Hydrosome Labs: “Ultrafine bubbles” enhance fermentation speed and functional beverages
24 Jun 2024 | Hydrosome Labs
Bob Jacobs, president of Hydrosome Labs talks us through the science of “ultrafine bubbles” and its potential in meeting the rising demand for precision fermentation processes in F&B. He sheds light on the technology, Hydrosome H2O’s ability to deliver active ingredients to cells more efficiently in functional ingredients and beverages to enhance their hydration potential.
Hi, this is Inha Noreen from CNS Media, journalist at Food Ingredients First.
Today I'm delighted to be joined by Bob Jacobs, president of Chicago-based Hydrosome Labs, which has developed an innovative technology to address multiple problems in precision fermentation processes that find applications in food and ingredients.
Welcome, Bob.
Thank you for joining us today.
Thank you for having me.
So, Bob, why don't you start by telling us about what inspired you to focus on the precision fermentation space?
Yeah, it's a real big opportunity for us, and, and we think there's a huge need in this space.
When we started looking at it, the, you know, some of the projections are that the demand for precision fermentation is, is going to outstrip supply by, you know, hundreds, if not thousands of times.
So there's a real need for improving the efficiency of fermentation processes.
A lot of Sectors of the industry also are struggling with being cost competitive with, with kind of their non-precision, counterparts, and so we think we can help that, sector of the industry as.
Wonderful.
And talking about the signs of ultra fine bubbles that the company is focus focusing on, what can you tell us about it and how did you come up with the idea?
Yeah, so the science of ultrafine bubbles is fairly new in the, in the realm of science, but it's been around for about 30 years.
People first discovered it in, in ocean waves, you know, back in the 80s and 90s.
The technology has been used in agriculture and water treatment pretty extensively recently.
But we saw the opportunity to take it to some other categories, personal care, beverages, and fermentation.
And so that's really what inspired us to, to explore those, those avenues.
The technology has a lot of potential.
The basis of the technology is that the bubbles that are in solution are really carriers of nutrients and carriers of gasses to cells, and we know in the fermentation space and, and obviously in beverages, those bubbles can act, as accelerants of the process, cause the cells get more, More nutrients and more gasses that they need in order to thrive.
Yeah, that's pretty interesting.
And talking about the beverage space, how do you think it can help, company, you know, improve their nutritional quality like you mentioned?
Yeah, exactly.
So, functional beverages are, are a big opportunity for us.
One of the things that we've done with our technology that other ultrafine bubble companies haven't been able to do is to create a stable form of these bubbles.
So the bubbles can last.
We have data in formulations where the bubbles have lasted up to 2 years, and, and longer.
And so that opens up new avenues for us to pursue, in, in functional ingredients and functional beverages, those ingredients can get delivered more effectively to, You know, to consumers.
So, we've done two clinical trials where we've shown improvements in hydration, we've, we've shown improvements in the delivery of compounds like collagen, to the skin.
So we think that there's a huge potential for improving the performance of some of these functional beverages.
OK, that's nice.
And what were some of the challenges you and your team faced while you were coming up with this ultrafine hydrosome H2O, technology, yeah.
One of the biggest challenges this industry has faced, and the reason why it's exploding recently, is being able to categorize and visualize these bubbles, cause they're voids, and they're very small, they're around 50 to 100 nanometers in size, and so just the technology that's available to be able to see something that small.
Has only recently been developed.
So we're working with universities right now, and, and some of the, you know, cutting edge equipment manufacturers to have the right pieces of equipment to be able to visualize these bubbles.
And we've seen some of the smallest bubbles that have ever been recorded.
We have been able to visualize bubbles with our technology down to 20 nanometers working with some of the university partners that we've worked with.
So that's been a big challenge.
The other one relative to the fermentation industry is being able to put, kind of the fermentation.
Slurry, if you will, the media and the cells and everything else through a technology that creates ultrafine bubbles.
A lot of the technologies that are out there would destroy the cells and the things that are, that are going through the technology.
We've been able to develop a technology that actually improves the cell viability as it goes through our process.
So not only are we applying the ultrafine bubbles to the fermentation, but we're also making the cells much happier as they go through.
Oh, that's, that's really interesting.
And, what do you think the techniques, the applications are when you specifically talk about the food and beverage industry and what potential application can companies get out of it?
Yeah, so, you know, fermentation is a big focus of ours.
We think that we can significantly improve the fermentation, output and speed.
So the work that we've done, we've been able to double the yield of fermentation processes, and we've been able to reduce the speed by 30, you know, 25, 30%.
So there's a, there's a huge, benefit to that industry there.
When you think about beverages, you know, having a better performing functional beverage is, is probably the other big area that we're exploring.
And then finally, we're, we're starting to look at sensory applications.
So, you know, when you Drink a beverage, you get some sensory carbonated beverage, you get some sensory aspects from the bubbles in there.
We think the same thing can apply to very tiny bubbles like ours, where we might be able to deliver some unique, sensory, benefits.
Oh, that's, that's really an interesting way to put it, like, comparing it to the carbonated beverage space, and we're looking forward to what the company comes up with now.
And, what are your future plans about this particular project, or are you also planning to pour into other domains using this technology?
Yeah, the, the response in fermentation has been tremendous since we, have released some of the results that, that we've worked on with the University of Illinois.
So I think our, our biggest future plan is just meeting the demand.
You know, we've had a lot of interest from the industry, and, you know, keeping up with that demand is, is gonna be our, our biggest focus, but I think beyond that, You know, as I mentioned, looking at different gasses inside the bubbles and, and what benefits those might deliver, either from a sensory aspect or even fermentations.
If there's different gasses inside the bubbles, we can apply our technology to different types of fermentations, even cell cultures, We're here at Bio International this week, and, and there's a lot of, you know, pharmaceutical compounds that are made through cell culture media as.
And so we think we might be able to have some impact on that as.
So, I think the future is very bright.
There's a lot of possibilities for us, and, and we're looking forward to, you know, meeting the demand.
Oh, that's really a wonderful way to end our interesting discussion about this and fermentation.
Thank you for your time, Bob, and for your valuable insights.
Have a great day.
You too.
Thank you for having me.
