Symphony Environmental Technologies Plc, a global specialist in products and technologies that \u201cmake plastic smarter\u201d, is pleased to announce that it has signed a collaboration agreement and commitment to a strategic investment (\u201cAgreement\u201d) with Eranova SAS (\u201cEranova\u201d), a company registered in France.
\nEranova has developed a unique technology and process (the \u201cTechnology\u201d) which extracts
\nstarch from algae for use with other materials. The starch can be combined with other polymers
\nto produce compounded resins which are compostable and biodegradable. These can be used
\nto manufacture a wide range of finished products (\u201cbioplastics\u201d). In addition, the Technology
\ncan be developed to produce biofuel, biopolymers, proteins for food and animal feed stock, as
\nwell as by-products for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Eranova is the applicant
\nfor PCT patent WO 2017\/0463656 A1 and the application has been registered in several
\nterritories.
\nThe importance of the Technology is that it will be possible to manufacture polymers from
\nnatural raw materials without the need to use arable land and fresh-water resources normally
\nused for growing food crops. There is also a synergy with Symphony\u2019s existing technologies to
\nenhance the technical performance of polymers that will use the Technology.
\nThe main terms of the Agreement are:
\n\uf0b7
\nThe Group will initially subscribe \u20ac500,122 for an 8% shareholding in Eranova when
\nfully funded to start its pre-industrial development (the \u201cSubscription\u201d)
\n\uf0b7
\nThe Group will have an option to subscribe at market value for further shares to
\nincrease its shareholding to 51% of Eranova\u2019s enlarged issued share capital,
\nexercisable in one or more tranches at any time within three years after the initial
\ninvestment
\n\uf0b7
\nSymphony will have representation on the Board of Eranova
\nThe Subscription is subject to completion of due diligence to the satisfaction of Symphony\u2019s
\nBoard including confirmation that all other funding for Eranova is in place and ready to draw
\ndown to start its pre-industrial development. The Subscription is financeable within Symphony\u2019s
\ncurrent resources.
\nIn addition, Symphony will have the right to purchase 75% of Eranova compound made in the
\nMiddle East and North Africa, for sale as compound or in manufactured finished products within
\nthe Middle East region exclusively, and on a non-exclusive basis globally, excepting thirteen
\n(mainly European) countries for which Eranova will have exclusivity.
\nEranova requires a total of \u20ac4,790,000 to start its pre-industrial development and Symphony\u2019s
\ninvestment represents one of the final tranches required. The project has won the backing of
\nADEME, (the French Environmental & Energy Management Agency), who after due diligence
\nby KPMG, are supporting the project with \u20ac1,031,000 of funding. Eranova is also receiving
\nfunding from PACA (the French region of Provence Alpes Cote \u2018d\u2019Azur) together with private
\ninvestment and soft loans.
\nPre-industrial development is expected to start in the second half of 2018 and will consist of
\nconstructing long seawater tanks, called \u201craceways\u201d, where Eranova will optimise cultivation of
\nalgae for the production of the starch extract. The raceways constructed during this phase will
\nrepresent 1\/50 scale of a full commercial facility and will cover 1.2 hectares. This phase will
\nalso involve conversion of the resultant starch into bioplastic compounds. Eranova has signed
\nan agreement to begin installation of the pre industrial development with the Grand Port de
\nMarseille, and TOTAL TDR, a division of the TOTAL petrochemical company, will be supporting
\ncertain employment costs due to the innovative nature of the Technology.
\nThe current majority owners, and directors, of Eranova are Philippe Michon, who is, and has
\nbeen Symphony\u2019s French distributor for over thirteen years, and Phillipe Lavoisier, a chemical
\nengineer who has invented the Technology. He was an R&D manager at 3M and has worked
\nfor many years in the plastic film industry.
\nThe key benefits of the Technology are:
\n\uf0b7
\nUsing a natural renewable waste product which pollutes beaches
\n\uf0b7
\nA non-food-based resource (compared to corn or potatoes)
\n\uf0b7
\nHigher yields per hectare due to the fast growing-rate of algae compared to food-crops
\n\uf0b7
\nEarly stage processing shows good mechanical properties and competitive cost
\n\uf0b7
\nPotential new markets for by-products of the Technology
\nSymphony\u2019s Chief Executive, Michael Laurier, said
\n:
\n\u201c
\nThis investment and collaboration agreement adds another key environmental technology to
\nSymphony\u2019s range of smarter plastics, and gives the Group an exciting position in the
\nbioplastics market which, according to a recent report by Zion Market Research, is growing at
\na rate of 12.5% per annum and will reach a value of $35.5 billion by 2022. We are also very
\nexcited by the synergies between this technology our other technologies.
\nWe believe that the Eranova technology and our d2w technology will both be valuable parts of
\na suite of technologies and strategies to be adopted by governments across the world for
\neliminating the various forms of plastic from the oceans and the open environment.\u201d
\nEranova\u2019s Chief Executive, Philippe Lavoisier, said
\n\u201cWe are pleased to have Symphony as an investor in Eranova. Green algae are a major issue
\nfor the environment, and our technology will be used to collect and use this pollutant as a source
\nto manufacture an odourless, colourless, compostable and biodegradable range of bioplastics
\nwithout creating competition with food production.
\nSymphony brings to Eranova a very valuable network of global distributors together with their
\nmanagement and commercial resources.
\nWe look forward to providing the market with a new generation of bio-based polymers that are
\naffordable and pay due respect to the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Symphony Environmental Technologies Plc, a global specialist in products and technologies that \u201cmake plastic smarter\u201d, is pleased to announce that it has signed a collaboration agreement and commitment to a strategic investment (\u201cAgreement\u201d) with Eranova SAS (\u201cEranova\u201d), a company registered in France. Eranova has developed a unique technology and process (the \u201cTechnology\u201d) which extracts starch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[10503,5847,12529],"supplier":[14501,2975],"class_list":["post-52694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biodegradable","tag-bioplastics","tag-technology","supplier-eranova","supplier-symphony-environmental-technologies-plc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52694"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=52694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}