Postbiotic production monitoring and scale-up from agricultural waste fermentation
Expertise in producing bacterial postbiotics (cells and metabolites) via fermentation of oat, rice, bean, and potato-based waste streams. Services include lab- and pilot-scale fermentation (1–30 L), HPLC-MS metabolite analysis, biomass monitoring, and mathematical modeling to support scale-up, downstream processing, and purification of postbiotics for industrial applications.
Overview
This offering provides applied research and development services for the production of bacterial postbiotics, including both microbial cells and their metabolites, using agricultural and food waste streams as fermentation substrates. The team has demonstrated expertise in producing key metabolites such as citric acid, lactic acid, and vanillin in bioreactors, and applies this background to build optimized fermentation models that can be transferred and adapted to large-scale production. The work supports partners seeking to develop sustainable, waste-based postbiotic ingredients for food, nutraceutical, feed, or cosmetic applications.
Technical specifications
Core capabilities:
- Fermentation on oat, rice, bean, and potato-based waste substrates
- Lab-scale fermentation in flasks and 1 L to 5 L bioreactors
- Pilot-scale fermentation in 20 L to 30 L fermentors
- Monitoring of viability, biomass production, and metabolite profiles every 2 hours during discontinuous fermentation
- HPLC-MS analysis of produced metabolites
- Mathematical modeling of postbiotic production to guide scale-up
- Downstream processing and purification of postbiotics
- Design and comparison of fermentation media using waste substrates versus model media
Workflow:
- Define the target postbiotic in collaboration with the partner
- Design fermentation media and select suitable microorganisms
- Run flask-level screening followed by lab-scale bioreactor trials
- Monitor fermentation parameters and metabolite output at regular intervals
- Build a predictive mathematical model for postbiotic production
- Scale the validated process to pilot-scale fermentors
Technology readiness level
The underlying fermentation and metabolite production capabilities are established and actively used for producing key metabolites in bioreactors. Current work extends these capabilities to postbiotic production on agricultural waste substrates at lab scale, with a defined pathway to validate and scale the process to 20–30 L fermentors. The team is positioned to engage partners on custom postbiotic targets, media design, and scale-up validation studies.
About University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca
USAMV Cluj‑Napoca is a public life‑sciences university in Romania serving more than 5,000 students across bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs. Industry partners access teaching and experimental research stations and large field sites used as testbeds for trials and demonstrations. Applied learning and services are delivered through farms at Cojocna and extensive research fields near Jucu, complementing greenhouse and laboratory capabilities. A veterinary teaching hospital and pilot‑scale food processing stations enable clinical services, product prototyping, and process validation on campus. The university secures national and European funding, and a dedicated technology transfer center supports IP, licensing, and company collaboration.
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