AstaReal celebrates plant completion
Gov. Jay Inslee, center, gathers with Moses Lake Mayor Dick Deane, Fuji Chemical President Mitsunori Nishida, Sen. Janéa Holmquist Newbry, R-Moses Lake, and other area officials for a groundbreaking ceremony at Astareal's new plant in Moses Lake.
MOSES LAKE - Operations will soon get underway at AstaReal Technologies' Moses Lake manufacturing plant that will make an anti-inflammatory agent for health supplements.
Company officials unveiled the completed facility during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday, just less than a year since they first announced they would be moving to Moses Lake.
AstaReal's move to Moses Lake created 45 jobs for the area.
AstaReal invested about $34 million during the construction of the plant, which sits on a 10-acre parcel of land off Randolph Road. AstaReal will use the 59,000 square-foot facility to produce natural astaxanthin for Japanese parent company Fuji Chemical Industry.
Fuji Chemical is a global pharmaceutical company that sells its products in more than 20 countries.
The Moses Lake plant will produce the natural astaxanthin by using photo-bioreactors to cultivate microalgae, a technology AstaReal has been developing since the 1990s.
In conventional production of natural astaxanthin, microalgae are cultivated outdoors in open ponds or in enclosed tubular systems. However, outdoor systems are highly susceptible to contamination by foreign organisms and subject to fluctuations in sunlight and ambient temperature, which can cause deterioration in quality and reduction in consistency and yield.
AstaReal's cultivation system addresses the problems with outdoor production. Their indoor system creates high-quality dried biomass containing the highest possible levels of natural astaxanthin. The product can then be processed further to produce astaxanthin extract in the form of oils or powders.
Astaxanthin is an effective anti-inflammatory agent and one of nature's most powerful antioxidants, Fuji Chemical President Mitsunori Nishida said.
"I can't emphasize enough that natural astaxanthin is a truly remarkable material that helps with the prevention of disease," he said. "Our mission is to deliver natural astaxanthin to as many people as possible worldwide."
Nishida said the company looked at several other locations before deciding to expand to Moses Lake. AstaReal is currently in Sweden, Japan and New Jersey.
Gov. Jay Inslee, who attended Wednesday's event, said AstaReal initially contacted the economic development council of King County during their site selection process. King County didn't have a site that fit the company's needs, but they introduced AstaReal to officials in Grant County.
"This is a great story of teamwork across the state of Washington," he said. "They made sure AstaReal knew about the opportunities in Grant County."
Inslee said AstaReal found the area's affordable power and workforce attractive, which eventually led them to locate in Moses Lake.
Mayor Dick Deane said the addition of new family-wage jobs will benefit the community.
"It's always a great day when we can welcome into our city a new manufacturing facility," he said. "AstaReal Technologies is a great plus for our entire community."
Company officials said the plant should be fully operational by July. And if future demand exceeds their current capacity, AstaReal has the capability to triple production at the site.