Unlocking the potential of thermo-sensitive bioactive ingredients through a disruptive encapsulation method

Project Information

CAPSULTEK

Grant agreement ID: 873827

DOI

10.3030/873827

Project closed

EC signature date 20 August 2019

Start date 1 August 2019

End date 31 July 2022

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 985 062,50

EU contribution

€ 689 543,75

Coordinated by

BIOINICIA SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - CAPSULTEK (Unlocking the potential of thermo-sensitive bioactive ingredients through a disruptive encapsulation method)

Reporting period: 2021-08-01 to 2022-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

CAPSULTEK is a new technology based on electro-hydrodynamic atomisation (EHDA) that allows to microencapsulate and simultaneously dry active ingredients at room temperature, in a single-step, overcoming the main drawbacks of current technologies, and allowing to produce functional foods with high concentrate of active ingredients from natural sources at 40% lower costs on average. Besides, we propose an innovative commercialisation scheme based on a contract manufacturing service to co-develop products with customers and validate them at industrial scale to ensure the product performance/cost leadership.
Discoveries in active ingredients for functional foods offer new possibilities for improving human health and prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. However, many bioactive compounds present low water solubility; i.e. low absorption and, therefore, limited bioavailability.
The challenge is to encapsulate the bioactive components given an additional functionality to the food beyond its natural nutritional properties. Functional foods must have high concentration of bioactive compounds (because it is a consumers’ demand and food market trend) and also they must keep functionality of the added active ingredients (which often are sensitive to temperature, humidity, pH, etc.)
Omega-3 market has a good growth potential because according to WHO and EU the Omega-3 daily intake should be higher than 250 mg/day but nowadays the real consumption it is far below. It will be necessary to increase production by 0.65 million tonnes per year of Omega-3 enriched products to reach this level.
Omega-3 enriched products are a global market with a current size of 99.47 billion dollars. 40% of the market is concentrated in North America but the European market grows rapidly and already reaches 23%.
Our first targeted segment will be Infant formulas because market trends show this is a relevant niche in EU-market for the CAPSULTEK penetration.
Thus, the overall objective of the project is to scale-up CAPSULTEK technology for microencapsulation and dry of thermolabile active ingredients, and validate it with omega-3 oils, reaching a production capacity of 10 tonnes/year in our facilities in Spain.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first year of the project all the deliverables and milestones have been reached without major setbacks. On the one hand, during the first half of the year we design the Demonstrator Plant, detailing the specification and the design, detailing the final components of the prototype. The construction of the demonstrator plant, as planned, is being building at this moment (August 2020) and it is planned to be finalised by the end of month 14 (September 30th, 2020) starting the operation of the plant. On the second hand, we have worked on the commercialisation and dissemination activities although the COVID breakout delayed and perturbed our commercialization plans since some important international trade fairs we planned to attend were cancelled as it was the case of CRS in Las Vegas (USA – CRS: https://2020.controlledreleasesociety.org/) or NanoTexnology in Greece (https://www.nanotexnology.com/).
On social media we have had an intense activity which results are reported in deliverable 5.2 reaching 156 new users during the first eleven months of the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

CAPSULTEK technology is mainly addressed at the production of new functional and enriched foods. It has a very broad potential market that today comprises more than 385 products in the European market and more than 503 different “active” ingredients.
In Europe there are approximately 200 companies producing functional foods, of which 25% are SMEs. Flagship clients will be food industry companies specialized in the following product types: dairy (54.3%), beverages (30.1%), cereals (3.4%), confectionery (3.1%), fats (3.1%), infant foods (2.3%) and bakery (1.3%). Health-consciousness among consumers is increasing and as a consequence, food companies are active in the functional food market.
Food encapsulation market is projected to reach USD 41.74 Billion by 2021 because consumers are increasing consumption of functional foods due to price, taste, flavour and colour improvements. Functional food value chain is led by TIER 1 global players like Kellogg Company, Nestlé and PepsiCo although there are many other several prominent vendors like Kraft, Unilever, Campbell Soup, Ordesa, Fonterra or Danone. In the TIER 2, high-tech SME’s such as Biosearch S.A. or Biopolis S.L. can be found as active ingredient suppliers.
CAPSULTEK technology is versatile. The production plant that will be upscaled can be shifted from Omega-3 to other encapsulation ingredients with no need of significant changes, but only additional equipment (e.g. Nitrogen injection for pharma products).
In the long-term, Omega-3 demand is expected to grow at a CARG of 8.7% in terms of volume from 2014 to 2022. This supposes an augment in the market size that Goedomega-3 estimates in $11-12 billion for infant formulas, $4-6 billion for food supplements, and $5-7 billion for nutritional supplements and clinical nutrition.
According to the worldwide consumption of DHA enriched products (86,400 metric tonnes in 2016*) and the expected growing demand, we have estimated a worldwide market penetration of 0.16 % by 2021, reaching a value of 5.3% by 2025 when the production capacity is scaled-up.

*key assumption: average content in Omega-3 enriched products (infant formulas, animal feed, dietary supplements, clinical nutrition and pharmaceuticals) is set up at 5% of DHA (w/w).

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