Naturopôle Nutrition Santé: from a private initiative to integrated synergies
Today, five companies and 230 employees are proposing a global offering in the Health Nutrition market value chain, with:
› Setubio: identifying plant extracts for research and validating probiotics, prebiotics, antimicrobial agents and pest control product,
› Herbal T: valuating new extraction technologies and producing plant extracts for the tea, herbal tea and drinks market,
› Eskiss Packaging: producing packaging for the pharmaceutical, dietetic, cosmetic and food industries,
› 3i Nature (Naturopôle’s founding company): developing and manufacturing food supplements and herbal medicines,
› VT Green (the latest company): Biomass conversion: see the focus below.
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In 1987, convinced of the strengths of his region, the pharmacist Philippe Laurent created a company specializing in the manufacture of magistral preparations based on medicinal plants. With changes in regulations, the business has developed into the formulation and manufacture of food supplements and herbal medicines. Today, the company is the leading French manufacturer in its market.
From the outset, this company of 3 employees wanted to be able to make use of their complementary skills. On the Naturopôle site in Saint Bonnet de Rochefort (Allier), expert plant extraction and herbal health solution activities began gradually to develop.
Twice Centre of Rural Excellence (Pôle d’Excellence Rurale - PER) award winners, this business park is the result of a very substantial public-private partnership based on strong human values and a shared common goal.
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JOINT SYNERGY AND ACTION BETWEEN NATUROPÔLE COMPANIES AND LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS (TOWNS, CCI, EAEC, ETC.) ARE PERMANENTLY SOUGHT TO:
Strengthen competitiveness and clarify Naturopôle’s offering internationally:
patent applications, collaborations with researchers at regional level (INRA, University of Auvergne, VetAgro Sup, SIGMA, etc.), integration into the regional momentum with the Céréales Vallée cluster, the Nutravita cluster and the Bioparc and Biopôle Clermont Limagne biosites (Bioparc, Biopôle and Naturopôle are today federated under a common banner: Arbios)
Run joint projects for the development of resources such as:
› Valuation of fresh grape pulp from the Saint-Pourçain Centre of Rural Excellence (Pôle d’Excellence Rurale - PER) (25 km away) as part of the development of a dietary supplement (in 2015: 12 tonnes were used)
› Selection of medicinal plants from the Plantes de Pays cooperative 25 km from Naturopôle.
The centre is ISO14001 certified and also conducts operations encouraging collective consideration of the environment: a buffer reservoir for pretreatment of waste from Naturopôle, an energy network for the future development of biomass generated on the site, and an ongoing study for logistics optimization which would reduce the number of lorries per day from 40 to 5.
The Naturopôle concept was used again in 2013 with the creation of Naturopôle 3D to the north of Aix-les-Bains (Savoie) dedicated to health food.
The recently formed Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region offers new perspectives for further interaction between the existing nutrition, health and green chemistry centres.
For more information:
http://www.parc-naturopole.fr/
Manon Nauche, General Delegate, Naturopôle
m.nauche[arobase]parc-naturopole.fr
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FOCUS on a Naturopôle company: VT Green
Founded in 2012, VT Green specializes in the thermochemical conversion of plant biomass. This company started from an encounter between the plant expertise of people from Naturopôle and the thermochemical expertise of ETIA.
VT Green’s business model is based on plant co-products from economic activities (agriculture, agroforestry, initial wood processing and agro-industrial by-products) to develop new bio-based applications with high added value, from three products deriving from the thermochemical conversion of biomass: a solid fraction, biochar; a liquid fraction: bio-oil and a gas: syngas.
While the thermochemical approach has almost always covered energy recovery models, VT Green favours deploying its expertise for material recovery that allows a plant byproduct to give new products with high added value.
Based on Biogreen technology (www.biogreen-energy.com), developed for over 10 years on an industrial scale, VT Green provides its clients and partners with expertise based on fine mapping of more than fifty different plant biomasses, to develop solutions for many very diverse applications: agronomy, soil and water remediation, biomaterials and biomolecules.
Some of these applications have now reached the commercial stage. This is the case for the Hydrochar WB1 range, the first 100% natural water retention agent and the first approved biochar in France. This product can be used in organic agriculture and is authorized for a wide range of uses such as planting and transplanting trees, incorporation into the soil in the bottoms of seed furrows or for soil maintenance, and incorporation into organic amendments or growing media.
Vincent Xavier, CTO, VT Green
What types of synergies has VT Green created with Naturopôle companies or other local stakeholders?
"VT Green’s location within Naturopôle means that it can benefit from an environment that is very favourable to the development of its business model based on inter-company synergy and circular economy. It has a high-quality source of supply in the co-products generated by companies in the zone specialized in the extraction of plant active principles from which it can reinforce its expertise and develop new applications. For example, some research and development programmes under way are aimed at the development of innovative new products from biochar, and bio-oil made from plant byproducts produced by Herbal T. The objective of these programmes is ultimately to include an industrial thermochemical conversion facility into Naturopôle, making it possible not only to recover some of the plant byproducts generated, but also to deliver biosourced energy from the syngas produced to the industrial zone, through the collective heating network set up at the design stage of Naturopôle”.
"In addition to Naturopôle, VT Green is involved in the development of other thermochemical recovery processes for plant byproducts, associating both owners and suppliers of biomass and users of the bio-based solutions that are developed. For example, a system for recovering certain vine byproducts is currently being tested. After thermochemical conversion, these byproducts are put back into the land in the form of biochar soil enhancers. Setting up such systems is particularly dependent on the synergy of all those involved in the value chain: companies, professional networks and technical centres”.
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Source: ECLAIRA - Newsletter Number 5 / December 2016
Newsletter edited by CIRIDD with support from Région Auvergne - Rhône-Alpes
