One of the main challenges in the field of organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is

Still, the hydroamination of dienes to form allylic amines is a challenging task in a continuous operation. Herein, we present the performance of a membrane reactor by the implementation of a continuously operated hydroamination reaction of β-myrcene with morpholine. Via application of a poly ether–ether–ketone (PEEK) membrane, operation at elevated temperatures was possible in an integrated reaction/separation unit. First, the kinetics of the hydroamination reaction and relevant membrane characteristics were determined under optimized reaction conditions. Afterward, these results were incorporated in a reactor/separator model to predict the process behavior. With this, catalyst replenishment was adjusted resulting in stable continuous operation. In the end an increase of the turnover number from 460 to 5135 compared to a batch process was achieved. The desired geranyl amines were obtained in very good yields higher than 80%, while an excellent conversion of β-myrcene above 93% was reached in a long-time stable process.

Amyris is a world-leading manufacturer of sustainable ingredients producing environmentally friendly products. Biofene® (or trans-β-farnesene) is a synthetic biology derived product using yeast fermentation of sugarcane. This production originates spent broth, an aqueous waste stream typically applied to land by fertirrigation. On one hand, spent broth contains recoverable added-value compounds; on the other hand, an improper disposal of this waste stream could result in negative effects and give rise to environmental concerns. Hence the importance of implementing the bio-waste refinery and circular bio-economy concepts for recovering high-value bio-products. Cosmetic industries are committed to find natural, sustainable, and functional ingredients meeting consumer's and entities rigorous demands. Spent broth may be a source of such ingredients. Thus, the objective of this work was to assess the fractionation of the spent broth stream from Biofene® production to obtain a concentrated nutrient rich extract with potential application on cosmetics.The spent broth's was pretreated for mineral recovery, using a chemical free process developed within the Alchemy Project. The pre-treated spent broth was then fractionated in a cascade membrane filtration process, in an attempt to recover a rich peptide and minerals fractions. This process comprised three steps: microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), and nanofiltration (NF). The composition of the obtained fractions was monitored in terms of total proteins and minerals contents, amino acids profile, and antioxidant capacity. All experiments were done in a crossflow filtration unit (Sepa CF, Sterlitech), coupled to a pump (G13-X, Hidra-Cell®) applying a feed recirculation of ca. 250 L/h.Microfiltration aimed to the clarification of the pre-treated spent broth, removing suspended mineral and organic particles; a Toray's sanitary TMF membrane presented a total solids rejection factor of 51.1 %, and rejection factors towards total proteins and minerals of 60.5 % and 26.4 %, respectively. The antioxidant capacity was higher in the obtained permeate than in the pre-treated spent broth (560 ±59 and 317 ±56 µmol TE/g by ORAC, respectively). The subsequent ultrafiltration of the MF permeate with a 5 kDa MWCO membrane (Toray Sanitary TUF) had rejection factors towards total proteins of 5.9 % and of 20.0 % towards minerals. The retained fraction had an interesting antioxidant capacity (685 ±64 µmol TE/g by ORAC), amino acids content (61.9 ±0.9 mg/g-dw), comprising mainly glutamic acid and aspartic acid (27 and 26 wt%, respectively), and minerals (103.6 ±5.6 mg/g-dw), mainly calcium (ca. 65 wt%). The UF permeate was further filtrated using a Toray's sanitary NF membrane, which retained 61 % of total solids, thus being a concentration step. The retained fraction was similar to that retained on the UF membrane, presenting higher antioxidant capacity (738 ±64 µmol TE/g by ORAC) and minerals content (232.4 ±17.7 mg/g-dw, mainly calcium ca. 65 wt%).The fractions resultant from the ca...