A Little Light, a Lot of Sugar - Brevel's India Move

Brevel's India move is an agreement with that country's Wave Group to turn sugar-processing byproducts, light and fermentation into a new generation of food ingredients.

Fermentation is usually a process that happens in the dark. Not for Israeli biotech company Brevel, which has developed a way to bring light into the bioreactor, helping microorganisms such as chlorella produce proteins, natural pigments and other valuable food ingredients. Now Brevel is joining forces with giant Indian sugar producer, Wave Group to build a US$10–15 million production facility in Uttar Pradesh, with a planned capacity of 300,000 litres, a considerable step up from its existing 5,000-litre operation in Israel.

The new facility will use sugar-processing byproducts as fermentation feedstocks. That means taking materials from an established agricultural industry and turning them into higher-value food ingredients, potentially lowering costs and reducing waste along the way.

First off the production line will be Brevel's Purallis chlorella, a clean-label ingredient with applications in food, beverages and supplements. The plant will eventually accommodate other organisms and plant-cell cultures that benefit from light.

For consumers, the significance isn't simply another algae ingredient. It's the prospect of more affordable, nutritious and naturally derived ingredients finding their way into everyday foods. Brevel has already demonstrated its technology at commercial scale in Israel. India offers the industrial infrastructure, raw materials and manufacturing capacity to take it much further.

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