KAUST scientists, including Dr Sebastian Overmans and Professors Kyle Lauersen & Pascal Saikaly have devised a hollow-fiber membrane system that “milks” cultured microalgae, continuously extracting and concentrating valuable chemicals like patchoulol with minimal energy and no waste solvent loss.
“The advantage of our method is that products can be continuously extracted from liquid microbial cultures, rather than being harvested laboriously at the end of a batch,” says first author Sebastian Overmans.
Guided by artificial-intelligence membrane design, the process pairs the algae-to-solvent separator with bespoke membranes that recycle the solvent, opening a scalable route for bio-factories to turn waste streams into high-value molecules for medicine, perfumes and more.