Introduction

This course has been created by the Biomass Biorefinery Network (funded by BBSRC), in partnership with the Biorenewables Development Centre, CPI and Green Rose Chemistry.
The course and its materials are license free open education resources, and can therefore be used by open access facilities who wish to run their own iteration of the course.
Please see the course framework for stipulations around charging for participation in the course.

Purpose of the course

This course is designed to be delivered in person over two days, to transform participants from having a primarily lab-based understanding of biotechnology process to possessing a more comprehensive and practical understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with industrial scale-up and commercialisation in biomass biorefining. A tour of the host open access scale up centres’ facilities should form part of the programme.

Course aims

The course aims to;

• provide an understanding of industrial scale-up: participants will be given insights into the entire journey from lab to industrial production, including scale-dependent challenges, economic viability, and critical process parameters;
• develop expertise in core unit operations: gain knowledge of pretreatment, processing (such as enzymatic, fermentation, thermochemical), and downstream separation unit operations, along with their implications;
• raise manufacturing and supply chain awareness: the course will equip participants with insights into pilot plant use, manufacturing strategies (in-house/tolling), product stability, and supply chain complexities;
• introduce economic and business acumen: participants will be introduced to techno-economic analysis (TEA), minimum viable product (MVP) determination, intellectual property (IP) strategy, and understanding funding avenues, and;
• develop concepts and apply learnings; participants will apply their learnings and develop their own roadmap to success.

How to access

If you are an open access centre wishing to enhance researchers’ understanding of the scale up journey, download the resources below to start planning your course:

Course supporting documentation

• IB scale up course framework (read this first to understand how the course is intended to be run)
• IB Scale up course – comms copy for advertising and running the course
• Scale up course image credits used within the resources
• Course PowerPoint template (for additional resources you may wish to create)

Course resources

• IB scale up course content zip file
• Biorefining directory – 2026 (resource to support participants)