The companies have signed an agreement to form a joint venture that will be 70% owned by Afyren and 30% by Mitr Phol. The partnership is expected to be finalized by mid-2023.

“This project is a major step forward in Afyren’s development. With this second plant project, we are organizing our presence in a strategic region in the heart of Asia to better serve our customers. By partnering with Mitr Phol, Afyren is securing long-term access to a sustainable raw material from the local sugarcane industry,” said Afyren CEO Nicolas Sordet.

Mitr Phol, also a major biomass producer, is providing a serviced plot of land for the project, as well as supplying the sugarcane co-products that Afyren will use to produce the acids via its proprietary fermentation technology that converts non-food biomass.

The plant, which will have capacity of about 28,000 t/y, will be located in the immediate vicinity of Mitr Phol’s operations, close to Bangkok. Afyren said the location will not only allow it to benefit from the growing Thai market, but also to take advantage of being in the heart of Southeast Asia and export some of the output to other Asian countries.

The Asian market accounts for 25% of global demand for carboxylic acids, according to Afyren. Market growth is being driven in particular by the food and animal nutrition sectors, in which the acids are used as preservatives or natural flavorings, as well as in many animal feed products, notably as an alternative to the preventive use of antibiotics.

Engineering studies are scheduled to end during the second half of this year and the plant is expected to start production by 2025.

Afryen said construction and operation of the Thai facility will benefit from its experience in building its first plant, which started up last September in Carling Saint-Avold, France. This plant – called Neoxy – produces seven 100% bio-based carboxylic acids that can replace their petroleum-based counterparts in applications such as food, flavors & fragrances and chemicals. Production will ramp up to 16,000 t/y in 2024.

The Lyon-headquartered company launched an initial public offering (IPO) in 2021, listing on the Euronext Paris Exchange on Oct. 1. Afyren raised €66.5 million to accelerate the global scale-up of its technology for producing natural and low-carbon products.

Author: Elaine Burridge, Freelance Journalist