Page 154 - CW E-Magazine (27-2-2024)

News from Abroad

BOOSTING RESEARCH
GEA setting up technology centre for alternative

proteins in US

GEA, the leading Germany suppliers
of systems and components to the
food, beverage and pharmaceutical
industries, is investing €18-mn ($20-mn)
in a technology centre for alternative
proteins in Wisconsin, USA. Ground-
breaking at the new GEA campus in
Janesville is scheduled for spring of
2024, with the opening to follow one
year later. The new food tech hub will
pilot microbial, cell-based and plant- there is an urgent need for scaling commercial-scale manufacturing. Prior
based foods. facilities like ours,” said Mr. Arpad to this, GEA inaugurated its technology
Csay, who leads GEA’s North American centre focusing on cell cultivation and
GEA said its technologies and bio- new food business. “The GEA platform fermentation in Hildesheim, Germany,
technology experts would help scale new in Janesville will enable manufactur- in June 2023.
food for industrial production, which is ers to conduct their scaling and testing
increasingly in demand in the US. work without the need to invest in their The new food technology centre
own capital-intensive infrastructure. In will be home to an end-to-end process
“A number of new food pioneers in this way, we will help overcome scaling line. It will include GEA’s fermenters
the USA are already writing innovation challenges and accelerate the industry’s or bioreactors together with high-shear
history. When it comes to industrial growth,” he added. mixing, sterilisation, homogenisation,
production, the market is still on the cell separation and filtration equip-
starting blocks. GEA’s new food centre Beyond testing and validating pro- ment. The system can freely alter the
bridges a gap in the innovation land- cesses, GEA also intends to promote sequence of the various steps and add
scape, driving forward the development the training of biotechnology specialists or repeat process stages to test cultiva-
of complementary proteins through in the 10,000 square-meter building. tion and fermentation strategies along
technology,” said Dr. Reimar Gutte, Attached to the GEA site for homogeni- with product synthesis.
Senior Vice President Liquid and Fer- sers, separators, pumps and valves,
mentation Technologies, leading New which opened in December 2023, the The innovation centre will comple-
Food at GEA. new food experts will enhance know- ment GEA’s new food centres of excel-
ledge sharing with other disciplines. lence – the full pilot line in Hildesheim
“Most new food companies are and the technology centre for bioreac-
located in North America and the bulk This project marks GEA’s second tors (Skanderborg, Denmark), cell sepa-
of the investments in alternative proteins investment in a new food hub, which ration (Oelde, Germany) and plant-
flow into this region. Consequently, fast-tracks innovations from the lab to based foods (Bakel, Netherlands).

THICKENING & STABILISING AGENT
Univar and Gelymar inks distribution deal for carra-

geenan in beauty and personal care

US chemical distribution firm, Univar, Gelymar S.A., which specialises in the The agreement builds upon the com-
has announced an exclusive distribu- production and commercialisation of panies’ existing partnership in the food
tion agreement in the US and Canada textural solutions for the personal care and pharmaceutical ingredients spaces.
with Chile’s Extractos Naturales industry. “The beauty attitudes and expectations

154 Chemical Weekly February 27, 2024

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