Rapeseed protein for plates 45 million euros injected by Avril and Bpifrance

The Avril group and the SPI fund are going to create Prolein, a rapeseed preparation and pressing unit in Dieppe in Seine-Maritime. (© Terre-net Media)

This investment will enable the creation of Prolein, a rapeseed preparation and pressing unit in Dieppe in Seine-Maritime. It will be installed on a former Saipol site of the Avril group, being rehabilitated after an industrial accident which killed two people in February 2018.

Prolein will buy the seeds and press them to obtain rapeseed oil (then processed at other sites in the group) and meal. It will supply part of these rapeseed cakes to Olatein, a joint venture created in July by Avril and its Dutch partner DSM to set up this rapeseed protein sector intended for human consumption.

Also installed on the Dieppe site, Olatein, currently under construction, will be responsible for extracting rapeseed protein using a patented process developed by DSM. Olatein will be 75% owned by DSM and 25% by Prolein (owned by Avril and Bpifrance). The Dutch group will handle the marketing of these rapeseed proteins, which will be in powder form, to the food industry. It is "a world first", declared to AFP Paul-Joël Derian, director of Innovation, Research and sustainable development of the Avril group and president of Prolein.

Rapeseed meal composed of fibers and mixed proteins has long been used in animal feed. But “this will be the first time that a pure rapeseed protein will be made available to food companies as an ingredient for human food,” he notes.

“Rapeseed protein, which contains all the amino acids necessary for the human body, has great nutritional and functional qualities, but it is very difficult to extract,” he explains. Prolein will carry out “a very special pressing of the rapeseed to provide a raw material for Olatein”, from which this pure protein will be extracted. The Prolein and Olatein units are expected to start filming in early 2022.

Still on the Dieppe site, a third unit, CircularGaz, will treat the residues from the extraction process, while producing biogas from the organic compounds present in the effluents. The vegetable protein market is experiencing very strong growth, of 10% to 15% per year, driven by demand for vegetable products that are alternatives to meat (vegetable hamburgers, vegetable sausages, etc.) and milk.

The reindustrialization of the Saipol site, shut down after an industrial accident that occurred during a maintenance operation, will create around fifty jobs. Fifteen of which will be offered as a priority to former Saipol employees, specifies Avril.

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