Testimonials and Collaboration Results

Provivi™, a California-based biotech company developing sustainable technologies for natural pest control, successfully scaled up its innovative bio-pheromone production at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent (Belgium). The collaboration had three ultimate goals:

• The scale-up of the proprietary fermentation technology to produce pheromone precursors from 10 to 15000L.
• The development of a technology transfer pack to allow production in a commercial scale facility.
• And the production of hundreds of kilograms of pheromone precursor to be used for internal testing to demonstrate the pest control technology.

To facilitate this collaboration and to have a gateway into Europe, a legal entity was founded for Provivi™ in Flanders.

Since the collaboration Provivi was able to further scale-up and commercialize their innovative technology, a few milestones:

• 16 September 2021: Provivi announces Regulatory Approvals in Europe
• 20 December 2020: Provivi raises 45,5M to expand global launch
• 15 October 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces it has completed an $85 million Series C financing.
• 4 September 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces its Metric Ton Production of Fall Armyworm Pheromone.
• 5 August 2019: Provivi™ announces successful pheromone production scale up at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant.

Fall armyworm larvae can wreak havoc on a wide range of crops and as quickly as overnight. Insecticides are used to protect the crops, often even on a daily basis. Provivi™ is investigating a novel way to combat fall armyworm. They do this using a pheromone-based mating disruption by using an ‘insect perfume’ that is used by females to attract mates. Doing so, reproduction of the fall armyworm is hindered, and crops are protected in a non-toxic way, earning the product the name of bio-pesticide. More information: https://provivi.com/en 

To date, the collaboration between Biotalys and the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is still ongoing. The scale-up exercise described below, contributed to Biotalys’ successful reaching of certain milestones such as:

• 20 October, 2021:Biotalys proudly announced a multi year grant of almost $6M the company will receive from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop new biological solutions for cowpea and other legumes.
• 2021: filing its first protein-based biocontrol for registration in EU
• 2020: filing its first protein-based biocontrol for registration in the US
• 2019 & 2020: finalizingtwo Series C financing rounds

Biotalys, located in Ghent (Belgium), is a fast-growing Agricultural Technology (AgTech) company developing a groundbreaking technology platform, AGROBODY Foundry™, allowing for the rapid generation of innovative protein-based biocontrol solutions to tackle a wide range of crop pests and diseases. Its first Biocontrol Fungicide, Evoca™, is expected to be introduced in the US in late 2022 and in the EU as of 2024. More BioFungicides, BioInsecticides and BioBactericides are in the pipeline.

Biotalys and the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP) started collaborating in 2013 when the Bio Base NWE project offered EUR 10,000 vouchers for SMEs and start-ups to access the services of BBEPP. The collaboration allowed for the optimisation of the fermentation process and downstream processing, first at bench and then at 100 L scale. The successful collaboration continued and resulted in the further scale-up of the process to 1.5 m³ scale in 2018 and to 15 m³ scale in 2019 for sample production for field trials.

Luc Maertens, Chief Operations Officer at Biotalys, says: “Biotalys praises the flexibility of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant throughout the collaboration, as well as the availability of the BBEPP equipment toolbox to test a range of parameters. The longstanding collaboration with BBEPP is a key contributor for Biotalys to scale and optimise its process so it can successfully deliver new biocontrols to growers in Europe and elsewhere.”

Muriel Dewilde, Business Development Manager at BBEPP, explains: “It has been particularly rewarding to work with Biotalys while their technology platform moved from technology readiness level (TRL) 3-4 (technology validated in the lab) to TRL 7 (prototype demonstrated in an operational environment). Our collaboration has enabled Biotalys to rely on already available equipment and accompanying expertise during this crucial period for the company.”

Biotalys’ targeted and automated approach during the discovery and development phase, as well as a straightforward regulatory pathway, enables the development of novel biocontrols three years faster and at a significant lower cost compared to the generation of chemical active ingredients.

Successful scale-up of 3FBIO (ENOUGH) technology at BBEPP paves the way for first integrated bio-based protein biorefinery, to be built in Sas van Gent.

The Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant successfully scaled-up, to 15m3 scale, the 3FBIO technology (rebranded as Enough) to convert starch into mycoprotein, traded as ABUNDA®. ABUNDA® is a high quality source of protein and fibre, which as a complete food meets the global need of feeding a growing population in a sustainable manner.

The resulting data recently led to investments, including a €17 million support by the European Commission in the form of the PLENITUDE flagship, for the construction of first-of-its-kind integrated bio-based protein biorefinery at Cargill biorefinery in Sas van Gent in North Sea Port. The new production plant will produce 50.000 ton of high-quality protein. The construction started in September 2021 and the plant will be operational in 2022.

Some recent news from ENOUGH:

• 21 June 2021: ENOUGH raises 42M to Series B to supercharge sustainable protein
• 27 May 2021: Unilever partners with mycoprotein supplier ENOUGH
• 18 November 2020: Marks & Spencer and 3FBio collaborate for mycoprotein vegan range

Paul Hudman, technical Director at 3FBIO, testifies about the successful collaboration with the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in the video below.

Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant and ArcelorMittal have been working together for nearly a decade to develop sustainable fermentation processes that can convert industrial gases from steel mills into high-quality products.

In 2012, the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant validated various fermentation processes for the production of ethanol from the waste gas CO, a by-product of steel production, which ultimately led to an intensive collaboration between ArcelorMittal and LanzaTech and an investment of 165 million euros in STEELANOL, a gas fermentation plant currently being built on the ArcelorMittal Ghent site. This pilot plant will produce 60 million liters of sustainable fuel for vehicles annually from waste gas.

Click here to watch a short exceptional video of the huge bioreactor being transported to the Steelanol site in Ghent! 

Successful scale-up of new yeast fermentation process at BBEPP leads to an important investment at Algist Bruggeman in North Sea Port. 

Algist Bruggeman, a subsidiary of the Lesaffre group and supplier of yeast products for wine and bakery markets, has developed an innovative fermentation process for the production of an aromatic solution using yeast. The solution is used to enhance the aroma during bread baking.

After a lab-scale development program at Algist Bruggeman, BBEPP has scaled up the process to 1500 L scale, obtaining the same fermentation metrics and aroma profile. The product obtained during the scale up trials has been tested by customers and received a very good response.

Thanks to the good market developments of the product, Algist Bruggeman decided to build a dedicated fermentation line on their site in North Sea Port. This new line became operational in 2020.

Hendrik Waegeman, Head of Business Operations, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant says: “It was a pleasure to fruitfully collaborate with one of our neighbour companies. The successful scale-up of their innovative process was the result of a seamless technology transfer between both partners and we are very proud that it paved the way for new investments and job creation in our own region.”

In 2014, the feasibility of Celtic Renewables’ innovative process to produce biobutanol from byproducts of the whisky was evaluated at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, using a Bio Base NWE Innovation Coupon. This assessment enabled Celtic Renewables to gather a next round of investments worth €1,5million and was the start of a successful collaboration.

In September 2015, Celtic Renewables lands a £11million grant after winning a competition run by the UK Department for Transport (DfT). The £11million grant was meant for building the world’s first plant dedicated to the production of advanced biofuel from the residues of the whisky industry and was foreseen to produce 1 million litres of biofuel, capable of powering cars, every year. Unfortunately, due to several reasons linked to innovating, the project was delayed.

Finally, in 2019 the construction of the plant could start in Grangemouth (Falkirk, Scotland) and one covid-19 crisis later, Celtic renewables proudly announced, by Mid-September 2020, the arrival of six purpose-built 130,000 litre fermentation vessels from the Netherlands. The new plant is expected to process around 50,000 tonnes of residues each year from the whisky industry.

We are very much looking forward to the opening of the Celtic Renewables biofuel plant and we look back with pride on the successful scale-up performed at BBEPP that was at the origin of this investment (see video below)!

18.02.2022: ARBIOM Receives €12 Million to Build its First Commercial Plant

On March 18th, 2021  ARBIOM announced the success of several continuous one-week fermentation operations at 15 m³ scale at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant. Barely one year later, they announced €12M of funding granted by the France Relancement Investment Program to build their first production factory in the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region in France.

ARBIOM receives €12 million and launches “Protein Independence” industrial project

Paris, France, 18th February 2022 – ARBIOM, a French-American company specializing in the production of high-quality proteins for feed and food applications by processing agricultural and wood residues, has received a grant of €12 million from the France Relance investment program. This financing follows the success of ARBIOM’s SYLFEED demonstration program (a four-year program supported by BBI-JU1) that validated the scale-up of ARBIOM’s production process and the in-vivo performance of ARBIOM’s SylPro® product with customers and partners. Thanks to this financial support, ARBIOM plans to launch the construction of its first factory in France in the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region in 2022. The commercial facility will produce 10 000 tonnes of SylPro per year and employ more than 40 people.

Download here the full Press Release

The grant recognizes that ARBIOM has developed a solution to the challenge of sourcing high quality proteins

ARBIOM aims to produce the next generation food by developing sustainable, high quality nutritional ingredients from underutilized resources. To do this, ARBIOM has developed a unique technology based on the use of agricultural and wood residues. ARBIOM’s process transforms lignocellulosic biomass into valuable single-cell proteins (SCP), an emerging class of alternative proteins which are highly appreciated while used in human and animal food applications. SylPro is a non-GMO yeast, a sustainable alternative protein that can replace conventional proteins that have a significant impact on the environment; in particular fishmeal, soybean meal and concentrate.

Dr. Ricardo Ekmay, ARBIOM SVP Nutrition and Product Development, highlights SylPro’s performance in animal trials: “SylPro has proven to be an exceptional protein source for a variety of applications. Not only does SylPro have a high protein content and balanced amino acid profile, but it consistently shows class-leading digestibility, positive impacts on gastrointestinal health, and increased palatability…even for known picky eaters.”

Commercials trials with a number of petfood, aquaculture, and piglet feed manufacturers, a necessary step for commercial agreements, have successfully confirmed earlier results.

A major industrial project to offer the best quality proteins, highly sustainable, for feed and food applications

Thanks to the €12 million grant received from the France Relance investment program, ARBIOM will be able to accelerate the commercialization phase of its innovative product SylPro. Construction of the company’s first production plant will begin in 2022 in France, in the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region. The plant is expected to be operational by 2024 and will produce 10 000 tonnes of SylPro per year, creating more than 40 direct jobs in a strategic sector for the French economy.

“This grant is excellent news not only for ARBIOM but for the global food chain as a whole. At a time when Europe imports 80% of proteins for animal feed, it is crucial that we develop new sustainable and local sources of highly nutritious proteins.” explains ARBIOM CEO Marc Chevrel.

In 2019, LANXESS commercialized Nagardo®. Nagardo® is a natural preservative that secures and prolongs the shelf life of beverages. Based on renewable resources, this biotechnological innovation offers a sustainable, efficacious and safe alternative to chemical preservatives.

Nagardo® is obtained as a purified mixture of natural glycolipids. The source organism is an edible jelly fungus called Sweet Osmanthus Ear or Dacryopinax spathularia which grows in (sub-)tropical climates. A proprietary wild-type strain (not genetically modified) is cultivated in bioreactors using renewable raw materials. Pure Nagardo® glycolipids are recovered by a food grade and solvent-free process based on filtration and precipitation, without chemical modification.

It was IMD Natural Solutions that first developed this proprietary technology and that approached the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in 2013. The process, consisting of a fermentation and downstream processing both developed by IMD Natural Solutions, was successfully scaled-up to commercial production scale.

The collaboration continued under the wings of the CARBOSURF project, a project funded by the Biobased Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI-JU, H2020) and running form August 2015 until July 2018. Within CARBOSURF, BBEPP validated an improved fermentation process and co-developed the technical base for an alternative DSP concept.

In December 2017, during the final phase of the CARBOSURF project, LANXESS announced the acquisition of IMD Natural Solutions and in January 2019 the commercialization of Nagardo®.

Dr. Jens Bitzer, Head of Applied Research at LANXESS: “We highly appreciate the profound know-how and dedication we found at BBEPP, which facilitated the scale-up of production and thereby route to market for our novel and sustainable product. This clearly emphasizes the importance of BBEPP as technology hub helping to bridge the gap from lab processes to industrialization.”

Dr. Hendrik Waegeman, Business Operations Manager BBEPP: “It is very rewarding to see that a great piece of technology and years of intense collaboration between our teams supported the successful launch of Nagardo®. Getting innovation to market with concrete results, that is what drives us every day to give the best.”

Nagardo® natural beverage protection shows very good efficacy against typical beverage spoiling microorganisms including yeasts, molds and bacteria. In addition, it controls microorganisms that have adapted or are less sensitive to currently used preservatives. Nagardo® allows manufacturers to have full control over the sensory profile of their beverage as it does not interfere with taste or color of the product.

With the launch of Nagardo ® beverage manufacturers are finally able to meet the increasing market desire for clean and green labels while not compromising on the product quality and safety.

Inbiose recently commercialized its first HMO, 2’-Fucosyllactose, in collaboration with Dupont Nutrition and Health (now: IFF).

This commercialisation was the result of a close collaboration (since 2013) between Inbiose and the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant for the development and scale-up of Inbiose’s proprietary Glycoactives® technology. During this collaboration, the innovative process was successfully demonstrated at 1500 L, 4500 L and 15000 L scale. The downstream process was optimized and applied at scale as well. Inbiose has many more HMOs in the pipeline, the collaboration with BBEPP on the scale-up of these is ongoing to date.

While oligosaccharides are abundantly present in nature, the richness (concentration and diversity) in human milk is truly remarkable.

HMOs are the 3rd most important component in human milk, next to lactose and lipids. The diversity encompasses more than 200 different glycan structures. The exact composition is unique for every woman whereby HMO concentration is determined, amongst others, by genetic factors and stage of lactation.

The first HMO that became commercially available is 2’-Fucosyllactose, abbreviated 2’FL. Inbiose has the technology ready for mass production of 2’FL and several other HMO structures. Today, it is technically possible to enrich infant formula with HMOs so that, on average, more than 50% of the HMO concentration in mothers’ milk can be mimicked.

But it doesn’t stop here; Inbiose continues to invest and expand its proprietary Glycoactives® technology, aiming to offer other, more complex HMO structures at an affordable cost, so that every human being, baby, adult or elderly person can enjoy the health benefits of HMOs.

Fyteko, a Belgian start-up, recently commercialized a set of biostimulants that help crops recover from drought without using chemicals: NURSEED®, NURSPRAY® and NURSOIL®.

• 11 April 2022: Fyteko en Janssen PMP announce collaboration agreement for NURSPRAY®
• 9 February 2022: Summit-Agro Ukraine introduces to the Ukrainian market the unique plant bioactivator produced by Fyteko for thermal and water stress control.
• 29 October 2021: SUMI AGRO France enters exclusive distribution agreement with FYTEKO for NURSPRAY® biostimulant

The initial scale-up of Fyteko’s technology was done thanks to the Bio Base North West Europe project (2013-2015). “The project gave us ten thousand euro worth of support at the Bio Base Europe pilot plant, where we developed production to industrial scale to get the investment we needed! We had already produced the spray in our lab. But we needed to convince investors that this could be done commercially. It really helped us at a key moment.” says Guillaume Wegria, CEO of Fyteko.

The products have a huge potential market. Droughts are becoming more common due to climate change – Fyteko’s product can help thousands of farmers produce food sustainably. The secret ingredient is a natural molecule that we modified to activate a plant’s drought defences.

AMES, USA, 31.10.2016

Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant assists REG Life Sciences (USA) in bringing first commercial product to market. 

REG Life Sciences, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Renewable Energy Group has delivered its first commercial product, a specialty fatty acid. REG developed, produced and delivered approximately one metric ton of the renewable, multi-functional chemical to Aroma Chemical Services International (ACS), a leading specialty manufacturer and supplier of flavor and fragrance ingredients. REG has been actively working with ACS to identify, develop and bring to market fragrance and flavor derivatives based on the REG Life Sciences’ proprietary technology. ACS will use the specialty chemical for the production of a high performance musk ingredient for sale into the $620 million global musk ingredient market.

REG Life Sciences relied on the services of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant for:

• The scale up of the fermentation process to 15000 L
• The scale up of the associated solvent-based downstream process
• The production of one metric ton of the specialty fatty acid.

Steve del Cardayre, REG Vice President Research and Development states:“Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant has both fermentation and extensive downstream processing capabilities, which is quite unique. It was much more cost-effective and faster for us to collaborate with BBEPP than to assemble the required unit operations at our own facilities. We used their organic recovery lab to recover over 1 ton of material to be supplied to ACS.”

On May 27th, 2021, ENOUGH (formerly 3FBIO) and Unilever announced:

Unilever partners with mycoprotein supplier ENOUGH on ‘game changing’ protein innovation. Unilever has partnered with food tech company ENOUGH, which will supply it with mycoprotein to fuel innovation behind its plant-based brands, starting with “The Vegetarian Butcher”.

Click here to read the full Press Release.

On November 18th, 2020, ENOUGH (formerly 3FBIO) and Marks & Spencer announced:

Marks and Spencer is launching the Innovation Hub, a new specialist team that will focus on ‘disruptive innovation’. As part of this initiative, the UK retailer is partnering with biotech start-up 3F BIO (ENOUGH) to develop a vegan range using ‘protein powerhouse’ mycoprotein.

M&S and 3F BIO collaborate for mycoprotein vegan range

The Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant successfully scaled-up, to 15m3 scale, the 3FBIO technology to convert starch into mycoprotein, traded as ABUNDA®. ABUNDA® is a high quality source of protein and fibre, which as a complete food meets the global need of feeding a growing population in a sustainable manner.

The resulting data recently led to:

• Investments, including:
  • €17 million by the European Commission in the form of the PLENITUDE flagship, for the construction of first-of-its-kind integrated bio-based protein biorefinery in the North Sea Port (BE/NL).
  • A €42m ($51M) Series B funding to supercharge sustainable protein.
• And these partnership with Unilever and M&S.

Paul Hudman, technical Director at 3FBIO, testifies about the successful collaboration with the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in the video below.

To date, the collaboration between Biotalys and the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is still ongoing. The scale-up exercise described below, contributed to Biotalys’ successful reaching of certain milestones such as:

• Filing its first protein-based biocontrol for registration in the US in 2020 and the EU in 2021,
• Finalizing two Series C financing rounds in 2019 and 2020,
• And being listed on Euronext Brussels in July 2021.

25 March 2021: Biotalys files its first protein-based biocontrol for registration in the EU.

21 January 2021: Biotalys files first protein-based biocontrol registration package to the EPA.

Biotalys, located in Ghent (Belgium), is a fast-growing Agricultural Technology (AgTech) company developing a groundbreaking technology platform, AGROBODY Foundry™, allowing for the rapid generation of innovative protein-based biocontrol solutions to tackle a wide range of crop pests and diseases. Its first Biocontrol Fungicide, Evoca™, is expected to be introduced in the US in late 2022 and in the EU as of 2024. More BioFungicides, BioInsecticides and BioBactericides are in the pipeline.

Biotalys and the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP) started collaborating in 2013 when the Bio Base NWE project offered EUR 10,000 vouchers for SMEs and start-ups to access the services of BBEPP. The collaboration allowed for the optimisation of the fermentation process and downstream processing, first at bench and then at 100 L scale. The successful collaboration continued and resulted in the further scale-up of the process to 1.5 m³ scale in 2018 and to 15 m³ scale in 2019 for sample production for field trials.

Luc Maertens, Chief Operations Officer at Biotalys, says: “Biotalys praises the flexibility of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant throughout the collaboration, as well as the availability of the BBEPP equipment toolbox to test a range of parameters. The longstanding collaboration with BBEPP is a key contributor for Biotalys to scale and optimise its process so it can successfully deliver new biocontrols to growers in Europe and elsewhere.”

Muriel Dewilde, Business Development Manager at BBEPP, explains: “It has been particularly rewarding to work with Biotalys while their technology platform moved from technology readiness level (TRL) 3-4 (technology validated in the lab) to TRL 7 (prototype demonstrated in an operational environment). Our collaboration has enabled Biotalys to rely on already available equipment and accompanying expertise during this crucial period for the company.”

Biotalys’ targeted and automated approach during the discovery and development phase, as well as a straightforward regulatory pathway, enables the development of novel biocontrols three years faster and at a significant lower cost compared to the generation of chemical active ingredients.

Pheron™ by Provivi™ has, to date,  regulatory approval in Mexico, Kenya and Europe.

• 1 November 2021: Provivi celebrates one year of commercial sales in Mexico
• 16 September 2021: Provivi announces Regulatory Approvals in Europe
• 19 November 2019: Why Provivi is proud to start in Mexico

Provivi™, a California-based biotech company developing sustainable technologies for natural pest control, successfully scaled up its innovative bio-pheromone production at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent (Belgium). The collaboration had three ultimate goals:

• The scale-up of the proprietary fermentation technology to produce pheromone precursors from 10 to 15000L.
• The development of a technology transfer pack to allow production in a commercial scale facility.
• And the production of hundreds of kilograms of pheromone precursor to be used for internal testing to demonstrate the pest control technology.

To facilitate this collaboration and to have a gateway into Europe, a legal entity was founded for Provivi™ in Flanders.

Since the collaboration Provivi was able to further scale-up and commercialize their innovative technology, a few milestones:

• 20 December 2020: Provivi raises 45,5M to expand global launch
• 15 October 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces it has completed an $85 million Series C financing.
• 4 September 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces its Metric Ton Production of Fall Armyworm Pheromone.
• 5 August 2019: Provivi™ announces successful pheromone production scale up at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant.

Fall armyworm larvae can wreak havoc on a wide range of crops and as quickly as overnight. Insecticides are used to protect the crops, often even on a daily basis. Provivi™ is investigating a novel way to combat fall armyworm. They do this using a pheromone-based mating disruption by using an ‘insect perfume’ that is used by females to attract mates. Doing so, reproduction of the fall armyworm is hindered, and crops are protected in a non-toxic way, earning the product the name of bio-pesticide.

Stockholm, Sweden, 4 October 2021

EnginZyme, a leading developer of cell-free biomanufacturing processes, has today announced the breakthrough result from piloting a process to manufacture a rare sugar, clearly demonstrating the scalability of their platform.

The pilot, which ran from April to August 2021, was designed to prove the feasibility of manufacturing at a commercial scale. The result showed that compared to fermentation processes, the space-time yields and product titers are significantly higher, thereby successfully demonstrating the potential for a highly cost-efficient process. This strengthens the promise of sustainable biomanufacturing of a multitude of products.

“We have reached an important breakthrough as we now can demonstrate our ability to design, create and validate a commercial process at a large scale,” said CEO and co-founder Karim Engelmark Cassimjee. “Delivering these significant product volumes, already at our early stage of development, further strengthens our leadership position in the cell-free biomanufacturing field and is a major step towards using our technology broadly.”

The low-calorie rare sugar, called kojibiose, is naturally present in honey. With its prebiotic properties and sugar-like flavour and texture, it is a powerful alternative to ordinary sugar. The kojibiose pilot was executed using enzymes discovered by Professor Tom Desmet of Ghent University combined with EnginZyme’s technology platform at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent, Belgium.

”The EnginZyme cell-free biomanufacturing technology is impressive, and we were extremely satisfied with the smooth scale-up and robust performance of the technology,” said Muriel Dewilde, Business Development Manager at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant.

Download the full Press Release here.

• 6 March 2022: Mycotex wins the Global Entrepreneurship Centre Textile Award (worth €200.000)!
• October 2021: MycoTEX closes a Seed Investment Round
• June 2021: MycoTEX is part of the Billion Dollar Collection Campaign by H&M Foundation.

Micro scale-up and pre-feasibility study of fungal biomass for the production of textiles and textile products (garments and bags)

NEFFA is a company concentrated on personalisation in fashion and textiles through material research, concept and product development, prototyping, and dyeing research. With an extensive fashion design background, NEFFA is a research, design, and development studio (RD&D) focusing on fashion innovation. The company developed MycoTEX, the world’s first compostable textile in combination with a 3D modelling technique, to make personalised fashion without waste.

The conventional textile supply chain is based on growing fibres, spinning yarns, weaving textiles and applying coatings, or breeding and killing cows and tanning the leather, before cutting and sewing patterns to make a product. Both options require a lot of farmland, water, hazardous chemicals, and pesticides. Furthermore, a lot of waste is created in the production process and at the end-of-life. MycoTEX is based on liquid-state fermentation, which is a completely new production process for the textile industry. MycoTEX creates sustainable fabric from mycelium, the roots of mushrooms. With a 3D-modelling process, the company creates seamless garments of this new textile. A shorter supply chain eliminates the need for chemicals and pesticides and reduces water usage by 99,5%. Scaling-up and a feasibility study were the activities implemented within the KET4CleanProduction project to understand if MycoTEX could be an environmentally friendly and cost-competitive alternative for the conventional textile industry.

KET4CleanProduction project provided a small company with scientific evidence that it is on the right track in confirming its vision of a disruptive supply chain for the textile industry. It allowed the company to go from TRL 4 to TRL 5, heading towards 6. Furthermore, it helped gather the necessary data to approach investors for the next scale-up step, and the first investor already showed commitment.

The scale-up of raw biomass to a 150L bioreactor has proved successful. Samples and prototypes developed from this raw biomass show that quality has not been compromised. And the feasibility study based on these data shows tremendous potential. When fully scaled-up, MycoTEX could reach up to half of the price of bovine leather and lead to a reduction of 75% in terms of energy use. Furthermore, the results show a reduction of waste and resources like water, and the elimination of hazardous chemicals, pesticides, farmland. Altogether, this means that fungal biomass from liquid fermentation is a suitable, affordable, and environmentally friendly material for the textile industry.

BioMosae, based in the Netherlands, is a ground-breaking food and crop protection company developing a biological effective ingredient Canto®. The product is based on enzymes produced by proprietary bacterial strain BM-1. Canto® will be the active ingredient for the next generation of highly effective affordable biological crop protection products to protect crops from pathogens that have no adequate biological alternatives currently available.

Thanks to a micro-grant offered within the KET4CleanProduction project, the company focused on the large-scale optimisation of the design for clean production of biopesticides. The micro-grant was used to access the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BE) and INL (PT) for the upscaling of a bio-fermentation protocol from 1 to 10 and, respectively, to 150 L scale.

The KET4CleanProduction project helped the company overcome two challenges: the upscaling of the process to validate BioMosae’s novel, productive and clean manufacturing methodology on the semi-industrial scale and the minimisation of purification costs.

The scaled-up manufacturing process is based on a novel immobilisation technology (MobiPur), which is based on a newly developed biodegradable carrier material that increases bacterial productivity. The carrier consists of porous foam with a large surface area allowing fast biofilm formation. Test trials showed product consistency and good efficacy towards fungi. The crude mixture is used to protect crops against various pathogens such as Botrytis, Pythium and Powdery Mildew. A scalable process for a 100% sustainable biopesticide has been validated. Microbial production of enzyme mixture for plant protection was validated in both 7.5 L fermenter, as well as on 150 L scale. Furthermore, a newly developed protocol allows the proteins present in the sample to be separated into several fractions, so that purity can be expected to increase in any case compared to the raw extract.

18.02.2022: ARBIOM Receives €12 Million to Build its First Commercial Plant

12 March 2021: ARBIOM Achieves Continuous Fermentation Milestone

Biotechnology pioneer continues on path to commercialization, announcing success of several continuous one-week fermentation operations at 15m3 scale

Paris, France / Durham, NC – March 12, 2021 – Arbiom, an agricultural-biotechnology company developing solutions to convert wood into protein for feed and food applications, today announced that it has achieved another critical step in its Demonstration Program to scale up its technology to produce an alternative protein ingredient, SylPro®. The company successfully completed continuous, stable operation of its fermentation technology at a 15m3 scale several times over a seven-day period without contamination or product quality issues. This performance builds upon Arbiom’s successful achievement of continuous operations at the 1m3 scale. Similar results between the subsequent runs were observed, demonstrating process robustness and repeatability.

Throughout the demonstration program, fermentation and downstream process stages ran smoothly and continuously to successfully produce 2.5 tons of SylPro, which exceeded Arbiom’s initial target. Performance was maintained from lab-scale to pre-industrial scale, and the downstream processing stage was improved in terms of higher throughput and process simplification. To complete the continuous run, Arbiom worked with Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP), a partner in the SYLFEED Consortium, at BBEPP’s facility in Belgium.

“Our long-lasting relationship with BBEPP has been a key factor contributing to the success of Arbiom’s Demonstration Program,” said Marc Chevrel, Arbiom CEO. “We want to thank the BBEPP team for their dedication and support to Arbiom’s successful technology scale-up initiatives to reach full commercialization.”

“We are delighted to reach this milestone with Arbiom, as this achievement is essential in scaling up the company’s industrial biotechnology to commercial production,” said Muriel Dewilde, Business Development Manager with BBEPP. “We look forward to finishing out our successful partnership with Arbiom supporting its Demonstration Program this year,” said Dewilde.

To date, Arbiom has completed more than 2,000 hours of process scale-up operations, surpassing the commercial-scale industry standard of 1,000 hours. The team is on track to accumulate an additional 800 hours of continuous fermentation operations through 5 additional fermentation campaigns, and produce approximately six tons of SylPro® by the end of the Demonstration Program, which will conclude at the end of 2021.

TripleW, an Israeli SME established in 2015, developed a  novel process with very low environmental footprint for upcycling mixed food waste into the high-value bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA). Utilizing TripleW’s technology, any anaerobic digestion facility can be retrofitted and upgraded to produce biobased lactic acid, a building block of PLA and an additional major revenue source, opening the door to cost-effective production of bioproducts.

Furthermore, discarded PLA-based bioproducts or scraps can be 100% recycled as feedstock in the same  bioprocess. The company’s ability to upcycle finished bioplastic products, together with food waste, back into the production process is inspiring companies to rethink their end-of-life strategy for bioproducts. Instead of the traditional end-of-life solutions for PLA, such as composting, mechanical recycling, and waste-to-energy, TripleW converts PLA products back into their chemical building block, lactic acid.

Milestones in the BBEPP/TripleW collaboration:

• June 2021: Start Waste2Func project
• 2020: Start commissioning of demo installation at Group Op de Beeck (Kallo, Belgium)
• 2019: Establishment of a Belgian entity
• 2019: BioBase4SME voucher to support scale-up to 15m3 scale
• 2016: SuperBio voucher to support the joint process development at bench scale

TripleW and the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant started the joint process development in 2016 at bench scale, with the support of a SuperBio Innovation Voucher. Throughout the years, the pre-treatment, fermentation and purification processes were scaled-up step-by-step, improving efficiency along the way. Different types of food waste feedstocks were converted to lactic acid at 15 m³ scale (using a BioBase4SME innovation voucher in 2019), all together yielding tonne amounts of purified lactic acid.

Furthermore, TripleW and BBEPP designed a demo installation, which was commissioned at Group Op de Beeck (GODB) starting in 2020. As a European market leader in organic waste processing, GODB is an ideal, complementary partner for TripleW’s continued process scale-up in Flanders. TripleW will perform various large-scale trials on the processing site of GODB in the Port of Antwerp, using commercial organic waste volumes as a proof of concept beyond the pilot scale setting. To facilitate this new collaboration, TripleW established a Flemish subsidiary (in 2019), which, to date, employs three FTEs already.

In June 2021, the Waste2Func project kicked-off. This BBI-JU DEMO project coordinated by BBEPP also includes TripleW and GODB as partners. Within this project TripleW’s process will be further optimised and the lactic acid production will be demonstrated at 10-15 m3 scale using the organic waste streams available at GODB (e.g., mixed vegetable waste streams from supermarkets). TripleW will continue to test other waste streams as well. This will result in the production of 100kg to tonne amounts for prototype development and regulatory testing.

Muriel Dewilde, Business Development Manager at BBEPP says: “Developing a process to make pure lactic acid from waste is a big challenge. We’ve greatly enjoyed facing this challenge together with TripleW in the past years. The key to the succes has been the intense communication, testing of several process alternatives, the efficient implementation of learnings, the willingness of both teams to decide and act.  It’s very rewarding to see the process grow into the demo scale, and to continue to work with TripleW on further process improvement and new feedstocks.”

Amir Oranim, Co-Founder and CEO at TripleW states: “When we first came to bio-base in 2016, we only had lab scale experiments of the first step of the process, BBEPP helped us develop and scaleup the process to 15m3, which was a huge milestone for the company. We originally chose to work with Bio Base because we felt there was a great fit in terms of development skills, scaleup capabilities, and motivation. Through the process we were also impressed by BBEPP’s ability to solve any issue that arose during the various projects. Looking back on 5 years of close cooperation, we’re pleased to say that we made a great choice.”

Inbiose, a spin-off of Ghent University, was established in 2013 in the framework of the H2020 project IB2Market.

The project targeted the development, scale-up, market exploration and market introduction of new industrial biotechnology processes that had recently been developed including Inbiose’s Specialty Carbohydrates. The Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant was the scale-up partner of Inbiose in this project.

The fermentation process and downstream processing were optimised and scaled up to 15.000 liter scale. Sufficient amounts of product were produced for application testing and exploratory marketing, in order to identify the most interesting market segments.

To date, Inbiose already commercialised several products (see our section “New products on the market”) and is the biggest private research group in the world of specialty glycans.

Fyteko, a Belgian start-up, recently commercialized a set of biostimulants that help crops recover from drought without using chemicals: NURSEED®, NURSPRAY® and NURSOIL® (see our section “New products on the market”).

• 11 April 2022: Fyteko en Janssen PMP announce collaboration agreement for NURSPRAY®
• 9 February 2022: Summit-Agro Ukraine introduces to the Ukrainian market the unique plant bioactivator produced by Fyteko for thermal and water stress control.
• 29 October 2021: SUMI AGRO France enters exclusive distribution agreement with FYTEKO for NURSPRAY® biostimulant

The initial scale-up of Fyteko’s technology was done thanks to the Bio Base North West Europe project (2013-2015). “The project gave us ten thousand euro worth of support at the Bio Base Europe pilot plant, where we developed production to industrial scale to get the investment we needed! We had already produced the spray in our lab. But we needed to convince investors that this could be done commercially. It really helped us at a key moment.” says Guillaume Wegria, CEO of Fyteko.

The products have a huge potential market. Droughts are becoming more common due to climate change, Fyteko’s product can help thousands of farmers produce food sustainably. The secret ingredient is a natural molecule that we modified to activate a plant’s drought defences.

Successful scale-up of 3FBIO (ENOUGH) technology at BBEPP paves the way for first integrated bio-based protein biorefinery, to be built in Sas van Gent.

The Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant successfully scaled-up, to 15m3 scale, the 3FBIO technology (rebranded as Enough) to convert starch into mycoprotein, traded as ABUNDA®. ABUNDA® is a high quality source of protein and fibre, which as a complete food meets the global need of feeding a growing population in a sustainable manner.

The resulting data recently led to investments, including a €17 million support by the European Commission in the form of the PLENITUDE flagship, for the construction of first-of-its-kind integrated bio-based protein biorefinery at Cargill biorefinery in Sas van Gent in North Sea Port. The new production plant will produce 50.000 ton of high-quality protein. The construction started in September 2021 and the plant will be operational in 2022.

Some recent news from ENOUGH:

• 21 June 2021: ENOUGH raises 42M to Series B to supercharge sustainable protein
• 27 May 2021: Unilever partners with mycoprotein supplier ENOUGH
• 18 November 2020: Marks & Spencer and 3FBio collaborate for mycoprotein vegan range

Paul Hudman, technical Director at 3FBIO, testifies about the successful collaboration with the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in the video below.

In 2014, the feasibility of Celtic Renewables’ innovative process to produce biobutanol from byproducts of the whisky industry was evaluated at Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, using a Bio Base NWE Innovation Coupon. This assessment enabled Celtic Renewables to gather a next round of investments worth €1,5million and was the start of a successful collaboration.

In September 2015, Celtic Renewables lands a £11million grant after winning a competition run by the UK Department for Transport (DfT). The £11million grant was meant for building the world’s first plant dedicated to the production of advanced biofuel from the residues of the whisky industry and was foreseen to produce 1 million litres of biofuel, capable of powering cars, every year. Unfortunately, due to several reasons linked to innovating, the project was delayed.

Finally, in 2019 the construction of the plant could start in Grangemouth (Falkirk, Scotland) and one covid-19 crisis later, Celtic renewables proudly announced, by Mid-September 2020, the arrival of six purpose-built 130,000 litre fermentation vessels from the Netherlands. The new plant is expected to process around 50,000 tonnes of residues each year from the whisky industry.

We are very much looking forward to the opening of the Celtic Renewables biofuel plant and we look back with pride on the successful scale-up performed at BBEPP that was at the origin of this investment (see video below)!

Provivi™, a California-based biotech company developing sustainable technologies for natural pest control, successfully scaled up its innovative bio-pheromone production at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent (Belgium). The collaboration had three ultimate goals:

• The scale-up of the proprietary fermentation technology to produce pheromone precursors from 10 to 15000L.
• The development of a technology transfer pack to allow production in a commercial scale facility.
• And the production of hundreds of kilograms of pheromone precursor to be used for internal testing to demonstrate the pest control technology.

To facilitate this collaboration and to have a gateway into Europe, a legal entity was founded for Provivi™ in Flanders.

Since the collaboration Provivi was able to further scale-up and commercialize their innovative technology, a few milestones:

• 16 September 2021: Provivi announces Regulatory Approvals in Europe
• 20 December 2020: Provivi raises 45,5M to expand global launch
• 15 October 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces it has completed an $85 million Series C financing.
• 4 September 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces its Metric Ton Production of Fall Armyworm Pheromone.
• 5 August 2019: Provivi™ announces successful pheromone production scale up at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant.

Fall armyworm larvae can wreak havoc on a wide range of crops and as quickly as overnight. Insecticides are used to protect the crops, often even on a daily basis. Provivi™ is investigating a novel way to combat fall armyworm. They do this using a pheromone-based mating disruption by using an ‘insect perfume’ that is used by females to attract mates. Doing so, reproduction of the fall armyworm is hindered, and crops are protected in a non-toxic way, earning the product the name of bio-pesticide. More information: https://provivi.com/en 

To facilitate its collaborations with the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant and Group Op de Beeck, TripleW established a legal entity in Flanders. In the meantime they employ 5 staff member. 

The story:

TripleW, an Israeli SME established in 2015, developed a  novel process with very low environmental footprint for upcycling mixed food waste into the high-value bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA).  Utilizing TripleW’s technology, any anaerobic digestion facility can be retrofitted and upgraded to produce biobased lactic acid, a building block of PLA and an additional major revenue source, opening the door to cost-effective production of bioproducts.

Furthermore, discarded PLA-based bioproducts or scraps can be 100% recycled as feedstock in the same  bioprocess. The company’s ability to upcycle finished bioplastic products, together with food waste, back into the production process is inspiring companies to rethink their end-of-life strategy for bioproducts. Instead of the traditional end-of-life solutions for PLA, such as composting, mechanical recycling, and waste-to-energy, TripleW converts PLA products back into their chemical building block, lactic acid.

TripleW and the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant started the joint process development in 2016 at bench scale, with the support of a SuperBio Innovation Voucher. Throughout the years, the pre-treatment, fermentation and purification processes were scaled-up step-by-step, improving efficiency along the way. Different types of food waste feedstocks were converted to lactic acid at 15 m³ scale (using a BioBase4SME innovation voucher in 2019), all together yielding tonne amounts of purified lactic acid.

Furthermore, TripleW and BBEPP designed a demo installation, which was commissioned at Group Op de Beeck (GODB) starting in 2020. As a European market leader in organic waste processing, GODB is an ideal, complementary partner for TripleW’s continued process scale-up in Flanders. TripleW will perform various large-scale trials on the processing site of GODB in the Port of Antwerp, using commercial organic waste volumes as a proof of concept beyond the pilot scale setting. To facilitate this new collaboration, TripleW established a Flemish subsidiary (in 2019), which, to date, employs three FTEs already.

In June 2021, the Waste2Func project kicked-off. This BBI-JU DEMO project coordinated by BBEPP also includes TripleW and GODB as partners. Within this project TripleW’s process will be further optimised and the lactic acid production will be demonstrated at 10-15 m3 scale using the organic waste streams available at GODB (e.g., mixed vegetable waste streams from supermarkets). TripleW will continue to test other waste streams as well. This will result in the production of 100kg to tonne amounts for prototype development and regulatory testing.

Muriel Dewilde, Business Development Manager at BBEPP says: “Developing a process to make pure lactic acid from waste is a big challenge. We’ve greatly enjoyed facing this challenge together with TripleW in the past years. The key to the succes has been the intense communication, testing of several process alternatives, the efficient implementation of learnings, the willingness of both teams to decide and act.  It’s very rewarding to see the process grow into the demo scale, and to continue to work with TripleW on further process improvement and new feedstocks.”

Amir Oranim, Co-Founder and CEO at TripleW states: “When we first came to bio-base in 2016, we only had lab scale experiments of the first step of the process, BBEPP helped us develop and scaleup the process to 15m3, which was a huge milestone for the company. We originally chose to work with Bio Base because we felt there was a great fit in terms of development skills, scaleup capabilities, and motivation. Through the process we were also impressed by BBEPP’s ability to solve any issue that arose during the various projects. Looking back on 5 years of close cooperation, we’re pleased to say that we made a great choice.”

Provivi™, a California-based biotech company developing sustainable technologies for natural pest control, successfully scaled up its innovative bio-pheromone production at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent (Belgium). The collaboration had three ultimate goals:

• The scale-up of the proprietary fermentation technology to produce pheromone precursors from 10 to 15000L.
• The development of a technology transfer pack to allow production in a commercial scale facility.
• And the production of hundreds of kilograms of pheromone precursor to be used for internal testing to demonstrate the pest control technology.

To facilitate this collaboration and to have a gateway into Europe, a legal entity was founded for Provivi™ in Flanders.

Since the collaboration Provivi was able to further scale-up and commercialize their innovative technology, a few milestones:

• 16 September 2021: Provivi announces Regulatory Approvals in Europe
• 20 December 2020: Provivi raises 45,5M to expand global launch
• 15 October 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces it has completed an $85 million Series C financing.
• 4 September 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces its Metric Ton Production of Fall Armyworm Pheromone.
• 5 August 2019: Provivi™ announces successful pheromone production scale up at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant.

Fall armyworm larvae can wreak havoc on a wide range of crops and as quickly as overnight. Insecticides are used to protect the crops, often even on a daily basis. Provivi™ is investigating a novel way to combat fall armyworm. They do this using a pheromone-based mating disruption by using an ‘insect perfume’ that is used by females to attract mates. Doing so, reproduction of the fall armyworm is hindered, and crops are protected in a non-toxic way, earning the product the name of bio-pesticide.
More information: https://provivi.com/en

Inbiose and DuPont Nutrition & Health Partner to Bring Novel Infant Nutrition Ingredients to Market

On November 3rd, 2016, Inbiose, a Belgium-based producer of specialty carbohydrates and DuPont Nutrition & Health (DuPont, USA) announced a joint development and licensing agreement for exclusive rights to selected fucosylated human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), including 2’-fucosyllactose.

HMOs are a group of unique oligosaccharides found in mother’s milk, with 2’-fucosyllactose being the single most abundant HMO. HMOs have been identified as important components of human milk that help shape an infant’s gut microbiome and a balanced immune system development. A growing body of evidence suggests that HMOs benefit the health of developing infants by supporting digestive, immune and cognitive development.

Inbiose and Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant have been collaborating since 2013 for the development and scale-up of Inbiose’s technology. During this collaboration, the innovative process has been successfully demonstrated at 1500 L, 4500 L and 15 000 L scale. The downstream process has been optimized and applied at scale as well.

The new partnership combines Inbiose’s innovative production platform for specialty carbohydrates with DuPont’s capabilities in industrial-scale fermentation, regulatory and health science expertise, as well as global market access.

“This partnership is part of a new era in ingredients targeted for infant nutrition,” said John Rea, global business unit leader for Probiotics, Cultures, Food Protection and HMOs. “With this development, we’re working toward fulfilling our corporate mission to help solve the world’s food challenges by providing innovative ingredients our customers can use to make healthy and nutritious products. Our investment here complements the broad capabilities DuPont has built in probiotics and understanding the human gut microbiome, as well as our technologies already targeting this area.”

The partnership is currently focusing on developing the ingredients for market introduction by implementing an industrial-scale fermentation process and submission for regulatory approvals to enter the market in 2017. “We are excited to collaborate with Inbiose and bring the science of HMOs to market,” said Martin Kullen, global R&D leader for Probiotics, Cultures, Food Protection and HMOs. “HMOs are key in helping our customers move another step closer to matching the composition of human milk with their infant nutrition products.”

CLICK here to read the full PRESS RELEASE

Provivi™, a California-based biotech company developing sustainable technologies for natural pest control, successfully scaled up its innovative bio-pheromone production at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant in Ghent (Belgium). The collaboration had three ultimate goals:

• The scale-up of the proprietary fermentation technology to produce pheromone precursors from 10 to 15000L.
• The development of a technology transfer pack to allow production in a commercial scale facility.
• And the production of hundreds of kilograms of pheromone precursor to be used for internal testing to demonstrate the pest control technology.

To facilitate this collaboration and to have a gateway into Europe, a legal entity was founded for Provivi™ in Flanders.

Since the collaboration Provivi was able to further scale-up and commercialize their innovative technology, a few milestones:

• 16 September 2021: Provivi announces Regulatory Approvals in Europe
• 20 December 2020: Provivi raises 45,5M to expand global launch
• 15 October 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces it has completed an $85 million Series C financing.
• 4 September 2019: Following the successful scale-up at BBEPP, Provivi announces its Metric Ton Production of Fall Armyworm Pheromone.
• 5 August 2019: Provivi™ announces successful pheromone production scale up at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant.

Fall armyworm larvae can wreak havoc on a wide range of crops and as quickly as overnight. Insecticides are used to protect the crops, often even on a daily basis. Provivi™ is investigating a novel way to combat fall armyworm. They do this using a pheromone-based mating disruption by using an ‘insect perfume’ that is used by females to attract mates. Doing so, reproduction of the fall armyworm is hindered, and crops are protected in a non-toxic way, earning the product the name of bio-pesticide.

More information: https://provivi.com/en