''Citribel'' or ''Citrique Belge''(before 2022), located in

Tienen Tienen (; ) is a city and municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises Tienen itself and the towns of Bost, Goetsenhoven, Hakendover, Kumtich, Oorbeek, Oplinter, Sint-Margriete-Houtem and Viss ...

is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

biotech company and one of the biggest producers of

citric acid Citric acid is an organic compound with the formula . It is a Transparency and translucency, colorless Weak acid, weak organic acid. It occurs naturally in Citrus, citrus fruits. In biochemistry, it is an intermediate in the citric acid cycle, ...

. The company has a production capacity of 120,000

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

s of citric acid per year. In 2020 it employed 340 people.

History

In 1916, Alphonse Cappuyns and Arsène Smeets, both students from

Leuven Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipalit ...

, started searching for the biological production of citric acid. First, they tried by letting random microorganisms

ferment Fermentation is a type of anaerobic metabolism which harnesses the redox potential of the reactants to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and organic end products. Organic compound, Organic molecules, such as glucose or other sugars, are Catabo ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

into citric acid. Later they proceeded by selecting the ''

Aspergillus niger ''Aspergillus niger'' is a mold classified within the ''Nigri'' section of the ''Aspergillus'' genus. The ''Aspergillus'' genus consists of common molds found throughout the environment within soil and water, on vegetation, in fecal matter, on de ...

fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

after which they achieved a productivity which allowed for industrial exploitation. This led to the foundation of the Belgian-Italian company ''La Citrique Belge'' in 1929. The Belgian know-how in fermentation was combined with the Italian know-how in refining citric acid. In 1947, the basic substrate sugar was changed with the cheaper by-product

molasses Molasses () is a viscous byproduct, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usuall ...

and the production and profitability increased steadily. In 1977, Citrique Belge was acquired by

Hoffmann–La Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Swiss multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on ...

and after the acquisition, the production capacity of citric acid was more than doubled. In 2003, DSM took over the

vitamin Vitamins are Organic compound, organic molecules (or a set of closely related molecules called vitamer, vitamers) that are essential to an organism in small quantities for proper metabolism, metabolic function. Nutrient#Essential nutrients, ...

division of

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational corporation, multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, ...

, including Citrique Belge. In 2010, Citrique Belge was acquired by Adcuram, a german industrial holding. Subsequently, in 2016 Adcuram sold Citrique Belgique to Riflebird Capital from

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. Clema Capital from Luxembourg announced a takeover of Citrique Belge in November 2020.

References

Sources

* F. Smeets, Microbial production of citric acid, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Volume 49, Number 1, January, 1983, pp. 86–87

External links

S.A. Citrique Belge N.V.
Biotechnology companies of Belgium Tienen Companies based in Flemish Brabant {{Belgium-company-stub

History

See also

References

Sources

External links