nir-vana innovation network

The Danish company has developed a novel fermentation-based method for producing insect pheromones to be used for pest control in agriculture. The pheromones are non-toxic compounds produced in microbial strains that do not produce any toxins or other products of concern. The production process and microbial strains are IP protected.

The products are active ingredients which will be further formulated by the individual customers for final use by growers in row crop applications. The market is developing now and the supply volumes are expected to reach 100s or 1000s of tons per year on a 5-year horizon.

They have scaled up the production of their first product, but are now looking for a cooperation partner who has large scale fermentation capacity to build production, particularly for the fermentation phase. The company seeks a manufacturing agreement with a partner in order to gain access to existing capacity, rather than building it themselves.

Advantages & innovations

Use of pheromones is a non-toxic way to control pests. The method also does not harm biodiversity unlike the current chemical pesticides used in agriculture for pest control. The advantage of the novel production process is that it is more efficient than the current chemical synthesis route for insect pheromones, and produces less waste. The company's production process and microbial strains are IP protected. Given the investments into green technologies within agriculture, the use of insect pheromones is expected to grow rapidly in the future, making this very attractive to a manufacturer in terms of a long-term cooperation.

Stage of development

Field tested/evaluated

Partner sought

The company seeks a production partner with an existing efficient large-scale fermentation footprint and free capacity, who can run the fermentation processes and deliver the product needs on a long-term basis. The company has a preference for an EU-based location but will consider other relevant locations as well. The company seeks a long-term partnership where the partner can take care of the majority of the fermentation requirements. To begin with the free capacity for fermentation should be around 100-200 m3. The company has process development and pilot fermentation capabilities in-house so they imagine that tech transfers and strain upgrades will be done directly into large scale production - they do not require the availability of a process development organisation on the partner's side.