Customer testimonials
Research & development: the CTCPA supports startup Edonia in scaling up its first innovative spirulina-based ingredient to industrial scale!
03
Mar
Published on: 03/03/2025
The CTCPA supported startup Edonia with an expertise unit, followed by a Research & Development (R&D) program, with a view to scaling up the manufacturing process for its innovative spirulina-based protein ingredient. Interview with Nicolas IRLINGER, Edonia's Chief Technology Officer (CTO).
"CTCPA's support has been decisive in structuring our production on an industrial scale, offering us essential technical advice and validating our choices through concrete trials."
Introduce us to EDONIA: structure, vision, values, products...
I'm Nicolas, CTO and head of industrialization at Edonia. Founded in February-March 2023 by Hugo VALENTIN and Pierre MIGNON, Edonia is a start-up focused on creating innovative ingredients based on micro-algae. The aim is to enhance their nutritional qualities while highlighting their sustainable potential.
Sharing the same vision of using micro-algae to offer food alternatives, I joined the adventure in June-July of the same year. At the time, a first ingredient was already under development. This ingredient takes the form of a textured grain 3 to 8 mm in diameter. Its soft, supple texture and versatile, umami-tinged taste make it suitable for a variety of applications, both savoury, for use as a meat substitute, and sweet, in combination with chocolate, for example. Our aim is to industrialize this ingredient. When I arrived, the technological foundations were in place, but we had to standardize the product and control the manufacturing parameters. In January 2024, we raised 2 million euros to accelerate our move to industrial scale. In this context, we wanted to work with partners to identify and test a chain of equipment to set up and optimize our process.
How did you come to contact the CTCPA? What were your needs? What were your objectives?
We approached the CTCPA when we were scaling up to industrial scale, with specific needs for advice and support in structuring our production. We were looking to work with impartial experts to enrich our industrial projections. Although we already had a number of advisors and research partners, we were convinced that exchanges with a wide range of players would provide us with a more comprehensive vision to help us make the right industrial choices.
We were interested in the CTCPA for its expertise at every stage of our process. We needed support for our unit operations, and a place to carry out our first production under conditions that met the quality and sanitary standards required for marketing. With this in mind, we decided to call on the CTCPA.
Why did you choose the CTCPA? How did you hear about the CTCPA?
Coming from an academic background in the agri-food sector, the CTCPA was no stranger to me. Its reputation and the trust it inspires were essential assets for a project of this scale. I've worked with the CTCPA from the very start of my career, and the projects I've carried out with them have always been of the highest quality, reinforcing our confidence in their support.
We also validated this approach with our advisors, which ensured that we made the right choice for this stage of the project.
How did the support go?
The CTCPA's support for Edonia was divided into two complementary phases. The first involved an in-depth analysis of our process, enabling us to choose the operations and equipment best suited to our industrialization. This step was essential to compare the equipment available at the CTCPA with that which we had in mind, and to identify technical solutions that met our needs, even if some of the equipment was different from that initially planned.
The second phase was more concrete, with R&D trials carried out in the CTCPA technology hall in Avignon. To this end, we worked with the CTCPA teams to define the equipment to be used, its dimensions, and to integrate the R&D and production stages. This phase involved a great deal of discussion with Carla LUCET, Development Project Manager - National Start-up Manager, as our main contact, and specialized experts from the CTCPA. The CTCPA also took the time to appropriate our existing work, thus avoiding duplication. Finally, an initial pre-series production phase was carried out in Avignon, enabling us to manufacture an initial stock of marketable product samples for our future customers.
What is your assessment today? How do you see the benefits of this support?
Today, we are installing our first industrial demonstrator, based on tests carried out with the CTCPA, which has enabled us to plan and internalize this small production line. In terms of overall results, this support provided us with invaluable advice, particularly in identifying critical parameters and potential bottlenecks in our production. Although the tests were carried out on a small scale, this enabled us to anticipate difficulties on larger volumes.
In concrete terms, we produced 170 kg of our ingredient at the CTCPA, which represents almost a full year of laboratory production, marking a major step forward for Edonia!
What are your next goals or announcements?
Our work with the CTCPA and the development of our process have been rewarded by fund-raising and recognition, such as a prize in the Agropole competition. The latter reflects the credibility acquired thanks to the trials carried out at the CTCPA, validating our ability to go to industrial scale and giving a concrete dimension to our project.
In terms of prospects, we are currently building our first demonstrator, a small production unit with a capacity of around 10 tonnes per year, to support our initial commercial prospection. In 2025, we plan to launch our project to build our first plant.
Finally, we are also pursuing R&D work with the CTCPA, in particular exploring new preservation methods and alternative packaging formats.
__
CONTACT EDONIA :
"CTCPA's support has been decisive in structuring our production on an industrial scale, offering us essential technical advice and validating our choices through concrete trials."
Introduce us to EDONIA: structure, vision, values, products...
I'm Nicolas, CTO and head of industrialization at Edonia. Founded in February-March 2023 by Hugo VALENTIN and Pierre MIGNON, Edonia is a start-up focused on creating innovative ingredients based on micro-algae. The aim is to enhance their nutritional qualities while highlighting their sustainable potential.
Sharing the same vision of using micro-algae to offer food alternatives, I joined the adventure in June-July of the same year. At the time, a first ingredient was already under development. This ingredient takes the form of a textured grain 3 to 8 mm in diameter. Its soft, supple texture and versatile, umami-tinged taste make it suitable for a variety of applications, both savoury, for use as a meat substitute, and sweet, in combination with chocolate, for example. Our aim is to industrialize this ingredient. When I arrived, the technological foundations were in place, but we had to standardize the product and control the manufacturing parameters. In January 2024, we raised 2 million euros to accelerate our move to industrial scale. In this context, we wanted to work with partners to identify and test a chain of equipment to set up and optimize our process.
How did you come to contact the CTCPA? What were your needs? What were your objectives?
We approached the CTCPA when we were scaling up to industrial scale, with specific needs for advice and support in structuring our production. We were looking to work with impartial experts to enrich our industrial projections. Although we already had a number of advisors and research partners, we were convinced that exchanges with a wide range of players would provide us with a more comprehensive vision to help us make the right industrial choices.
We were interested in the CTCPA for its expertise at every stage of our process. We needed support for our unit operations, and a place to carry out our first production under conditions that met the quality and sanitary standards required for marketing. With this in mind, we decided to call on the CTCPA.
Why did you choose the CTCPA? How did you hear about the CTCPA?
Coming from an academic background in the agri-food sector, the CTCPA was no stranger to me. Its reputation and the trust it inspires were essential assets for a project of this scale. I've worked with the CTCPA from the very start of my career, and the projects I've carried out with them have always been of the highest quality, reinforcing our confidence in their support.
We also validated this approach with our advisors, which ensured that we made the right choice for this stage of the project.
How did the support go?
The CTCPA's support for Edonia was divided into two complementary phases. The first involved an in-depth analysis of our process, enabling us to choose the operations and equipment best suited to our industrialization. This step was essential to compare the equipment available at the CTCPA with that which we had in mind, and to identify technical solutions that met our needs, even if some of the equipment was different from that initially planned.
The second phase was more concrete, with R&D trials carried out in the CTCPA technology hall in Avignon. To this end, we worked with the CTCPA teams to define the equipment to be used, its dimensions, and to integrate the R&D and production stages. This phase involved a great deal of discussion with Carla LUCET, Development Project Manager - National Start-up Manager, as our main contact, and specialized experts from the CTCPA. The CTCPA also took the time to appropriate our existing work, thus avoiding duplication. Finally, an initial pre-series production phase was carried out in Avignon, enabling us to manufacture an initial stock of marketable product samples for our future customers.
What is your assessment today? How do you see the benefits of this support?
Today, we are installing our first industrial demonstrator, based on tests carried out with the CTCPA, which has enabled us to plan and internalize this small production line. In terms of overall results, this support provided us with invaluable advice, particularly in identifying critical parameters and potential bottlenecks in our production. Although the tests were carried out on a small scale, this enabled us to anticipate difficulties on larger volumes.
In concrete terms, we produced 170 kg of our ingredient at the CTCPA, which represents almost a full year of laboratory production, marking a major step forward for Edonia!
What are your next goals or announcements?
Our work with the CTCPA and the development of our process have been rewarded by fund-raising and recognition, such as a prize in the Agropole competition. The latter reflects the credibility acquired thanks to the trials carried out at the CTCPA, validating our ability to go to industrial scale and giving a concrete dimension to our project.
In terms of prospects, we are currently building our first demonstrator, a small production unit with a capacity of around 10 tonnes per year, to support our initial commercial prospection. In 2025, we plan to launch our project to build our first plant.
Finally, we are also pursuing R&D work with the CTCPA, in particular exploring new preservation methods and alternative packaging formats.
__
