- The plant, in Carling Saint-Avold in France’s Moselle
region, uses short supply chains to produce seven 100% biobased
acids that offer customers in sectors such as food, flavors and
fragrances or chemicals as an alternative to the petro-based acids
usually used
- A unique, low-carbon, zero-waste biorefinery strategically
located in the heart of Europe for its international customers and
suppliers
- Production will ramp up to 16,000 metric tons of biobased
carboxylic acids in 2024, saving 30,000 tons of CO2 emissions per
year
- A unique industrial accomplishment resulting from the
association between AFYREN and Bpifrance, through its Sociétés de
Projets Industriels (SPI) fund. The project has created 60 direct
and 200 indirect jobs, and is playing a key role in the emergence
of the bioeconomy sector
Regulatory News:
AFYREN (Paris:ALAFY), a greentech company that offers
manufacturers bio-based, low-carbon ingredients produced using
unique fermentation technology based on a completely circular
model, is inaugurating its first large-scale plant, AFYREN
NEOXY, in Carling Saint-Avold (Grand Est, Moselle, France) on
the Chemesis industrial platform.
A factory that came online within its deadline and
budget
After the start of construction in December 2020, major
milestones included obtaining the operating permit, completion of
civil engineering work, construction of the plant and the gradual
industrial commissioning of its various units. All told, it only
took 20 months for AFYREN NEOXY to open its doors, on September 29,
2022.
Perfectly operational and secure, the biorefinery has reached
production start-up phase in the 2022 calendar year, as announced.
AFYREN plans to gradually increase volumes to produce 16,000 metric
tons of carboxylic acids within two years, a world first. At this
stage, 70% of AFYREN NEOXY's target production of organic acids has
already been pre-sold.
Nicolas SORDET, CEO of AFYREN: “The inauguration of this
first industrial unit on time and on budget, despite the health
crisis, is a tribute to all the efforts made to keep to the
schedule we had set for ourselves. On behalf of AFYREN, I would
also like to thank all our partners who have supported our project
and enabled us to meet our objectives for growth.”
A strategic location
Thanks to its location in the center of the European
beet-producing basin, AFYREN NEOXY has been able to commit to
respecting short supply chains through a contract that provides for
the delivery of co-products from sugar-beet crops located within a
maximum radius of a few hundred kilometers from the factory.
As it is close to its main customers in Northern and Eastern
France, the Benelux countries and Germany, the plant can offer
secure, low-carbon delivery to its partners.
Jean Saint Donat, President of AFYREN NEOXY: "This
inauguration is the concrete expression of AFYREN's ambition: to
decarbonize chemical production on a large scale while maintaining
a local approach. Our location in the Grand Est region allows us to
ideally reconcile our regional presence with international
scope."
A proprietary technology platform based on natural
microorganisms
Based on natural micro-organisms and protected worldwide by ten
patent families, our AFYNERIE® technology produces seven 100%
biobased organic acids. These acids have several applications in
six key sectors: human food, animal feed, flavors and fragrances,
lubricants, materials science and life sciences.
The carboxylic acids produced by AFYREN offer a low-carbon
alternative to their traditionally petro-based equivalents. They
are directly derived from sugar beet co-products and are
transformed on the Saint-Avold platform through fermentation,
extraction and purification steps.
This biomimetic process also produces a fertilizer that can be
used in organic agriculture, optimizing resources in a completely
circular approach. By producing biobased acids that have the same
application performance as petro-based acids, and that meet
stringent certifications, AFYREN offers a sustainable alternative
to its partners, allowing them to achieve a significantly improved
carbon footprint.
A biorefinery grounded in the environmental, economic and
societal challenges of the territories where it operates
AFYREN has raised a total of more than €80 million euros in
funding from public and private sources to complete this industrial
project:
To take its technology into the industrial phase, AFYREN chose
to partner with Bpifrance, through its Société de Projets
Industriels (SPI) fund. AFYREN NEOXY is a joint venture, 51% owned
by AFYREN and 49% by the "Société de Projets Industriels" (SPI)
fund managed by Bpifrance.
"We are convinced of the potential of AFYREN's technology in
terms of the decarbonization of industry and its ability to promote
a strong, competitive and job-creating bioeconomy. This alliance
through AFYREN NEOXY is a perfect illustration of our purpose: to
enable the most promising industrial projects to find support for
their development," said Magali Joessel, Director of the SPI
fund at Bpifrance.
The company has also benefited from strong support from the
European Union and the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI
JU)1, which initiated the creation of the AFTER-BIOCHEM
international partnership platform, which brings together 12 key
bioeconomy players.
As part of the conversion of the Carling Saint-Avold platform,
Total Energies not only provided financial support but also offered
operational assistance, supporting AFYREN NEOXY as it navigated
issues related to the environment, utilities, services and methods,
facilitating the industrial hosting of the plant on the
platform.
In addition, the construction of the production site benefited
from significant support of the Grand Est Region and the Communauté
d'Agglomération de St-Avold Synergie (CASAS), both very involved in
the development of the bioeconomy sector.
AFYREN also relied on financing from the France Reliance
recovery plan to set up its Saint-Avold site and to do some of the
advance work for the AFYREN NEOXY plant.
AFYREN NEOXY was also able to count on the support of its
long-standing partners in the structuring of its bank financing:
BNP, Banque Populaire, Crédit Agricole and Bpifrance.
A meaningful industrial project that creates jobs
The commissioning of the site involved the recruitment of 60
people, covering the whole range of industrial professions
(production, maintenance, quality control, security, and
administration).
AFYREN NEOXY set up a partnership with Pôle-emploi and the IUT
of Saint Avold to recruit its factory operators, selecting a wide
variety of candidate profiles according to their capacities and
skills, and training them in the trades required. With the
recruitment of this diverse and competent team, AFYREN seeks to
strengthen its CSR governance model, grounded in benevolence and
the involvement of its employees within a meaningful project.
While solidly anchored in its region, the company is
contributing to the development of the bioeconomy sector in France
and Europe, serving a growing global demand and creating industrial
jobs that cannot be outsourced.
"On the strength of this first success, we are already
studying two scenarios for the establishment of a second plant in
North America or Asia. We are obviously evaluating the structuring
of the financing, but we are also carefully studying the
environmental components so that this second plant will also
benefit from access to local biomass and short supply chains,"
said Nicolas Sordet, CEO and co-founder of AFYREN. "This first
inauguration is therefore only the beginning of a major collective
undertaking: building a global and circular low-carbon industry by
providing biobased solutions built for and with our
environment."
About AFYREN
Founded in 2012 to meet the growing need of industries to reduce
the use of petroleum derivatives in their production chain, AFYREN
produces biomolecules derived from the reuse of non-food biomass.
These ingredients are widely used in human and animal nutrition,
flavors and fragrances, cosmetics, and fine chemicals. This
production process replicates the exact properties of equivalent
petro-sourced molecules, largely used in the human and animal
nutrition, cosmetics, flavors and fragrances and fine chemicals
sectors.
By offering natural alternatives to these strategic markets,
AFYREN is engaged in a low-carbon economy and proposes a truly
circular approach with the use of local biomass and the choice of a
strategic location, as close as possible to its customers.
Resulting from 10 years of research, AFYREN's disruptive
innovation won the 2030 Global Innovation Contest in the "Plant
proteins and plant chemistry" category and was selected in the
French Tech 120 in 2020 and 2021.
In 2018, AFYREN committed to its industrial project by creating
the AFYREN NEOXY joint venture with Bpifrance’s SPI fund. AFYREN
NEOXY is dedicated to the first industrial production of AFYREN
natural organic acids in the Grand Est region.
In 2022, the AFYREN NEOXY factory opened its doors. AFYREN and
AFYREN NEOXY now employ nearly 100 people at their sites in Lyon,
Clermont-Ferrand and Carling Saint-Avold.
In 2021, AFYREN listed on Euronext Growth® exchange in Paris
with the objective of accelerating its industrial development
(Afyren's ISIN: FR0014005AC9, ticker: ALAFY).
For more information: AFYREN.com
About Bpifrance and the SPI fund, Société de Projets
Industriels
Bpifrance finances companies - at every stage of their
development - with credit, guarantees and equity capital. Bpifrance
supports them in their innovation and international projects.
Bpifrance also insures their export activity through a wide range
of products. Consulting, universities, networking and accelarators
for startups, SMEs and ETIs are also part of the offering to
entrepreneurs. Thanks to Bpifrance and its 50 regional offices,
entrepreneurs benefit from a close, single and efficient contact to
help them face their challenges.
The SPI 1 fund, managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French
government within the framework of France 2030 and the European
Investment Bank (EIB), is designed to support the development of
industrial projects that offer the greatest potential for activity
and employment in industrial sectors. It acts as a prudent equity
investor in companies with industrialization projects selected on
the basis of their growth potential, current industry positioning
and their contribution to the ecological and energy transition. It
is thus one of the financial levers of the New Industrial
France.
More information on: www.bpifrance.fr -
https://presse.bpifrance.fr/ - Follow us on Twitter : @Bpifrance -
@BpifrancePresse - Find the SPI fund on LinkedIn: SPI Fund -
Industrial project companies
1 The Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking was a
public-private partnership between the EU and the Bio-based
Industries Consortium between 2014 and 2021. The new partnership
Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) took over the
activities of BBI JU in November 2021.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220928005741/en/
AFYREN Caroline Petigny Sustainability, Communication and
Public Affairs Director caroline.petigny@afyren.com
NewCap Investor Relations Théo Martin / Mathilde
Bohin Tél : 01 44 71 94 94 afyren@newcap.eu
Bogert-Magnier Communications International Media
relations James Connell Tel: +33 6 2152 1755
jim@bogert-magnier.com
NewCap French Media Relations Nicolas Merigeau /
Gaëlle Fromaigeat Tél : 01 44 71 94 98 afyren@newcap.eu
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