A new type of ceramic membrane—made from silicon carbide and shaped into hollow fibres with internal microchannels—aims to make the separation and purification steps in precision fermentation far more energy-efficient and chemically robust. This matters because separation and purification currently consume about 15% of the world’s energy demand. In cellular agriculture—where meat, dairy, or other agricultural products are grown from cell cultures rather than farmed animals—efficient bioseparation is a critical bottleneck. Polymeric membranes, while energy-efficient, can suffer from chemical incompatibility, fouling, and water permeation issues when handling the complex biomaterials in these processes. The project addresses that gap by transferring the highly permeable, low-fouling, and chemically stable properties of silicon carbide into a scalable hollow fibre format that resists those problems. If successful, the membrane could reduce energy use in bioseparation by up to ten times compared to conventional methods, lowering costs and environmental impact for the emerging precision fermentation industry. This would help the UK’s £12 million CARMAR Hub move cellular agriculture “from lab to shopping basket” by making manufacturing processes more resilient and distributed. The technology could also benefit broader applications in biological membrane research and bioenergy.
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Cellular Agriculture Manufacturing involves the production of agricultural products via cell culture. This innovative method significantly diminishes the environmental impact compared to traditional farming by reducing land use, greenhouse gas emissions, and water usage. It also provides enhanced resilience to climate change and enables more distributed manufacturing processes. This approach further generates added value for UK farmers, aligning with the primary goals of the £12 million EPSRC-funded CARMAR Hub. In addition to being assessed on sustainability, societal, and economic metrics, CARMAR's goal of transitioning "from lab to shopping basket" necessitates the development of "novel, underpinning manufacturing technologies". These technologies are designed to achieve necessary process intensities at scale in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. Considering that separation and purification processes account for approximately 15% of the world's energy demand, the innovation of bioseparation processes through the advancement of sophisticated separation technologies will be a key determinant of CARMAR's success. Given the high energy efficiency of membrane separation, which is up to ten times more energy-efficient than conventional separation methods, expertise in polymeric membranes has been secured within the CARMAR consortium. This project aims to further mitigate potential risks associated with chemical compatibility, fouling, and water permeation of polymeric membranes when interacting with a wide range of biomaterials and systems within the CARMAR value chain. To this end, the project is focused on advancing more resilient and high-throughput ceramic membrane technology, thereby elevating the versatility of CARMAR processes by overcoming the limitations of polymeric membranes. To achieve this, we plan to transfer the highly permeable, low fouling, and chemically robust SiC material into an advanced microchannel structured hollow fibre membrane. This membrane, with its high surface area to volume ratio and low permeation resistance, along with its scalable fabrication uniquely available through this project, aims to counteract the high fabrication cost challenge associated with such membranes. Beyond demonstrating its efficacy in bioseparation applications within CARMAR through collaborations, we will extend the benefits of this advanced material to broader research centres/hubs/institutes, such as the biological membrane and bioenergy research and development at Aston University. By providing a new powerful tool for efficient purifications at lower energy consumption, we aim to bring together membrane researchers from biological, polymeric, and ceramic membrane communities, thereby further advancing globally leading membrane innovations for both successful CARMAR and a more resilient UK society.
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