Industrial Biotech

in Tienen

Hugo Bauweleers Flanders Investment and Trade Meeting,

Tienen, 16 september 2015

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Contents

1. The product and the market

2. CBT Key Figures

3. History

4. Biotechnological production

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Citric Acid

• Chemistry • Odourless, colourless natural product

• Distinctive acid taste

• Widely distributed in nature, biodegradable

• Acidulant • provides fruity tartness, complements fruit flavours • citric acid lowers pH, can act together with citric salts act as buffering

system • modifies sweetness

• Chelating agent • forms complexes with metal ions (e.g. calcium)

• Widespread uses • Nowadays most widely used organic acid in food

(E330 / FDA:GRAS), pharma, personal care and

industrial applications

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Applications & Uses (1)

• Food Beverages, jams, jellies, preserves,

candies, fats & oils, dairy products,

canned food, frozen food,

convenience food, meat products,

seafood,…

• Pharma Effervescent tablets / powders,

lozenges, anticoagulant solutions

(prevents blood clotting)

• Personal Care Body care products, hair care

formulas, dental care products, bath

& shower products

Typical usage level: 0,25%-0,40% in beverages

0,10%-3% in other food appl.

0,01%-3% typical;

higher as citrate-esters

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Applications & Uses (2)

• Detergents & Cleaners Dish washing, heavy duty laundry,

Industrial, institutional and

household cleaners

• Further Industrial Uses Metal cleaning & surface

treatment; Electroplating baths;

Construction industry; Textile

industry; Plastics industry

Typical usage level: dishwashing : mainly as the

sodiumsalt, up to 40%

surface cleaners : up to 12%

citric and 5% sodiumsalt

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Contents

1. The product and the market

2. CBT Key Figures

3. History

4. Biotechnological production

Markets: Applications:

Export of citric acid: >95%

Food 30%

Beverages 35%

Detergents + Cleaners

16%

Pharma + Cosmetics

19%

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Production capacity: 120 000 tons of citric acid (7,5% market share)

250 000 tons of co-products

Turnover: ~120-130 M€ Personnel: 295 FTE

CBT Key Figures

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Germany 18%

France 17%

US 7%

UK 10%

Ireland 9%

rest EU 32%

rest World 7%

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Contents

1. The product and the market

2. CBT Key Figures

3. History

4. Biotechnological production

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1916-1929 “R&D period”

• 1916 R&D at K.U.Leuven • Alphonse Cappuyns develops the

citric acid fermentation process using Citromyces

• Fermentation using pure sugar

• 1919 Foundation of “Les Produits Organiques de Tirlemont”

• Fermentation of sugars to organic acids

• Low yields

• Process problems

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1929-1977 “2 Generations of Growth”

• 1929 Foundation “La Citrique

Belge”, Italo-Belgian JV • Focus on citric acid with a new

organism: Aspergillus niger

• Combination of fermentation (B)

and DSP (I) know-how

• Price drop in 1934 from ~ 1 EUR/kg

to ~ 0.2 EUR/kg

• Hard struggle for the global market

share

• 1947 Citrique Belge becomes a fully Belgian company

• Start of ongoing growth

• Introduction of molasses as raw

material

• Start of byproduct valorization

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• Reorganisation and capital raises

• Improvements of productivity and quality

• Capacity increases: 43 112 kTUM

• 1997: Joint Venture in Wuxi, CN

• Improvements of productivity and stability

• Reorganisation and capital raise

• Capacity increase to 120 kTUM

• Closure of Chinese production site

• Investments in production

• Modernisation of organisation

• 1977 F. Hoffmann – La Roche A.G.

• 2003 DSM

• 2010 Adcuram AG

as of 1977: “Internationalisation”

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Contents

1. The product and the market

2. CBT Key Figures

3. History

4. Biotechnological production

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Industrial Biotechnology

• Fermentation

• Citric acid is produced by fermentation

(microbiological conversion using a mould)

from a carbohydrate (sugar, starch, grains)

• extraction from natural sources or

chemical synthesis are not cost

competitive

• Isolation & Purification

• Citric acid is isolated from the fermentation

broth using chemical reactions (with lime

and sulphuric acid)

• Purification is typically done by ion-

exchange, decoloration and crystallisation

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Microorganism

• R&D for strain improvement – Mutagenesis and selection of the best strains

– Selection tool: small scale lab fermentations

• Improvements – reduction of unwanted side products

– better temperature tolerance

– raw material flexibility

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Production Process

• Surface fermentation – on diluted molasses with nutrients

– dry spore inoculation with

Aspergillus niger

– Surface : 360.000 m²

– Cycle time ~ 8 days

– high yields

• Isolation & Purification – chemical reactions

– purification of citric acid solution

with ion exchange, activated

carbon, crystallisation

Sugar Citric acid

O2 CO2

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Commodity product

• Solid citric acid is typically available in • Paper bags – usually at 25 kg net

weight, about 30 to 40 bags stacked on

one pallet

• Big bags – from 500 kg to 1000 kg on

pallets (e.g. wooden CP1 or EUR)

• Bulk trucks

• Liquid citric acid is available in • Bulk trucks

• 1000 L IBCs on pallets

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Production Process

Input / Output Balance

238.287

103.213

50.101

19.043

111.837

52.433

53.520

97.874

26.560

Molasses

Sulfuric acid

Lime

Others

Citric Products

Citrocol

Syngenite

Mycelium

White Gypsum

Grey Gypsum C

op

ro

du

cts

CBT

Overall, about 18 000 truck loads / year

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