An Ontological Perspective on the Circular Biomanufacturing Process Design

Published

September 1, 2025

Author(s)

Ana Nikolov, Milos Drobnjakovic, Boonserm Kulvatunyou, Stephen Granite, John Beverley

Abstract

Constant advancements in biomanufacturing require operational frameworks that enable accurate comparisons between similar production processes for performance and cost optimization purposes. However, the extensive and heterogeneous nature of available data—presented in different formats, sourced from various origins, and reported in disparate units—poses a significant challenge to efficient comparative analysis, making the comparison time-consuming. In this paper, the potential benefit of applying the biomanufacturing production process ontology to facilitate comparative analysis is investigated to drive process optimization and contribute to process circularity. The fermentation of acetic acid was used as a biomanufacturing use case for investigation. Three semi-continuous fermentation processes differing in the species of acetic acid bacteria and the fermentation substrates originating from different sources (e.g., different wine and glucose sources) were used in the comparative analysis. Existing industrial ontologies were utilized and additional ontologies were developed to facilitate linking of notions and data from multiple domains including the life cycle analysis, process, production, and materials. Following the ontology development best practices, competency questions and respective queries were formulated to validate the ontology, with the aim to enable the evaluation of raw material consumption and the number of fermentation cycles each microorganism can sustain. The ontology and the resulting connected data provided detailed insights into material usage in production, revealing differences in material intensity and cycle time across the three bacterial species. Together they demonstrate the value of the ontology in enhancing existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data, providing a more detailed perspective for evaluating biomanufacturing processes.

Proceedings Title

APMS 2025 Conference "Cyber-Physical-Human Production Systems: Human-AI Collaboration and Beyond"

Conference Dates

August 31-September 4, 2025

Conference Location

Kamakura, JP

Conference Title

Cyber-Physical-Human Production Systems: Human-AI Collaboration and Beyond

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

ontology, comparative analysis, circular economy, acetic acid, fermentation

Citation

Nikolov, A. , Drobnjakovic, M. , Kulvatunyou, B. , Granite, S. and Beverley, J. (2025), An Ontological Perspective on the Circular Biomanufacturing Process Design, APMS 2025 Conference "Cyber-Physical-Human Production Systems: Human-AI Collaboration and Beyond", Kamakura, JP, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960018 (Accessed March 31, 2026)