Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant successfully commissions a 75,000 L fermenter, demonstrating Vivici’s Vivitein™ BLG technology in industrial-scale precision fermentation

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Ghent, 21 November 2024

Following a strategic decision taken three years ago, the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP) started, in September 2023, the construction of a 75,000 L demonstration fermenter. Hardly fourteen months later, this new asset, a true in-house engineering masterpiece, is “ready for business” and will allow innovators to test and validate their fermentation processes under relevant industrial conditions while at the same time producing market-ready and food-grade material at cost-competitive pricing.

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Hendrik Waegeman, Head of Business Operations, believes this will be a game changer for BBEPP: ‘While helping companies to bridge the Valley of Death in innovation, by offering them scale-up support up to 15,000 L scale, we often observed they got stuck a second time, i.e. when going to industrial manufacturing scale. There are not only the physical effects of scale, there is also often the requirement to invest significantly in the downstream unit operations at larger scale CMO plants, something we avoid at BBEPP because we have all the downstream units matching the 75,000 L fermentation scale’.

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And indeed, a new level of opportunities unlocks, as BBEPP’s new 75,000 L fermenter is connected to its extensive suite of downstream processing equipment.

The Dutch company Vivici was the first contracted user to test the new fermentation line. After successful scale-up of the Vivitein ™ BLG technology in multiple 15,000 L scale runs at BBEPP, the precision fermentation company now takes a giant leap by validating its technology at large production scale.

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Stephan van Sint Fiet, CEO of Vivici, testifies: “I am extremely proud that we have been able to hit this critical milestone in our process scale up and get it “Right First Time”. Successfully running our production at large scale will further strengthen our commercial rollout, giving customers confidence in Vivici as a reliable and trusted supply partner. I’m convinced this is the result of the close and constructive collaboration between the teams of Vivici and BBEPP in the past months”.

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The entire team of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is over the moon with this first successful commercial run and celebrates this important milestone with the launch of a parody video, true to its signature communication style, inaugurating “Fermentation Park” (click here to watch it). Park? Yes indeed! With the 75,000 L fermenter up and running, BBEPP concludes a 34 million investment program including a third 15,000 L line and three additional 1500 L fermenters, tripling its overall fermentation capacity and is all geared up for making customers grow under the best possible conditions.  

The fully equipped 75 m3 fermentation line was realized with the support of Bio Base DEMO, a NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience facility (RRF) project with contract Nr. VV021/02 and the City of Ghent.  

The Fermentation Park video was realized with the support of Flanders Investment and Trade.

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Notes to Editors:

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Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant

Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP) is an independent, open-access and state-of-the-art pilot facility for process development, scale-up and custom manufacturing of biobased processes and products from lab to multi-ton scale. A wide and flexible spectrum of modular unit operations combined with the experience of highly competent engineers and technicians enables BBEPP to translate biobased lab protocols into viable industrial processes.

Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant enables the conversion of renewable feedstocks into biochemicals, biomaterials, biofuels and other bioproducts by using technologies such as biomass pretreatment, biocatalysis, (gas)fermentation, green chemistry and product recovery and purification.

For more information, visit www.bbeu.org, contact busdev@bbeu.org or follow us on LinkedIn.

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Vivici

Vivici is a Dutch B2B ingredients company pioneering the development of superior dairy proteins through precision fermentation to meet the world’s growing need for nutritious, functional and sustainably-produced proteins. Their ingredient, Vivitein™ BLG, sets a New Standard of Protein in the market with the creation of beta-lactoglobulin, the most important component of a whey protein. Vivitein™ BLG  allows brands to offer greater protein quality and performance, more delicious tastes and textures, with a reduced environmental impact.

Following the success of Vivitein™ BLG, the company is now advancing its next innovation: Lactoferrin (Vivitein™ LF).

For more information, visit www.vivici.com, contact info@vivici.com, or follow Vivici on LinkedIn.

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More information, questions and/or interviews

Katrien Molders, Communication Manager, Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, +32 486 95 11 09, katrien.molders@bbeu.org.

Stephan van Sint Fiet, CEO│ Vivici B.V., M: +31 622253214, stephan.vansintfiet@vivici.com

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Supported by:

The fully equipped 75 m3 fermentation line was realized with the support of Bio Base DEMO, a NextGenerationEU Recovery and Resilience facility (RRF) project with contract Nr. VV021/02 and the support of the City of Ghent.  

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