In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Afyren started construction of a unique, low-carbon, zero-waste biorefinery to produce bio-based acids in Carling Saint-Avold in France’s Moselle region. The plant, called Afyren Neoxy, is a greenfield biorefinery in a brownfield chemical complex called Chemesis in eastern France. It is also located in an area surrounded by sugar beet production basins. Afyren uses co-products of sugar beets to produce its bio-based acids.
The plant Afyren Neoxy, was inaugurated in September 2022 and is in the start-up process. Afyren Neoxy is 51% owned by Afyren and 49% by the Société de Projets Industriels (SPI), a fund managed by Bpifrance. Investment in Afyren Neoxy was EUR80 million (USD84 million).
In October 2021, the company launched an initial public offering (IPO) in Euronext Paris, raising EUR66 million (USD69 million), which it now plans to deploy to build a second and third plant somewhere in Southeast Asia and North America, and to conduct further research and development.
The company believes it can fill a void in the lubricant industry by supplying bio-based acids where traditionally fossil-based products are being used to produce esters, one of several synthetic base stocks that are used in the formulation of industrial, and to a certain extent, automotive products.
