World's First R&D Center for Biomanufacturing with Gas Fermentation to be Established at Port Island, Kobe

JGC Holdings Corporation is pleased to announce that the world's first R&D center for biomanufacturing with gas fermentation will be established at Port Island in Kobe, where construction of the facility will begin next month (August 2024). Additionally, the company has forged closer ties through the third-party allocation of new shares by Bacchus Bio Innovation Co. Ltd., a collaborator in integrated biofoundry® business. Through these initiatives, we will promote more widespread biomanufacturing in society and contribute toward a sustainable future.

1. Background and Purpose

Biomanufacturing is a method of using microorganisms to create products for industries including pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, energy, and food. The market scale of biomanufacturing is expected to reach 200 trillion yen by 2030 according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

JGC Holdings and Bacchus are jointly pursuing integrated biofoundry® business, which will support the growth market of biomanufacturing by providing one-stop service from microbial breeding and refinement to production process development.¹ Through this work, participants intend to reduce the decades-long process from microbial development to commercialization to less than 1/10 of the usual time, in turn greatly accelerating launches and cutting costs to encourage widespread adoption in society.

2. Establishment of New R&D Center

On an approximately 10,000 m² site acquired by the company for research and development on Port Island near the Bacchus research lab, JGC Holdings will establish a new integrated biofoundry® bioprocess lab (JBX) as the world's first production process platform for gas fermentation.

Microorganisms employed in research and development at JBX are expected to be hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria² which use carbon dioxide as a raw material. In this gas fermentation, the safe gas-handling techniques developed through decades of projects by the JGC Group will be essential.

Establishment of the new R&D center is also in line with the city of Kobe's vision for the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster.³ It will support the formation of an ecosystem of biomanufacturing companies, human resources, and academia centered in Kobe and promote adoption of biomanufacturing in society worldwide.

The new center will also conduct work in a joint project of JGC Holdings, Bacchus, Kaneka Corporation, and Shimadzu Corporation to development of direct polymer synthesis technology by microorganisms from CO₂, which was selected as a Green Innovation Fund Project⁴ supporting carbon neutrality by 2050.

JBX1 as planned	JBX1 site

Behind the JBX naming for the research buildings lies our hopes for the future of this project. First, JBX represents JGC Bio Transformation, or biotechnology transformation at JGC Holdings, as well as JGC-Bacchus Transformation, in which the close ties between the two companies are reinforced. Ultimately, JBX also represents Japan Bio Transformation - becoming a leading national biomanufacturing company and promoting this industry domestically.

Here, JGC represents JGC Holdings Corporation.

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3. Third-party Allocation of New Shares by Bacchus

To further strengthen the company's collaboration with Bacchus and provide firm support for integrated biofoundry® business, JGC Holdings has subscribed to a third-party allocation of new shares by Bacchus. Besides reducing CO₂ emissions by promoting the shift from fossil resources, this collaboration will also address domestic resource constraints and related issues. From the standpoints of energy transition, circular economy, and other aspects, the commitment supports "enhancing planetary health," the company's purpose which guides us in pursuing our long-term management vision, Vision 2040.

JGC Holdings intends to establish these integrated biofoundry® operations through non-EPC business, in line with business model transformation in the 2040 Vision and part of a diversified revenue structure.

1: Further details are available in the press release published on June 1, 2023.

JGC HD and Bacchus to Jointly Promote Integrated Biofoundry® Business for the Growth Market of Biomanufacturing (jgc.com)

2: Using hydrogen and oxygen as energy sources, hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria are microorganisms that take in CO₂ as a direct raw material to produce useful substances.

3: Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster, as envisioned by the city of Kobe

(https://www.fbri-kobe.org/kbic/english/)

4: Further details are available in the press release published on March 22, 2023.

"Development of Polymer Synthesis Technology by Microorganisms using CO₂ as Direct Raw Material" selected as a NEDO Green Innovation Fund Project (jgc.com)