The Tech Lab at the R&D center of the De Dietrich Process Systems site in Semur-en-Auxois, in Côte-d’Or, has just been inaugurated, and it is already attracting new customers: start-ups in the field the extraction of natural compounds – omega 3 or therapeutic CBD, for example -, which join Sanofi, Pfizer, Solvay or Corden Pharma already calling on the company’s development and integration skills.
The total investment amounts to 2 million euros, for which the company received aid from France Relance of 800,000 euros. The project was launched at the end of 2020 and the complete development chain, from laboratory to industrial pilot, is operational.
“We have set up an Atex zone to counter explosions when solvents are used, and our customers can come and test the equipment,” says Frédéric Guichard, who heads the group’s Pharma & Green solutions division. “We opened this summer and were quickly sold out, especially for plant chemistry trials on products based on natural ingredients intended for cosmetics,” continues the manager.
Disruptive Technology
The last phase of the project will be launched in early 2023 to allow manufacturers to test the eco-extraction of active ingredients using “supercritical CO2”. Behind this name hides a breakthrough technology: CO2 recycled and placed in an intermediate state between gas and liquid to extract molecules in an efficient and ecological way, and to do without solvents. “For this technology, we have a partnership with an American company, Thar Process, and we are integrators,” specifies Frédéric Guichard.
De Dietrich Process Systems is a world-class supplier of equipment, complete systems and process solutions for the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries. The headquarters of the family group is still in Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin). Its R&D, on the other hand, is based in Côte-d’Or, with the Semur-en-Auxois site specializing in the production of filtration, drying and powder management equipment, which employs 80 people, and an innovation center created in 2021 in Dijon, which employs 10 people. The group has 1,100 employees, including 450 in France, and achieves 90% of a turnover of 160 million euros from exports.
How to react effectively to changes?
Economic uncertainties, political tensions, global warming, changing businesses and industries… The world is changing. How to decipher weak signals, anticipate and best adapt? The “Echos” editorial staff, with its 200 specialized journalists, provides you with strategic thinking tools every day to understand our environment and deal with changes. Through our analyses, surveys, chronicles and editorials, we support our subscribers to help them make the best decisions.
