24/12/2021
Valorizing agri-food by-products
Afyren valorizes plant biomass to create molecules that are usually synthesized with oil. “Our solution consists in valorizing agro-industrial by-products to obtain already-existing synthetic molecules based on oil,” explains Jérémy Pessiot, founder and Director of Afyren.
These by-products are derived from the agro-industry, in particular the sugar industry. Afyren retrieves beetroot pulp or treacle at sugar refineries to make them ferment and get organic acids used to produce molecules for different industries, like human and animal food, cosmetics, and of course, aromas and perfumes.
This company founded in 2012 is singular in that it is getting ready for the large-scale production of these natural, environmentally-friendly products. In late 2020, they will launch the works to build a plant based in France intended to supply 16,000 tonnes of organic acid per year. This industrial volume will make the molecules derived from this technology much more competitive and help Afyren become the global leader in this field.
“We have managed to copy nature through biomimicry and make it a 100% natural, waste-free process at the industrial scale satisfying all circular economy criteria. In addition, we will produce seven carboxylic acids at the same time, whereas seven different plants or processes are required to obtain them from oil. Lastly, our process reduces CO2 emissions by 70% per tonne produced,” adds Jérémy Pessiot.
Pending this industrial step, Afyren has already started working with perfume houses to produce solutions in smaller quantity. As far as perfumes are concerned, these molecules are mainly used to get fruity notes and ingredients in the ester family – by combining an alcohol with an acid.
“It is a family that can be reproduced as long as the two natural components are available. There are plenty of esters in the perfume sector: they are rather cheap molecules, so they are widely used. Therefore, it is very interesting to be able to find alternatives. My job consists in guaranteeing olfactory equivalence compared to the synthetic version,” explains Antoine Lie.
