Belgian phosphate chemistry leader contributing industrial-scale materials expertise in batteries, fertilizers, and circular resource recovery.
Prayon is a major Belgian chemical company specializing in phosphate chemistry and advanced mineral-based products. In H2020 projects, they contribute industrial-scale expertise in phosphate processing, specialty chemicals for energy storage, and nanomaterial production. Their work spans from supplying phosphate-based materials for batteries and printed electronics to recovering phosphorus from waste streams for fertilizer production. As a large industrial partner, they bring real manufacturing capacity and deep chemistry know-how to research consortia.
REFLOW focused directly on phosphorus recovery from dairy waste for fertilizers, and SPICY involved polyanionic (phosphate-based) battery chemistries — both connected to Prayon's core phosphate business.
BASMATI (nanomaterial inks for printing), SPICY (battery electrode materials), and EnSO (micro energy source materials) all required Prayon's chemical formulation and scale-up capabilities.
SPICY developed silicon and polyanionic chemistries for Li-ion cells, while EnSO addressed autonomous micro energy sources for IoT devices.
SYLFEED explored lignocellulose biorefinery for single-cell protein production, and REFLOW targeted biocircular phosphorus recovery from dairy processing waste.
Prayon's early H2020 involvement (2015-2018) centered on advanced materials — nanomaterial scale-up for printed electronics (BASMATI) and electrode chemistries for high-energy batteries (SPICY). From 2017 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward circular economy and resource recovery, with SYLFEED exploring biorefinery value chains and REFLOW targeting phosphorus recycling from waste into fertilizers. This trajectory shows a company returning to its phosphate roots but through a sustainability and waste-valorization lens.
Prayon is pivoting toward circular economy applications of phosphate chemistry, particularly nutrient recovery and waste-to-fertilizer pathways — expect future work in sustainable agriculture inputs and industrial waste valorization.
Prayon consistently joins as a participant, never leading as coordinator — they serve as the industrial chemistry partner that provides materials expertise and scale-up capability within larger consortia. With 100 unique partners across 17 countries, they integrate into diverse, large-scale European teams rather than working in tight clusters. This makes them a reliable industrial anchor: easy to onboard, experienced in multi-partner projects, and comfortable contributing specialized know-how without needing to drive the project management.
Prayon has collaborated with 100 unique partners across 17 countries, indicating a broad and well-distributed European network built through large Innovation Action consortia. No strong geographic concentration — they connect across Western and Central Europe.
Prayon is one of the world's leading phosphate producers, which gives them a rare combination: deep industrial chemistry expertise plus actual manufacturing capacity at scale. Unlike university labs or SMEs, they can take a research result from pilot to full production. For consortium builders, this means a partner who bridges the gap between laboratory phosphate chemistry and commercial-grade products — whether for batteries, fertilizers, or specialty chemicals.
