General scientific orientation
Formerly known as Chaire ABI (Industrial Agro-Biotechnologies) from its creation in February 2013 under the high patronage of local authorities (Greater East Regional Council, Departmental Council of the Marne and Grand Reims) and until the end of 2018, the URD ABI is today a research unit of AgroParisTech dedicated to the creation of innovations and their transfer to industrialization, thus covering the TRL scale from 1 to 4.
Located in the CEBB at the heart of the Pomacle-Bazancourt biorefinery, the URD ABI is interested in the valorization of biomass through the combination of white biotechnologies, green chemistry and process engineering. Thanks to its expertise in chemistry, polymers/materials, microbiology/biochemistry/molecular biology, chemical engineering and separation process as well as in analytical chemistry, the URD ABI is able to carry out multi- and transdisciplinary fundamental as well as applied research projects, the ambition being to develop and optimize sustainable industrial processes and high value-added products from agro-resources (biorefineries by-products, agro-waste...). Specifically, ABI’s scientists focus on the development of high added-value bio-based functional molecules/ingredients (antimicrobials, antioxidants, anti-UV, flavoring agents, surfactants…) and polymers / materials, as well as that of platform molecules (synthons), such as organic acids or aromatic/phenolic compounds, which can be used in fine chemistry, in the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the cosmetic industry as well as biocontrol.
Fields of research
The unit is composed of 3 scientific teams working together and an analytical platform :
Team Biotechnology
♦ Microbial metabolism
♦ Molecular biology – enzymology
♦ Biochemistry
♦ Flow cytometry
♦ Solid-state and liquid-state fermentation (SSF/LSF)
♦ Coupling of bioconversion and extraction
Team Green Chemistry
♦ Green chemistry
♦ Organic chemistry
♦ Glycochemistry – phenol chemistry
♦ Multi-step synthesis
♦ Biocatalysis and catalysis
♦ Bio-based polymers, materials (composites)
Team Process Engineering
♦ Eco-extraction : supercritical CO2, ultrasounds, micro-wave
♦ Membrane filtration (micro, ultra, nano, reverse osmosis)
♦ Membrane contactor
♦ Chromatography
♦ Molecular distillation
♦ Chemical Engineering
♦ Integration of unitary operations
♦ Design of Experiments
♦ Life cycle assessment
Analytical platform
♦ Liquid chromatography HPC/UHPLC (RI, UV/DAD, ELSD,MS2-QToF) – size exclusion chromatographie with four detectors (RI, viscosimetere, UV, MALS)
♦ Gas chromatography (MS)
♦ 1H & 13C NMR (1D/2D)
♦ Flash chromatography/MS
♦ TLC/MS
♦ FTIR – UV
♦ DSC - TGA
For more information
Publications
Check out the open access publications of ABI on HAL-AgroParisTech :
https://bit.ly/2Hw9fWU
and
https://bit.ly/2uq3hyt
Contact details
www.chaire-abi-agroparistech.com
florent.allais chez agroparistech.fr
+33 (0)3 52 62 04 62