The new Oleon installation in Oelegem will be used to produce oleochemicals. These are made from renewable materials, vegetable oils and animal fats and serve as raw materials for food and cosmetics, for example.

Thanks to a newly developed smart technology, the installation works on proteins of natural origin or enzymes. In addition, solvents are no longer involved in the production, while the working temperature during the process drops dramatically and product quality goes up.

Olean developed the new smart technology used at the green chemical plant together with seven other companies, research organizations and academics – as part of the European research program INCITE.

The company considers the new Flanders-based installation a test case and intends to leverage its accumulated knowledge from the past and coming years for possible investments in its plants worldwide.