Aiming stabilization of farm animals’ gut health, company has doubled the capacity for producing the leading probiotic portfolios such as Ecobiol®, Fecinor® and GutCare®.
Evonik, the global leader in specialty chemicals, with a dedicated portfolio of animal health nutrition, has modernized and expanded probiotics production at its site in León, Spain. This lays the foundations for further growth in the Gut Health Solutions business for the company.
Company has doubled the capacity for producing the leading probiotic portfolios such as Ecobiol®, Fecinor® and GutCare®. The León site can now produce 6,000 metric tons of blended final probiotic product per year. The new facilities and improved processes not only increase production capacity, but also improve sustainability. In 2022, Evonik has invested in state-of-the-art fermentation capacities, a new cooling circuit system and a new warehouse at the site, which became operational recently.
Evonik Animal Nutrition has developed an innovative portfolio of Gut Health Solutions based on probiotics for swine, poultry and aquaculture. Its probiotics line – from the fermentation of active microorganisms to the finished feed additive and pre-blends – have been manufactured in León since 2016. The site has been developed and optimized continuously.
With a stronger focus on probiotic-based alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters, Evonik’s Animal Nutrition business line aims to provide solutions that ensure the well-being and performance of the animal while protecting human health and supplying a growing world population with high-quality animal protein.
Probiotics are living microorganisms added to animal feed to maintain or restore the microbial balance in the animals’ intestines. “As long as there are enough ‘good’ bacteria to keep potential pathogens at bay, an animal remains healthy,” explains Torben Madsen, head of Sustainable Healthy Nutrition at Evonik Animal Nutrition. “A stable gut microbiota also strengthens the animal’s immune system, helping to prevent disease.”
Since January 2023, the site has been exclusively using renewable energy sources for electricity and has significantly reduced energy, fresh water, and raw material usage per product.
