The Industrial Agro-Biotechnologies Research and Development Unit Celebrates its Tenth Anniversary!
July 20 2023This year marks the tenth anniversary of this research and development unit, which specializes in finding innovative ways to use agricultural by products by leveraging sustainable chemical and biotechnological processes. What is the story behind this unit? What are its primary areas of research? What is its vision for the decade to come? Interview with Florent Allais, Director and Founder of the ABI R&D Unit, and Kévin Magnien, Assistant Director responsible for academic and industrial partnerships and knowledge transfer.
The ABI R&D Unit: developing and optimizing more sustainable industrial processes
Kévin Magnien: The aim of the ABI R&D Unit is to find ways to transform agricultural byproducts into medium-to-high-value chemical compounds using more sustainable industrial processes. Our research will enable us to work with a variety of industries, including specialty and fine chemicals, polymers and materials, crop health, and cosmetics. One example is the recognition the ABI R&D Unit has earned for its research into UV-absorbing compounds, with four (soon to be five) patent applications already filed.
Florent Allais: We use a biomimetic approach when developing these UV-absorbing compounds, which are suitable for applications such as sunscreens that are safe for both humans and marine life (e.g. coral). Through our research, not only do we work to “mimic” compounds that already exist in plant life, but we also try to “biosource” them, which means that we attempt to produce them using the building blocks found in plants. So, the idea is to create biomimetic compounds using biosourced molecules and environmentally friendly processes that are chemical, biocatalytic, biotechnological, etc. in nature. Which goes to show how useful it is to have three interdisciplinary teams working at ABI.
Kévin Magnien: Yes, and we have several areas of research and development that have adopted the same kind of approach. Take another example: at its core, the ABI R&D Unit is focused on applied research and industrial applications. Among all of our partnerships, we have forged very strong ties with an Australian startup, CIRCA, which has developed a production process that uses sawdust to create a platform chemical (a “synthon”) and a biosolvent. Using this platform chemical as a starting point, we have worked on several possibilities for synthesizing sustainable chemical and biochemical compounds that can be leveraged for a wide array of applications: antiviral drugs, polymers, surfactants…even butter flavoring! While the ABI R&D Unit’s focus is indeed on applied research; however, it is also resolutely international—as evidenced by its partnerships with a diverse range of universities across the globe, such as the University of New England and Monash University in Australia, the University of Florida in the United States, and Kyoto University in Japan.
Kévin Magnien, Assistant Director of the ABI R&D UnitThe core of the ABI R&D Unit’s work consists of developing and optimizing more sustainable industrial processes to enable the transformation of byproducts (i.e. waste) into valuable products by giving them a new function (and thus a new value in the economy).
The ABI R&D Unit in the decade to come
Kévin Magnien: In terms of partnerships, we will look to continue working very closely with our existing partners, while also forging new strategic ties with major (inter)national players. We are also working to pour additional resources into knowledge and technology transfer and the creation of startups. One example is the creation of the Biotech’Innlab, which is driven by this very ambition.
In terms of research and development, the unit will continue to work on UV-absorbing compounds, but we will also look to diversify our basic synthons by expanding the number of processes used—with the aim being to also diversify our portfolio of patents. For example, we have broadened our field of research by exploring biomimetic processes to imitate the natural defense mechanisms used by algae and coral to filter out the sun’s rays.
Our partnership with CIRCA will also continue. In 2018, they received official approval to market their biosolvent in Europe, and our aim is to manufacture that solvent in Europe, with the creation of a 1,000-ton factory in the Grand Est Region. It’s in part thanks to our partnership that CIRCA has been able to set up shop in the region!
Florent Allais: We are going to continue to leverage what we know how to do best and work to take our technology transfer activities to the next level. We aren’t looking to diversify our areas of expertise—we prefer to consolidate our existing ones. Whatever expertise we may lack can be acquired through our partnerships.
The genesis of the project in the Grand Est region
The earliest stage of the unit’s inception dates back to 2007. It originated at the initiative of a group of local government entities (the Greater Reims Metropolitan Authority, the Grand Est Region, and the Department of Marne), who wanted to work with French grandes écoles like AgroParisTech—a historic partner in a number of such projects—and CentraleSupélec to develop a large-scale research center, the CEBB (European Center for Biotechnology and Bioeconomy).
At that time, AgroParisTech in the process of being formed through the merger of three engineering schools (ENGREF, ENSIA, and INA P-G), and it wasn’t fully able to take part in the project. In 2011, once AgroParisTech was up and running, it signed an agreement with the local government entities to officially inaugurate the project and the creation of the Industrial Agro-Biotechnologies (ABI) Research Chair. From the outset, the aim was to find ways to transform local agricultural products and byproducts into medium-to-high-value compounds and materials, while working to boost innovation, technology transfer, startup incubation, and new economic activity in the region.
« When I came on board in October 2012, the concept of the ABI Research Chair existed, but it had not yet developed into a concrete reality. My task was therefore to assemble a team, oversee investments, and locate facilities for a laboratory so that we could get our research activities off the ground. Two scientific departments were initially planned: the Biotechnology Department and the Process Engineering Department. Because of my background as a chemist, I also decided to add a Green Chemistry Department. It all began at Trois Fontaines Middle School in Reims, where we temporarily set up shop while waiting for construction of the CEBB building to be completed. A university research laboratory in a middle school—now that’s not something you see every day! We would ultimately spend several years there. It’s where we brought in our first members and where, that very first year, we published our first academic article and filed our first patent application.
From then on, we moved forward and expanded as a team—a young team (with an average age of 26-28) that wasn’t afraid to pool forces from each of the three departments and to leverage truly interdisciplinary approaches.
After three years on the middle school campus, the ABI Research Chair moved into its new offices and laboratories at the brand-new CEBB Research Center, located at the heart of the Bazancourt-Pomacle biorefinery site. We now had access to new laboratories—fully equipped with all the latest technology—dedicated to process engineering, biotechnology, and chemistry, along with a 400 m² (4,300 sq. ft.) technology center. It was time to take things to the next level!
The year 2019 saw the culmination of the project. Not only did our staff double in size, but we also adopted a new legal status, with the ABI Research Chair officially becoming the ABI Research and Development Unit—an R&D unit formally recognized by the ministries responsible for it. In January 2013, there were only three of us. Today, I work alongside a staff of twenty or so permanent members, not to mention the numerous Ph.D. students, postdoctoral researchers, and interns who also work with us.»