Process development
How does ARD help companies scale up from laboratory to pilot plant?
Helping companies to scale up from laboratory trials to full-scale production is one of ARD's areas of expertise. Since 1989, aware of the economic stakes of the development of biotechnologies in particular, ARD's teams put their expertise, innovative spirit, and numerous technologies to work for project sponsors.
The importance of the development of bioprocesses
Industrial biotechnology processes represent a major advance in the production of eco-friendly products, but they remain costly to develop for start-ups, which often don't have adequate technological capacities to scale up from laboratory trials to full-scale production.
The extrapolation of a process to full-scale production requires several intermediate steps (laboratory, pilot, demonstration plant) which must all be approved in order to ensure the viability of the future finished product.
Expertise based on experience and innovation
Process transfer is central to ARD's activities. Its different complementary areas of expertise allow it to produce just a few millilitres at a time, particularly in industrial microbiology, and scale it up to full-scale production with effective analytical monitoring at every step.
Specialising in the management of industrial processes, ARD's teams are capable of both creating new technologies and new molecules internally, as well as developing unique scale-up processes for any project sponsor.
Vital equipment
The optimisation of industrial biotechnology processes is essential to ensure the economic viability of a new product. This naturally requires teams that are specialised in managing industrial processes, as well as a lot of specific equipment.
ARD's platform has all the equipment necessary for purification, at laboratory scale, with fermenters of 2 to 150 litres, pilot plants of 2 to 10 m³ and industrial prototypes (produced by the tonne in 350 m³-industrial fermenters). Each stage enables us to test the challenges of scaling up the processes.
