Futerro S.A., a pioneering Belgian company specializing in the production of lactic acid, lactide and PLA (polylactic acid), closed its first fund-raising worth €12 million in preparation for the construction of its new biorefinery in Normandy. In addition to its historical shareholders, Finasucre and Compagnie du Bois Sauvage, Futerro has a new shareholder, Cybelle, whose shareholder is a major player in the packaging sector for the food industry, via the Cedap group.
“PLA is a versatile material and one of the bioplastics with the best properties for food packaging applications (Form Fill Seal technology) as an alternative to PS (polystyrene), PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and PP (polypropylene). What’s more, current machines using fossil materials (injection, co-extrusion, thermoforming, etc.) are compatible with PLA without any major modifications, given PLA’s ‘machinability’. As PLA is biosourced, recyclable and does not produce micro- or nano-plastics that persist in the environment, we believe it is vital to turn to this type of alternative. This will prevent fossil-based micro-particles from being dispersed into the environment, including the human body,”explains Djivan Djierdjian, director of Cybelle and Cedap.
With the arrival of this new shareholder, Finasucre and Compagnie du Bois Sauvage, Futerro’s longstanding partners, have also each increased their investment in Futerro by €2 million. This new round of financing marks the project’s move up a gear in Saint-Jean-De-Folleville, Normandy. With an estimated total investment of €500 million, the project aims to build Europe’s first fully integrated, circular and sustainable biorefinery. With an annual production of 75,000 tons of PLA combined with its recycling, this project is a world first in the field of bioplastics.
“Faced with the de-industrialization of the fossil-based chemicals and plastics sector in France and Europe, we need to rebuild Europe’s sovereignty by setting up new growth sectors, including bioplastics. This is one of the keys to a low-carbon industry and maintaining local industrial jobs,” stresses Frédéric Van Gansberghe, current CEO and founder of Futerro.
These newly available funds will enable Futerro to finalize the engineering studies, in other words the preliminary design phase. These studies are required before the environmental and construction permits can be filed in the coming months. At the same time, this new capital will enable Futerro to consolidate its presence in existing European markets (food packaging, textile fibers, agricultural films, 3D printing, etc.), as well as in new application sectors currently under development. If Europe’s regulatory ambitions are clear in terms of the resilience, circularity and sustainability of its economy and industry, Futerro is positioned as one of the spearheads of this transition.
Futerro’s historic shareholders are delighted with this new step forward. After an initial pilot project in 2007 and new production capacity of 100,000 tons in Asia to be built by 2020, making Futerro the second largest PLA producer in the world, this European first paves the way for a sustainable transition for the European plastics and chemicals industry.
For the Finasucre group, Futerro’s historic shareholder, ‘the European biorefinery project is a source of immense pride and is perfectly in line with our ambitions for a greener industry’, adds Jérôme Lippens, member of Futerro’s board of directors and CEO of Finasucre.
For Compagnie du Bois Sauvage, which has supported Futerro from the outset, ‘we are delighted and enthusiastic to see this ambitious project continue to move forward and create sustainable solutions for the future’, says Benoit Deckers, member of Futerro’s board of directors and CEO of Compagnie du Bois Sauvage.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 