Combining chemistry & plant-based ingredients

By developing products sourced from plant-based raw materials or animal fats, Avril is able to offer effective alternatives to petroleum-based products, which in turn contributes to reducing the pollution they cause. In Europe, in the USA and in Asia, the Group is upgrading its capacities in order to meet both global and local demand, across a diverse range of applications including cosmetics, lubricants, coatings, human and animal foodstuffs, crop protection and polymer production.

These solutions are designed to address customer expectations in both BtoB and BtoC, and can also meet increasingly precise project specifications.

Oleon, an Avril business unit and the leading name in European oleochemistry, has been developing its international positions for the past fifteen years – starting in Malaysia, then in the USA in 2022. The dual objective is to serve local markets in a way that reflects their specific needs, and also to limit environmental impact by reducing the need for transport.

Avril is investing in plant-based chemistry innovations in order to stay a step ahead of the global market and support the agricultural, food and environmental transitions. 2023 saw a number of projects taking shape that combine chemistry and sustainability.

Audacity, entrepreneurship and the desire to satisfy our customers’ expectations spurred the design and launch of a new facility at the Oelegem site, near Anvers. This facility was inaugurated in 2023, and produces esters using a natural and more energy-efficient process.

This amounts to a revolution in the chemistry sector, as the esterification process used at the facility works using only entirely natural proteins (enzymes). The enzymatic esters produced are primarily destined for use in the food and cosmetics industries, as well as in the lubricants sector.

This unique project received European funding from the INCITE allocation program, and was led by around a hundred Oleon staff and engineers working in collaboration with other companies, research organizations and universities.

In addition to offering healthy, high-quality industrial ingredients, the site is also reducing its own environmental impact by drastically cutting its CO2 and waste emissions.

Evertree is an Avril business unit specializing in plant-based adhesive solutions sourced from rapeseed and sunflowers, used in the composition of particle boards and panels for home furnishings as an alternative to petroleum products.