Catégorie : News

On 22^nd and 23^rd of June SCALE brought its 11 European partners together in Baillargues, South of France, for their first General Assembly. This event was the opportunity for the consortium to present all the results of their work, such as the beginning of the construction of the plant with a dedicated visit, the launch of two bio-inspired cosmetic solutions, and the first clinical study results in food supplement.

 

CONSTRUCTION OF SCALE PLANT: THE WORK HAS BEGUN!

This flagship plant scale-up the microalgae production process from demonstration scale to Flagship industrial scale with an annual capacity production of more than 100 tons of high-value ingredients.

The plant will deliver large scale production of Microphyt’s ingredients for the food, food supplements, feed and cosmetics sectors. Its construction began at Microphyt’s facility in France in September 2021 and represents the first-of-its-kind fully-integrated microalgae biorefinery at an industrial scale.

The biorefinery aims to implement sustainable processes to convert microalgae biomasses into a variety of ingredients.

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

Over its first year, the efforts of the consortium were concentrated on the new plant design and start of the building. 3000m2 of the plant is now achieved with the creation of 15 new jobs. Microphyt worked closely together with Evolys and Sunti respectively for the design of LED-based lightening solution and the energy diagnosis to analyse the thermal and power demand of the extended site.

New microalgae-based ingredients have already been tested by the industrial partners for the targeted applications: Institut Paul Bocuse Research centre for food, Plameca for food supplements, Lallemand Animal Nutrition for feed and Chanel Perfume & Beauty for cosmetics.

On their side, Tecnalia and Nutrasteward started their evaluation of the life cycle sustainability assessment and regulatory frameworks respectively. B4C worked closely with Microphyt and all the partners to launch the visual identity of the project and its related media: website, Linkedin and Twitter accounts, flyer and poster. In order to reinforce the dissemination strategy, PNO started the identification of the relevant stakeholders within and around SCALE value chains.

The next steps will continue to deliver new microalgae & ingredients as well as accelerating the work programs on.

 

CUTTING EDGE NATURAL INGREDIENTS

Microphyt develops, produces and markets microalgae-based ingredients for Advanced Beauty and Novel Nutrition. Since the Kick-off of the project in June 2021, Microphyt has received the results of the first clinical study in Novel nutrition and launched 2 new products in Advanced Beauty: Luteana™ and Renouvellance™. Stay tuned for more information about these innovative ingredients !

 

Read the press release

The EU Green Week is one of the main European events dedicated to environmental policy, which occurs yearly. In 2022, the priority was given to “the European Green Deal – the EU’s sustainable and transformative growth strategy for a resource-efficient and climate-neutral Europe by 2050“. In that context, from May 30 to June 5, 2022, various virtual events, two days of conferences and several virtual exhibitions were organised.

 

The European Green Week initiative

The EU Green Week is the key event in the EU environment policy calendar in early June. This annual opportunity  to debate and discuss European environmental policy attracts policymakers, leading environmentalists, stakeholders and other interested parties from across Europe and the globe.

Down the years, EU Green Week delivered on its objectives, improving the understanding of EU environmental policies, feeding into debates about their development, and improving the overall image of the EU among citizens and stakeholders around Europe.

This year, the European Green week  focused on the ‘European Green Deal’. It was articulated around a high level debate on what happens to the EU environmental policy in times of crisis and three important aspects of the transformation – circular economy, zero pollution, and biodiversity. Dedicated events were organized throughout the week by the European Commission, but also by independent entities.

 

SCALE contribution

SCALE is an interesting example of how the bio-based industry is helping to replace non-renewable fossil resources with “waste” and accelerate the chemical industry transition to circularity.

SCALE will allow a greater independence from raw materials by supporting the emergence of microalgae as a commercial renewable feedstock to be used as a natural alternative to synthetic compounds, animal extracts and petroleum derivatives in the food, food supplements, feed and cosmetics sectors.

The project will help to reduce greenhouse emission, as the cultivation of microalgae does not emit any greenhouse gas, and partners will investigate ways to optimize energy efficiency and to reduce carbon emissions from the industrial activities of the plant.

SCALE will aslo help to replace fossil-based material with biobased, renewable material (contribution to the EU’s 2050 long-term strategy for a climate-neutral Europe), by offering credible, novel, natural and renewable microalgae-based alternatives to fossil-based products in cosmetics (petroleum-based ingredients used for texturing and silicone oils), food supplements and feed (synthetic carotenoids), bringing the same or better properties with less i

About SCALE – Key Takeaways

Microphyt, a leading company in the production and marketing of microalgae-based bioactive ingredients is announcing the launch of SCALE to accommodate new products roll out and growing demand:

• It will deliver large scale sustainable production of Microphyt’s natural specialty ingredients for nutrition, food & beverage, personal care, and wellness industries.
• Its construction begins at Microphyt’s facility in France in 2021 and represents the first-of-its-kind fully-integrated microalgae biorefinery at an industrial scale.
• SCALE has received a grant of €15m; the single largest award from the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking for sustainable aquatic production.

Download the press release