OLEON NV

Their core work

OLEON is a Belgian oleochemicals manufacturer that converts vegetable oils and animal fats into fatty acids, esters, glycerine and specialty bio-based chemicals used in lubricants, cosmetics, food ingredients, coatings and pharmaceutical formulations. Within H2020 they have focused on replacing energy-intensive, high-temperature chemical processing with enzymatic and chemoenzymatic routes that run at lower temperatures, cut CO2 emissions and open access to higher-purity commodity and fine chemicals. They coordinate industrial demonstration projects, meaning they take lab-scale biocatalysis work and scale it into production-ready processes at their own plant. Their real-world contribution is bringing a working oleochemical production site — with reactors, downstream processing and commercial customer base — into bio-based innovation consortia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (LIPES, 2016-2021), OLEON concentrated narrowly on one reaction step: replacing high-temperature, high-pressure fat splitting with an enzymatic process to produce fatty acids and glycerine more efficiently. With INCITE (2019-2023) the ambition widened to a full chemoenzymatic production chain, adding integrated downstream processing and a dual focus on commodity and fine chemicals. The trajectory is clear — from optimising a single unit operation toward delivering an entire bio-based process line at industrial scale.

OLEON is moving from single-step enzymatic unit operations toward fully integrated chemoenzymatic production lines, making them a strong industrial anchor for any consortium that needs to demonstrate bio-based chemistry at commercial scale.

How they like to work

OLEON has coordinated both of its H2020 projects, always anchoring industrial demonstration (IA and BBI-IA-DEMO) rather than joining as a silent participant. With 15 unique partners across 6 countries for just two projects, they build mid-sized, purpose-built consortia that combine enzyme developers, process engineers and downstream specialists around their own production site. Working with them means partnering with a company that takes on coordination risk and expects the work to land in a real plant, not a report.

They have worked with 15 distinct partners across 6 countries, always coordinating from their Belgian base in Ertvelde. The network is European in scope and clearly built around the bio-based industries community connected to the BBI JU.

What sets them apart

Unlike most players in bio-based H2020 research — which are universities, RTOs or small biotech SMEs — OLEON is a full-scale oleochemical producer that actually runs reactors every day. That means partners get not only a project coordinator but a committed industrial offtaker and a real demonstration site for enzymatic and chemoenzymatic processes on triglyceride feedstocks. Few European companies combine this operational footprint with a track record of leading EU demonstration projects end to end.

Highlights from their portfolio

• INCITE
  Their largest H2020 effort (EUR 5.87M, BBI-IA-DEMO), expanding from a single enzymatic step to full chemoenzymatic processes with integrated downstream processing for both commodity and fine chemicals.
• LIPES
  Their entry into H2020 as coordinator, replacing conventional high-energy fat splitting with an enzymatic process — the foundation on which INCITE later built.