Avant-garde R&D platform and demonstration plant towards efficient industrial biotechnologies

ended

Within the last years, the consumer’s trends have massively been turning away from artificial and petrochemical additives in favour of natural equivalents considered as healthier and eco-friendlier. In this context, facing traditional methods such as chemical synthesis (requiring toxic products and energy craving) or extraction from natural sources (usually at high cost, with high social/environmental toll), biocatalytic routes are intensively studied as alternative for the synthesis of molecules. Biocatalytic processes, that use natural catalysts such as enzymes or microorganisms, are considered as the most promising way to produce numerous chemicals. Nevertheless, due to several technical and financial intrinsic barriers, biocatalysis struggles to go out from laboratories and conquer the century-old chemical industry outside of the high added-value pharmaceuticals field. Since its creation in 2003, the spirit of NATURAMOLE, technology-driven biotechnology company, has been to address the need for eco-friendly products and processes by the formulation industry. Coupling a R&D platform and a demonstration plant, our project, called the Green Factory, aims at leveraging 15 years of successful R&D on enzymatic esterification and its industrialisation to broaden the scope of application of our novel biotechnologies towards new target markets with higher volumes and lower prices. Through our unique enzymatic technology, we propose to accelerate the industrial transition from polluting chemistry to a more sustainable model conciliating cost-efficiency and environmental performance. Today, NATURAMOLE presents a consolidated commercialisation roadmap to address the needs of the flavours and fragrances industries. With Green Factory, we expect to expand the scope of biocatalytic technologies to other markets, starting with natural cosmetics and ecological lubricants, and reach over a 6-year period a cumulated net income of € 31.7 million.