Givaudan visits the IQS Bioprocess Plant

The Bioprocess Pilot Plant within the Process Transfer and Integrative Technology Centre (CTPTI) at IQS offers visits to companies and customers interested in discovering the facilities and capabilities of this new bioprocessing infrastructure with the aim of reaching agreements for possible services related to biotechnological production and process scaling.

This past April, representatives from Givaudan, a leading company in the aromas and fragrances sector and a member of the IQS Business Foundation, held an internal work session at the IQS campus that ended with a conference led by Dr Antoni Planas, professor with the Department of Bioengineering, coordinator of the Biotechnological and Biochemical Chemistry Research Group (GQBB) at the IQS School of Engineering, and director of the Bioprocess Pilot Plant. Dr Planas gave a brief explanation on biocatalysis and biotechnological processes, the GQBB group’s area of expertise, with special emphasis on the differences between chemical reactions and “bio” reactions and how these differences can also affect production processes at the laboratory and in terms of scaling.

Subsequently, the representatives from Givaudan Ibérica were able to take a guided tour of the Bioprocess Pilot Plant, led by Dr Planas himself, where they discovered the possibilities offered by this facility first-hand.

According to Josep Bartolí, Head of Industrialization, “Givaudan has growing interest in biotechnology as a more sustainable option for the industrial preparation of perfume ingredients.”.

In the words of Mercè Casals, Head of Operations, “we see biotechnology as an interesting alternative to chemical synthesis processes for producing fragrances. The IQS facilities and the knowledge of its experts in the field make an ideal platform to test new concepts and explore the “bio” alternative.”