ferrari at the Autobahn to negotiating Indian roads in a Maruti,” the document provides.
Lately, issues are a bit other. For instance, they have got a multi-purpose fuel fermentation facility in Bengaluru that may run on methane from each herbal fuel and biogas. Additionally, they may be able to supply huge amounts of methane from biogas and herbal fuel.
Commercial
However the demanding situations of growing groundbreaking generation and the considered necessary production parts have been intense early on. At the generation aspect, it took String Bio about 5 years (2014-2018) to analyze and expand its patented SIMP.
Their first product was once an natural protein complement for fish introduced in 2019.
Facilitating sustainable agriculture
The conversion of methane has helped String Bio get ready a number of merchandise. Considered one of them is Impakt™ — a peptide-based biostimulant, whilst any other is CleanRise™ — a microbial-based biostimulant. Either one of those merchandise are used for sustainable meals manufacturing. Farmers are the usage of Impakt and CleanRise in several horticultural and row vegetation since 2018.
SIMP generation makes use of methane as a carbon supply within the microbial fermentation procedure for production bulk and distinctiveness merchandise, together with Impakt and CleanRise.
“String’s Impakt is a novel mix of peptides and amino acids that nourish vegetation to reach most enlargement and yield. Amino acids and peptides play a essential position in keeping up more than a few plant physiological processes. Impakt software improves the plant cellular metabolism and signalling processes, leading to progressed root structure, enhanced photosynthetic charge, yield, and bring high quality,” explains Subbian.
CleanRise, in the meantime, is an “cutting edge biostimulant that creates a wholesome bioactive complicated enabling tough vegetative enlargement,” she says. However how do those merchandise have an effect on vegetation? The usage of rice for example, Subbian outlines the have an effect on of a product like CleanRise.
Consistent with more than a few estimates, rice manufacturing contributes to round 10–13% of annual methane emissions. Its overall GHG output places it on par with global aviation.
“String’s agricultural enter, CleanRise™, has demonstrated yield will increase of as much as 40% from box trials throughout a number of vegetation. In rice, there are much more marked and important effects — using CleanRise ends up in a 33% building up in grain yield in handled vegetation. As well as, on the other hand, using CleanRise decreases methane and nitrous oxide emissions by way of as much as 60% and 40% respectively over untreated vegetation,” claims Subbian.
Right here’s a graphic and is the reason it higher:
In different phrases, this generation has the possible to disrupt the best way agriculture contributes to GHG emissions globally, and on the similar time, building up sustainability and yield for all stakeholders concerned. Such answers are essential to make sustainability market-relevant.
“Along with bettering yield, Impakt and CleanRise deliver a couple of advantages to farmers. Whilst progressed flower and fruit retention, tolerance to abiotic tension, and enhanced produce high quality are one of the advantages of the usage of Impakt, using CleanRise improves the environment friendly use of fertilisers along with bettering grain high quality in huge acre vegetation. Our biostimulants validation trials in several vegetation obviously demonstrated higher ROI to farmers,” claims Subbian.
“For example, using CleanRise in paddy can provide a benefit of Rs 20,000–30,000/hectare to farmers. In a similar fashion, Impakt software in soybean can fetch a benefit of Rs 40,000–45,000/hectare in comparison to common farming practices. Lately, the goods can also be availed without delay from our facility in Bengaluru. Those merchandise shall be to be had from channel companions very quickly. Just about 1,000 farmers throughout other portions of India get pleasure from the usage of String’s biostimulants,” she provides.
One farmer who has benefited from the usage of their biostimulants is Nagaraj from the Doddaballapur house mendacity about 40 km from Bengaluru. “I’ve been the usage of String’s biostimulants for a while now. My marigold vegetation yielded 20–30% extra blooms when I began the usage of their merchandise. To begin with, the yield was once 5 kg in keeping with crop which has now remodeled to 7 kg,” he says.
In the meantime, B J Somashekar, a grape farmer from the Devanahalli house, as regards to the place the Bengaluru airport is situated, spoke of the usage of any other String’s biostimulant product ‘Grepa’.
“By means of the usage of String’s biostimulant product ‘Grepa’, we’ve observed much less flower drop, progressed berries and bunch dimension resulting in an incredible growth within the grapes yield in comparison to common cultivation practices. Additionally, the standard and color of the grapes has progressed which we’ve no longer observed within the final 15 years of grape farming,” he explains.
Different packages of SIMP
String Bio has additionally advanced a protein element for animal vitamin — PROfit/PRO-DG, another protein part for animal feed. Standard protein assets, corresponding to fishmeal and soybean meal, give a contribution to deforestation, overfishing, and environmental degradation.
“String PRO-DG is a top quality protein with optimum dietary components, and it is freed from antibiotics, insecticides and mycotoxins. It supplies traceability, considerably optimises using land and water, and gives sustainability to the feed cost chain. PRO-DG has been validated in famend institutes to be used in animal vitamin via a success trials in shrimp (Wageningen College, Netherlands), trout (ICAR, India) and poultry (KVAFSU, India). Lately, we’re comparing it with shoppers within the poultry and aquaculture marketplace,” Subbian says.
Investment and analysis
To this point, String Bio has raised $ (USD) 20 million within the first shut in their Sequence B spherical. Their marquee traders come with Woodside Power, Ankur Capital, Dare Ventures, Redstart, ONGC, Seventure companions and Zenfold Ventures, amongst others. They’re additionally these days within the technique of putting in place a first-of-its-kind commercial-scale inexperienced box mission in Bengaluru. Additionally, String Bio has been granted 15 patents thus far and has filed greater than 40 packages globally.
(Edited by way of Pranita Bhat; Pictures courtesy String Bio)