Europe's chemical industry depends on palm kernel and coconut oils shipped from the tropics to make everyday products like detergents, plastics, and lubricants. COSMOS figured out how to grow two European crops — camelina and crambe — that produce similar oils right here on European farms. They ran large-scale field trials across Greece, Italy, and Poland, then cracked the oils into the exact chemical building blocks industry needs. Even the leftover plant material gets fed to insects that produce protein and fats, so nothing goes to waste.
Europe's oleochemical industry — makers of detergents, plastics, lubricants, and cosmetics — relies heavily on imported palm kernel and coconut oils from tropical regions for medium-chain fatty acids. This creates supply chain vulnerability, price volatility tied to tropical commodity markets, and growing regulatory and consumer pressure around deforestation and sustainability. Companies need a European-sourced, non-GMO alternative that drops into existing processes without retooling.
The project delivered pilot-scale (100 kg) production of fatty acid products from European-grown camelina and crambe that directly mimic palm kernel and coconut oil derivatives. It also produced 15 tons of seeds from large-scale field trials (5-10 hectares) across three countries, validated farming with existing machinery, developed oil fractionation and chain-cleavage processes, and demonstrated insect farming on crop residues for protein and fat recovery.
If you are a surfactant manufacturer dependent on imported palm kernel oil for your C10-C14 fatty acid supply — this project developed European-sourced alternatives from crambe and camelina oils, tested at up to 100 kg pilot plant scale at TRL 5-6. The resulting products were benchmarked directly against palm kernel and coconut oil derivatives, giving you a non-GMO, European supply chain option.
If you are a bioplastics company looking for bio-based building blocks to replace petrochemical feedstocks — COSMOS converted monounsaturated long-chain fatty acids into medium-chain polymer building blocks through chemical and enzymatic processes. These were validated across 20 consortium partners including 10 industrial players, with field-to-factory value chain tested across 9 European countries.
If you are an insect protein company searching for affordable, consistent feed substrates — this project demonstrated that straw, leaves, and press cake left over from camelina and crambe processing can be fed to insects producing high-value proteins, chitin, and fats. The crops were grown at 5-10 hectare scale across three countries, generating 15 tons of seeds and proportional volumes of vegetative biomass as insect feed.
The project assessed overall economic sustainability of the whole value chain but specific per-ton pricing data is not available in the public deliverables. However, the crops were optimised for high yield and low resource inputs, and the zero-waste model (oil + insect farming from residues) improves overall economics. A direct cost comparison would need to be discussed with the consortium.
COSMOS demonstrated production at up to 100 kg pilot plant scale (TRL 5-6) and grew 15 tons of seeds across large-scale fields of 5-10 hectares in Greece, Italy, and Poland. The field trials specifically assessed adaptability of existing farm machines and operational feasibility under real farm conditions, indicating the agronomic side is ready for commercial scaling.
The consortium of 20 partners across 9 countries includes 10 industrial partners and 6 SMEs. IP is likely distributed among partners covering different parts of the value chain — from seed genetics to oil fractionation to chemical conversion. Licensing discussions would need to go through the coordinator, Wageningen Research in the Netherlands.
The project explicitly used non-GMO approaches and conducted life cycle assessment of the whole value chain. Environmental sustainability was a core evaluation criterion during the large-scale field trials. These European-grown crops inherently reduce transport emissions compared to tropical oil imports.
The project ended in August 2019 with TRL 5-6 validated products. Moving from pilot (100 kg) to industrial scale would require further investment in processing infrastructure. The agronomic knowledge for growing the crops at scale is already established from the multi-country field trials.
The project produced C10-C12 and C14 fatty acid derivatives that mimic palm kernel and coconut oil products, plus omega-3-rich PUFA fractions for food and feed, monounsaturated fatty acid fractions, bio-plastic building blocks, and flavour and fragrance ingredients. Insect-derived proteins, chitin, and fats were also isolated from the crop residues.
The COSMOS consortium is unusually well balanced for commercialisation: exactly half (10 of 20) partners are from industry, including 6 SMEs, spread across 9 European countries. This 50% industry ratio signals that commercial viability was a design priority, not an afterthought. Wageningen Research, one of Europe's top agricultural research institutions, coordinates the project from the Netherlands. The geographic spread — Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, and UK — covers major European agricultural zones and chemical industry hubs, which matters for both crop cultivation and downstream market access.
Wageningen Research (Netherlands) — search for COSMOS H2020 project coordinator to find the lead researcher's contact details
Want an introduction to the COSMOS team to discuss licensing their European oil crop technology for your supply chain? SciTransfer can arrange a direct meeting with the right consortium partner.
