Milestones for two greentech firms

Afyren has achieved continuous production at its Afyren Neoxy plant at Clermont-Ferrand (pictured), which makes biobased products through a patented fermentation technology based on a circular model. It has now made hundreds of tonnes of biobased acids, which are currently undergoing qualification prior to delivery.

With this milestone, said CEO Nicolas Sordet, the company has “command of all key stages of an innovative process with no equivalents worldwide”. The company is now in the industrial ramp-up phase, enabling it to deliver finished products regularly and in increasing volumes. Further investments plans are in place to eliminate bottlenecks.

Afyren plans to raise production to the targets it set in 2021: €35 million/year with a current EBITDA margin at full capacity of 16,000 tonnes/year. It has already signed contracts representing cumulative revenue of over €165 million in the food and feed, flavours and fragrances, life sciences, materials sciences and lubricants sectors.

Meanwhile, GFBiochemicals has launched Re:Chemistry, which it describes as “a proprietary chemical platform [that] unlocks the full potential of levulinic acid”. The technology will be rolled out worldwide, with some brands already committed to using it.

The US Department of Energy previously listed levulinic acid as one of “the twelve most promising building blocks for creating a greener future”. Its derivatives can be used as ingredients in industries including home and personal care, paint and coatings, industrial cleaning and agrochemicals.

This follows a decade of R&D into making levulinic acid production commercially viable and scalable in partnership with academic institutions, including the Universities of KU Leuven, Lille, Lyon, Nice and others. As a result, a three-step process was reduced to one, making it considerably more economical.