Bioresources and Biotechnology
Sector
Bioresources
Manager
Laurent Girault, Ph.D.
Bioresources and Biotechnology
Description
The centre for expertise in bioresources and biotechnology’s team develops solutions to valorize 100% of available aquatic biomass—in other words use each part of a lobster, alga, crab, shrimp or fish. Our experts predominantly develop solutions to valorize coproducts generated from processing so that a business can earn a profit from material that would otherwise have been costly to dispose of in a landfill.
The technologies our experts propose make it possible to valorize this biomass by using it to create new food products and ingredients or supplements for humans or animals and to target high value-added markets such as the cosmetics, animal health and feed, or human health and food markets.
Our team’s network of partners enables it to support businesses almost every step of the way. We specialize in recovering and sorting raw materials at the source (on board vessels or in plants) and stabilizing them. We take care to align valorization efforts with existing plant practices and processes to make integrating them as easy as possible for manufacturers. Stabilized products can be put to use by Merinov or its scientific partners or clients, depending on the technology required to do so and the target markets.
Services
- Sampling and stabilizing of marine biomass at sea or in the plant
- Pretreatment of biomass: shredding, chemical hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, fractionation
- Extraction and prepurification of biomolecules using membrane technologies
- Chemical and microbiological characterization of marine products and extracts
- Development of integrated strategies to valorize biomass, byproducts and industrial marine effluents
- Development of laboratory processes and scaling up to a pilot project (100–1,000 L)
Equipment
Fractionation platforms
Supercritical fluid extractor
Continuous centrifuges Horizontal settling tank for solid / liquid separation
Three-phase centrifugal separator: solid / heavy liquid / light liquid
Akta Flux S
Atomizer
