Israeli startup TripleW is the first to open a factory on the former Opel site in Antwerp. It will process 10 tons of waste daily into lactic acid, a building block for the chemical industry. "Thanks to us, major players are not dependent on fresh food."
On Friday, the Israeli startup TripleW officially launched a demonstration plant for the NextGen district, the former Opel site that the Port of Antwerp wants to develop into a circular economy hub. TripleW will thoroughly test its technology for recycling food waste and converting it into high-quality lactic acid before scaling it up.
The company will process 10 tons of food waste daily into building blocks for the chemical industry. "All sorts of things will come in here," says Tal Shapira, co-founder and CEO of TripleW. "Waste streams from bakeries, Colruyt supermarkets, and the dairy industry. In our system, we simulate a digestive system. At the end, we're left with usable components, about 10 percent of what went into the system."
The remainder is further processed into biofuel and fertilizers. "In that respect, we're not disruptive," says Shapira, the scientific brain behind the technology. "That's our advantage: we offer an alternative process that can be easily integrated into existing systems. Lactic acid is currently made from fresh food, often sugarcane or corn. This can be a way for large companies to reduce their footprint, because we use waste as a raw material."
Childhood friends
As a bioengineer/chemist/biologist, Shapira immersed himself in the process of repurposing food waste nearly ten years ago. "I worked for a research institution, helping connect academic breakthroughs with large companies. That's how I came across lactic acid, an essential ingredient in biodegradable plastics, biochemicals, and products in the food and cosmetics industries."
After finding an alternative production method, he sought advice from his childhood friend Amir Oranim. As a consultant, he had the necessary experience in translating ideas into business plans. "With lactic acid, you enter two markets. The consumer products market, with cleaning products and shampoo, which provide a stable revenue stream. And then there's the market for the biodegradable plastic PLA. We see a lot of growth potential there," says Oranim.
PLA, or polylactic acid, of which lactic acid is a building block, is gaining ground as a replacement for PET, which is made from oil. "It's widely used in food and beverage packaging, but also in clothing and diapers," says Oranim. "For now, the majority of our lactic acid goes into consumer goods. We have a partnership with, among others, the Belgian sustainable cleaning brand Ecover."
TripleW isn't the only company producing lactic acid from food waste. "But we are the first to do so on a large scale," says Shapira. "On the adjacent site, we're also planning a factory to produce on a commercial scale: increasing the processing capacity from 10 tons per day to 300 tons." The concession for this will be signed on Friday.
The company will market 15,000 tons of recycled lactic acid per year with this plant. "A drop in the ocean," Oranim admits. "The entire market is 1.3 million tons. But that also creates opportunities. We're building a similar production line at the waste processor Renewi in the Port of Amsterdam. And despite our price, which is 10 to 20 percent higher than those of other players, our customers are signing long-term contracts. By scaling up, we want to bring the price down even further."
'Truly Belgian project'
So far, €10 million has been invested in the demonstration project, including by the Flemish Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Vlaio) and the European CBE JU program within Horizon 2020. Commercial production requires an investment of €70 million, for which funding is still being sought.
To achieve this, TripleW is seeking Belgian companies. While the company was founded in Israel (see inset) , the technology was developed at the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP), a pilot plant for the bioeconomy in the port of Ghent . TripleW subsequently collaborated for three years with Group Op de Beeck, a waste processing company on the Left Bank, to test the technology in an industrial environment.
For us, this is a truly Belgian project. With Belgian waste suppliers and Belgian customers for the lactic acid, we want the project to be at least partially funded by Belgian stakeholders.
Passing the hat in a sector during a time of crisis: not everyone is keen on that. "We are indeed noticing a reluctance among Belgian chemical companies to invest," says Shapira. "Appetite has weakened. But we have the advantage that our process can simply be implemented in their waste streams. And it creates jobs, the kind of green industrial factory jobs that people in Europe so desperately want."
