SHANGHAI, Aug. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Angel Yeast (SH600298), a global leader in yeast manufacturing, is spearheading an initiative that unites universities and enterprises to form an innovative consortium dedicated to advancing synthetic biology technology. This initiative also accelerates the construction of the Xiaoting Synthetic Biology Industrial Park in Yichang, Hubei Province. The goal is to establish an integrated industry chain, starting with yeast production and extending through fermentation of raw materials, bio-manufacturing, and product application. By 2035, this initiative aims to develop a 50-billion-yuan (USD 6.89 billion) industry cluster.

In the era of rapid technology development, synthetic biology has been coined "the third biological science revolution" It makes each cell a "super factory" that can continuously produce specific substances after targeted modification, to be widely used in the manufacturing of food, medicine, biochemicals, new materials and more. At present, yeast is one of the most applicable microbial cell factory platforms with high editability and controllability.

As a global leader in the field of yeast R&D and production, Angel Yeast has been laying out the industry roadmap for synthetic biology to accelerate its development. With this in mind, the Xiaoting Synthetic Biology Industrial Park was unveiled in 2023 and the consortium was founded in May 2024.

"The consortium will focus on tackling the bottlenecks of core technologies, advancing the development of bio-based materials, pharmaceutical intermediates, biomass sugar and more following market-oriented operation strategies, while actively promoting to develop the standards for synthetic biology and layout for acquiring invention patents of the industry," said Zhang Yan, Dean of the Angel Yeast Research Institute.

The yeast extract production of the project requires more than 100 kilograms of enzymes per day, supplied by Angel Yeast's enzyme preparation operations. The first phase of the project is now in production to manufacture vitamin K2, pyrroloquinoline quinone disodium salt, phosphatidylserine and other products.

Building an intelligent, digital, and automated factory

Angel Yeast's green production base has been transformed to achieve high levels of automation, intelligent and digital operation, while leading in production capacity, while the green recycling and circular production model is also contributing to sustainable development.

The intelligent factory is equipped with smart AGV lift trucks to support the high-efficiency operation of production lines, and coupled with 13 robots, four production lines have fully realized automated manufacturing. In 2023, Angel Yeast's factory in Yichang produced 40,000 tons of yeast products reaching 1 billion yuan (USD 137.9 million). In the first half of 2024, it has achieved an output value of 508 million yuan (USD 70.05 million), a 20.8 percent year-on-year increase.

PHA is a new biodegradable material to replace plastics. Hubei PHAngel Biotechnology, a joint venture by Angel Yeast and Beijing PhaBuilder, is building a PHA production line with production capacity of 30,000 tons by two phases with total investment of 1.05 billion yuan (USD 144.79 million), which upon completion will become the world's largest scale PHA production line boasting the most varieties of PHA products.