With a €3 million grant from the Grand Est Region, AFYREN will finance performance investments at its AFYREN NEOXY biorefinery, which produces biobased carboxylic acids.
The biorefinery is dedicated to producing seven organic acids using a low-carbon, circular production model. Reportedly, its production capacity exceeds 16 kt/year.
The new funding comes from the European Union’s Just Transition Fund, which is intended to support the green transition through models that reconcile economic performance, sustainability-minded social impact, and resilience to external shocks.
The grant is anticipated to help develop the biorefinery through the creation of value, jobs, and sustainable skills, with AFYREN describing itself as ‘one of the few greentech players’ to operate at industrial-scale production and commercialization.
“Recent geopolitical events have highlighted the vulnerability of economic models that are heavily dependent on oil and at the same time have underscored the relevance of alternative bio-based solutions,” said Nicolas Sordet, chief executive officer at AFYREN.
“Driven by this long-term conviction, we have recently taken full ownership of our biorefinery and are diligently continuing with the execution of our investment programme aimed at strengthening the performance of our industrial asset.
“The grant represents additional support in this context and is made even more meaningful as it comes from stakeholders committed to the economic vitality and resilience of the territories in which we operate.”
AFYREN also received its final €2.2 million instalment from Bpifrance’s France Relance grant in March. This project call was intended to support strategic investments in critical sectors.
In another EU-funded initiative, VITO is coordinating the UNICO2RN project, which uses biogenic CO2 as feedstock to produce biodegradable plastics. The project’s members plan to build upon existing biobased infrastructures and drive the integration of CO2 utilization into established industrial value chains.
Additionally, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA)’s Innovation Fund has provided PureCycle Technologies with a €40 million grant agreement to build a polypropylene dissolution recycling facility in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. It is expected to contribute to the European Green Deal’s decarbonizing and circularity objectives, as well as the Circular Economy Action Plan and the Green Industrial Deal.
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