Breakthrough in Biomanufacturing Promotes Green Production and Protects Marine and Food Resources

A research team led by Professor Dongzhi Wei of the Luhua Institute of Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, ECUST, has recently attracted wide attention after receiving the top science and technology award in the biomanufacturing industry. Through long-term independent innovation, the team has developed technologies that enable the green production of high-value raw materials, reducing reliance on marine resources while generating significant economic and environmental benefits in the food, pharmaceutical, and agricultural sectors.

One of the team’s most notable achievements is the industrial-scale biosynthesis of pharmaceutical-grade squalene, an important ingredient widely used in vaccines, health supplements, and cosmetics. Traditionally, squalene has been extracted from shark liver, a process that heavily relies on marine wildlife. After nearly two decades of research, the ECUST team established key technology platforms based on multi-enzyme synergistic catalysis and engineered cell factories, becoming the first in the world to achieve industrial-scale biomanufacturing of pharmaceutical-grade squalene. The output from a single 20-ton fermentation tank can replace the amount of squalene obtained by harvesting about 3,000 sharks using conventional extraction methods, providing a sustainable technological solution for marine conservation. The product has already received international certification and entered mass production.

The platform technologies developed by the team have also demonstrated broad industrial applicability. In the food industry, an upgraded green production process for citric acid has increased the utilization rate of corn starch raw materials to nearly 100 percent, achieving world-leading acid production efficiency. Over the past three years, production lines using this technology have saved approximately 810,000 tons of grain, while the resulting products have achieved the largest global market share and earned recognition as a National Green Factory.

In the agricultural sector, the team has broken long-standing international technological monopolies by establishing the world’s first 10,000-ton-per-year biomanufacturing production line for green herbicides. The process achieves nearly complete raw material utilization, generates almost no wastewater, and requires only one-tenth of the land area, investment, and construction time compared with conventional chemical production facilities, demonstrating significant environmental and economic advantages.

These breakthroughs stem from the team’s full-chain technological innovation, ranging from upstream biocatalyst innovation to overall process engineering optimization. By establishing a proprietary enzyme library with over 10,000 enzymes, the team has drastically shortened the customization cycle for industrial enzymes and overcome the global challenge of low synergistic efficiency in multi-enzyme systems, achieving a conversion rate of over 99%.

Experts note that the successful industrialization of these technologies marks China’s transition from follower to global leader in green biomanufacturing. Over the past three years, these technologies have generated substantial economic value, promoted industrial upgrading, and contributed to the development of new quality productive forces in line with China’s carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals and advanced manufacturing strategy.