At the University of Boras in Sweden, researchers have scaled up second-generation bioethanol production from beech wood chips using an acetone-based organosolv fractionation process. With the help of the INFORS HT Multifors bench-top bioreactor, they confirmed high fermentation efficiency at the 10-L scale, reaching ethanol yields of up to 95% from glucose-rich C6 streams. This study illustrates how optimized biomass pre-treatment and fermentation workflows can drive more efficient and scalable biofuel production.

Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg developed and tested methods to improve the stability and recyclability of a PET-degrading enzyme for plastic recycling. Using the INFORS HT Labfors bioreactor, the team compared several immobilization strategies and found that pH-responsive polymers delivered the best results, retaining about 80% of enzyme activity and enabling up to five PET degradation cycles. In batch reactions, the process achieved more than 97% terephthalic acid yield in less than 14 hours for the first three cycles and about 78% yield in the fifth cycle. These findings support more efficient and scalable processes for enzymatic PET recycling.