New distillation plant of Isobionics® at Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen
BASF takes next step in production of natural fragrances and flavors
Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands – June 11, 2020 – BASF’s biotech company Isobionics® at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen is taking the next step in the production of natural fragrances and flavors. Acquired by BASF in 2019, the company will now do its own distilling and develop new flavors and fragrances. To achieve this goal, a distillation plant will be built at Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen.
Isobionics recently received a subsidy from the Province of Limburg to help make this step possible. According to commissioner Ruud Burlet of the Province of Limburg, “The further expansion of Isobionics at Brightlands Chemelot Campus shows that companies can grow at the property, and are choosing Limburg for subsequent phases of their development, something we are very proud of. Isobionics' innovative biobased products strengthen the Limburg ecosystem in this area.”
Official go-ahead
On June 2, Toine Janssen, CEO of Isobionics®, Ruud Burlet, representative of the Province of Limburg and Bert Kip, CEO of Brightlands Chemelot Campus, gave the official go-ahead to start construction of the plant on the campus. The goal is to start-up production at the end of November. Bert Kip is happy about the expansion. “Over the past few years we have seen Isobionics continue to grow at Brightlands Chemelot Campus. We are very pleased that Isobionics has chosen to take the next step in its expansion at the campus.”
Unique in the world
Isobionics’ approach to making natural fragrances and flavors is unique in the world. Thanks to an innovative fermentation process, it has grown to become a successful biotech company. One of the first products Isobionics introduced on the market was the fragrance and flavoring valencene, which is used, amongst other applications, in soft drinks. Isobionics valencene delivers consistent high quality and is independent of weather and harvest conditions.
Toine Janssen, CEO of Isobionics confirms this. “Thanks to support from the Province of Limburg and the possibilities available at Brightlands Chemelot Campus, we are able to do our own distilling in an industrial scale. With this new plant, we can now expand the distillation that we previously carried out on a small scale in the laboratory. In addition, this year we intend to develop up to six new aroma ingredients in addition to valencene.”
About BASF´s Nutrition & Health division
BASF Nutrition & Health provides a comprehensive product and service portfolio for the human and animal nutrition, pharmaceutical, ethanol and flavor & fragrance industries. Together with our customers, we play an active role in enhancing the nutrition, health and wellbeing of consumers all over the world. Our products fulfill the highest safety, regulatory and sustainability standards. Our human nutrition solutions include vitamins and carotenoids, plant sterols, lutein and sterol esters, emulsifiers, high-concentrated omega-3 fatty acids, human milk oligosaccharide and peptides. Vitamins and carotenoids also form an important part of our animal nutrition portfolio, as do other feed additives such as trace elements, enzymes and organic acids. We provide the pharmaceutical industry with a broad range of excipients and selected large-volume active pharmaceutical ingredients such as ibuprofen and omega-3 fatty acids. Leveraging our advanced technology, we create high performance industrial enzymes for different markets, such as ethanol production. Furthermore, we offer aroma ingredients such as citral, geraniol and L-menthol. BASF Nutrition & Health operates sites in Europe, North America, South America and in Asia-Pacific. For more information, go to www.basf.com.
About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 122,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of around €63 billion in 2018. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.
About Brightlands Chemelot Campus
At Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Sittard-Geleen, entrepreneurs, scientists and students are working together in the field of smart materials and sustainable chemistry production. This builds bridges between fundamental scientific research and product and process innovations in companies. The campus and the adjacent Chemelot industrial park form one large laboratory, where highly qualified experts from the university and industry work together.
In a short period of time, the campus has grown into a place where more than 2,700 knowledge workers and 1,200 students work for more than 90 companies and knowledge institutions. The strategy is to accelerate the development of the campus by 2023 into an excellent community with more than 100 companies and no less than 3,900 knowledge workers and 1,000 students.
Brightlands Chemelot Campus is part of Brightlands, an open innovation community consisting of four campuses. Here they work on the major challenges in the field of sustainability and health. Brightlands is made possible by a collaboration of the Province of Limburg, the knowledge institutes Maastricht University, Zuyd University of Applied Sciences and Fontys University of Applied Sciences, together with APG, BASF, DSM and Maastricht UMC+.
