Brevel and Wave Group plan Indian fermentation plant

Brevel and India’s Wave Group have established a 50:50 joint venture to build an illuminated fermentation facility in Uttar Pradesh, with investment estimated at $10 million–$15 million. The proposed plant will provide 300,000 litres of total fermentation capacity, initially manufacturing Brevel’s Purallis chlorella ingredient while creating a potential production platform for other light-dependent biological materials.

The agreement was signed in New Delhi on 21 October, with representatives of the Israeli diplomatic and trade missions and Indian investment authorities attending the ceremony. Wave Group will fund the planned facility, while Brevel contributes its fermentation technology and associated expertise. Construction is expected to begin later in 2026, with full-scale production targeted within 18 months of the agreement.

The project would substantially increase the production capacity available to the Israeli biotechnology company, which currently operates a commercial facility containing a 5,000-litre bioreactor. The proposed Indian installation has a total design capacity equivalent to 60 times that vessel’s working volume. This comparison describes bioreactor capacity rather than annual ingredient output, which will depend on production cycles, yields and downstream recovery.

Brevel’s illuminated fermentation approach combines controlled cultivation with exposure to light. The process is intended to support microorganisms and cell cultures whose growth or production of particular compounds responds to illumination. Unlike conventional cultivation systems relying exclusively on light-driven growth, Brevel’s platform can supply nutrients while introducing illumination as an additional controlled operating variable.

The combination introduces requirements that differ from conventional fermentation. Nutrient availability, dissolved gases, temperature and mixing must be maintained within suitable ranges, while the culture also needs adequate exposure to light. The distribution of illumination becomes increasingly important as equipment volume rises because dense cultures can absorb or scatter light before it penetrates the vessel.

Bioreactor geometry, circulation and the positioning of light sources therefore influence the process. If cells experience substantially different illumination during cultivation, growth or compound production may become uneven. The design must also accommodate cleaning, sterilisation and maintenance without compromising the conditions needed for reliable biological production. Brevel has not disclosed the proposed Indian plant’s reactor geometry or total electrical demand.

The initial product will be Purallis, a chlorella ingredient developed for food and nutrition applications. Chlorella is a microalga that can provide proteins and other constituents, although the finished ingredient’s composition depends on the organism, growing conditions and processing methods. Brevel has not published an annual tonnage forecast for the Indian facility or identified the proportion of total capacity allocated permanently to Purallis.

The venture is also intended to make fermentation capacity available to developers of plant cell culture ingredients and other biological products that require light-dependent production conditions. This would extend the facility’s role beyond manufacturing Brevel’s own ingredients, provided third-party processes can be transferred and qualified for the installed equipment.

Technology transfer between biological processes is rarely a matter of changing the organism alone. Different cultures can require different media, gas transfer conditions, illumination profiles and contamination controls. Downstream separation and recovery may also vary according to whether the intended commercial product is a whole biomass, an extracted compound or material produced by cultured cells.

Any shared manufacturing platform would need defined procedures for process isolation, cleaning and quality verification when moving between products. The joint venture has not disclosed how many independent production trains it intends to install or whether separate lines will be allocated to third-party ingredient developers. Its proposed capacity therefore represents an overall design target rather than confirmed availability for every potential customer.

Wave Group’s involvement provides access to established industrial operations in India, including sugar production. The partners are examining whether side streams from sugar mills could support fermentation, potentially creating a connection between conventional food processing and biotechnology manufacturing. The suitability of individual side streams depends on their composition, consistency and the pretreatment needed before their use in a controlled culture.

Fermentation feedstocks must be sufficiently predictable to support the intended growth and production conditions. Variations in sugar concentration, impurities or other constituents can affect microbial performance, while sterilisation and transport requirements influence operating cost. No production results from the proposed Indian facility have yet established the performance of the sugar mill materials at industrial scale.

Using existing industrial side streams could reduce demand for separately produced raw materials where those inputs meet the process specification. The environmental outcome would nevertheless depend on energy consumption, feedstock transport, water use and the treatment of residual materials. The companies have not published a life-cycle assessment or independently measured savings for the proposed manufacturing arrangement.

The planned investment must also cover the infrastructure needed to support a biological production process. Fermentation equipment requires systems for preparing and delivering media, controlling temperature and maintaining suitable operating conditions. Processing steps after cultivation can be important contributors to plant size, energy consumption and final manufacturing cost, particularly where an ingredient needs separation, concentration or drying.

Brevel’s existing Israeli operation provides experience of commercial production at a smaller scale, while Wave Group will support development of the much larger Indian facility. Neither partner has announced the final number of bioreactors, projected staffing levels or a completed plant design. The proposed construction and commissioning dates remain targets rather than evidence of equipment already installed.

The joint venture establishes a defined manufacturing investment programme for Brevel’s illuminated fermentation technology. Its first commercial milestone will be construction and qualification of the equipment needed to produce Purallis consistently, followed by evidence of output, operating costs and the ability to accommodate additional cultures. The announced 300,000-litre figure remains planned capacity until the facility enters operation.