Page 67 - Biorefinery 2030

1 The Concept of Biorefinery 35

This pioneering initiative was followed up at the beginning of the 1990s (Fig. 2.7)
by the simultaneous arrival on site of the CHAMTOR, factory, producing starch
and glucose, and the ARD research centre. 14,15,16
Later, in 2005, when France launched a new industrial policy with competitive-
ness clusters, actors in Picardy and Champagne-Ardenne united to develop a joint
project: “po ˆle a ` vocation mondiale Industries et Agro-ressources” (world industry
and agro-resource cluster—IAR). The excellent example of Bazancourt-Pomacle
was chosen by the President of the French Republic 17 for the ceremony to launch
this national policy focusing on cooperation between public and private players to
reindustrialise the country.
After this, the development speeded up. In 2007, the launch of new regulations
in favour of biofuels stimulated the construction on the site of CRISTANOL, a
mixed sugar beet and cereal ethanol producer. A few years later, in 2011, this same
18
encouraging environment led to the setting up of the FUTUROL project by the
company PROCETHOL 2G and to the construction of its pilot factory.
Furthermore, since 2012, significant financial support by the local authorities
(Champagne-Ardenne Regional Council, Marne Departmental Council and Greater
Reims Area), has enabled the launch of a Centre of Excellence for White Biotech-
19
nology (CEBB) through the creation of three complementary research chairs. The
arrival of higher education institutions has given the site a new dynamic, with
academic researchers to initiate essential research into the different activities. The
20
industrial demonstrator BIODEMO, built in 2010, also illustrates this new dimen-
sion by giving ARD the ability to develop biotechnological processes on an
industrial scale.
More recently, the Jacques de Bohan Foundation has been set up by VIVESCIA
and CRISTAL UNION. Its first purpose is to promote the biorefinery concept as an
integrated industrial tool for the optimal use of agricultural production. By creating

14
The de ´partement of the Marne demonstrated its commitment alongside the industrial players at
this time by financing the ARD research building.
15
This led to the creation in 1994 of SOLIANCE, creator and producer of active cosmetics
ingredients and, in 2010, WHEATOLEO, manufacturer of surfactants.
16
The people of Champagne very quickly realised that this was a turning point, and sought to
support it through research. With this aim in mind, and at the initiative of Albert Vecten, who was
at that time President of the Champagne-Ardenne Regional Council, the Paris Reims Foundation
was set up in 1990, under the aegis of the Fondation de France. This foundation has more than
1000 individual, local authority and business donors. It supports the agro-bio-industrial dynamic in
the Greater Champagne region through the development of a centre for teaching and research
excellence in topics such as Europol’Agro research, by hosting researchers and by funding post-
doctoral scholarships.
17
Jacques Chirac.
18
The first French project for the production of second generation ethanol.
19
NEOMA Business School Chair in Industrial Bioeconomy, AgroParisTech Chair in Industrial
Agro-Biotechnologies, and Ecole Centrale Paris Chair in White Biotechnologies.
20
Initially for the production of succinic acid in partnership with BIOAMBER.