Use of Synthetic Biology for the Manufacture of Advanced Energetic Materials

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Synthetic biology aims to design and engineer novel biologically-based parts, devices and systems, as well as redesign existing natural biological systems for useful purposes. Dstl is interested in the use of Synthetic Biology to address a range of different defence challenges - one of these areas is how advances in synthetic biology can support the development of advanced energetic materials.

The Advanced Energetic Materials project aims to accelerate the discovery and delivery of new explosives and energetic materials for future use by UK Defence and Homeland Security.

With ever-increasing demands on energetics to meet tougher mission requirements, perform safely and have a lower environmental impact, the UK requires new materials that are able to meet these challenges. This high technical risk, low technology readiness level (TRL) research programme aims to harness new and under-exploited technologies for the purposes of identifying new energetic materials, as well as to find new synthesis pathways - both to those new energetic materials, and to existing ones for which significant barriers to production currently exist .

As a critical, underpinning technology, new energetic materials (propellants, explosives and pyrotechnics) are required for a wide range of defence and security applications. Novel energetic molecules, for use in warhead (explosives) and propulsion (propellants) formulations, are the strategic focus for this very low technology readiness level (TRL) research.

Energetic materials (or 'energetics') are metastable stores of chemical energy which can be rapidly released upon demand. Foremost amongst these are explosives, propellants and pyrotechnics, with additional examples including energetic additives in the form of binders, plasticisers or bonding agents. Dstl are keen to use the developments made in synthetic biology to assist in the development of new energetic materials or the improved manufacture of key existing materials. Synthetic Biology has the possibility to develop synthesis pathways that are either not possible through standard chemistry routes or have the ability to be simpler, cheaper and/or more environmentally friendly. Synthetic biology also has the potential to develop completely new materials that could not currently be made through traditional chemistry routes.

The aim of this research stream is to address the need for new energetic materials and mitigate associated risks by exploring alternative and emerging technologies in the synthetic biology domain. In this way, the project aims to discover and deliver advanced energetic materials (and potentially valuable new precursors to known materials), and enable their production on-demand to meet tightly-defined production and performance criteria.