Dutch Firm Announces New Factory for Yeast-Derived Palm Oil Alternatives

Dutch startup NoPalm Ingredients is scaling up its palm oil alternatives with a large factory at contract manufacturer Nizo Food Research’s food innovation campus.

Nearly five months after establishing a new consumer brand, Wageningen-based NoPalm Ingredients is moving from pilot to commercial scale with a new factory in the works.

A producer of yeast-derived alternatives to palm oil, the startup has teamed up with contract manufacturer Nizo Food Research to build a demonstration facility at the latter’s food innovation campus in Ede.

NoPalm Ingredients, which currently runs a 400-litre fermentation-scale pilot line and uses external partners to produce industrial-scale samples, will be able to produce hundreds of tonnes of its oils per year at the factory. At full scale, its annual capacity is set to surpass 1,200 tonnes.

It expects the first industrial production of its yeast-derived fats in the second half of 2026, with further scaling expected in 2027 and 2028. The plant will employ 25 people, adding to the 25 working at the firm’s headquarters.

Nizo partnership will help NoPalm Ingredients scale faster and cheaper

NoPalm Ingredients employs a proprietary fermentation process with non-GMO yeasts to convert local agricultural sidestreams (like potato peels and whey permeate) into yeast oils. These can be “drop-in” replacements for palm oil – they cost the same, and manufacturers don’t need to reformulate their recipes.

Until now, the process steps occurred at multiple locations, but the factory will bring everything under one roof, which will help speed up production and lower costs.

“With this factory, we are taking our technology to technology readiness levels 7 and 8, and bringing the full process under our own control at industrial scale,” said COO Jeroen Blansjaar. “This is the crucial step that paves the way for our first commercial factory, which we aim to build together with a sidestream partner at their site. This significantly reduces risks, both for ourselves and for our partners.”

Co-founder and COO Lars Langhout added: “The step towards our first factory is a concrete milestone in our ambition to become a leader in yeast oil production. From a shaking flask and a microscope in the lab, we are now building our own factory: dreams are becoming reality.”

Using Nizo’s existing infrastructure will help the company start construction of the factory more quickly and cost-efficiently. The contract research organisation has been developing its innovation campus since 2023, convening leading future food companies to share knowledge and accelerate scale-up.

In January, it teamed up with Cellular Agriculture Netherlands, cultivated meat pioneer Mosa Meat, the Dutch National Growth Fund, and the agrifood ministry to expand its Biotechnology Fermentation Factory and establish a cell culture bioprocessing plant. Each facility was supported by a €12.5M investment.

“The arrival of NoPalm Ingredients fits perfectly with our ambition to further develop the Nizo food innovation campus into the place for sustainable food innovation,” said Nizo CEO Nikolaas Vles. “They strengthen the fermentation cluster in the region and apply fermentation to fats, an often overlooked but essential part of both the protein and food transition.”

New facility will guarantee quality and supply consistency

Present in half of all supermarket items, palm oil represents two-fifths of all oil produced globally. It’s revered for its high melting and smoke point, neutral smell, colour and flavour, and functionality as a natural preservative. However, the industry is a driver of rampant deforestation in the planet’s tropical zones and has been directly linked to wildfires in Indonesia.

Palm oil production is also a threat to wildlife and human rights, with Indigenous communities losing their lands and workers being exploited with poor conditions and pay. Replacing palm with other vegetable oils isn’t a good solution either, as doing so could have unintended climate consequences.

Globally, palm oil supplies have increased tenfold since 1980, and expanding demand means more forests will be burnt down, a form of mass deforestation that emits greenhouse gases while removing trees that would help absorb these very emissions. Governments are already pushing back: the EU’s deforestation regulation, set to take effect in December, will ban the import of products featuring deforestation-linked commodities like palm oil.

It has pushed food and personal care companies to look for alternatives, and NoPalm’s upcycled yeast-derived alternative – which generates 90% fewer emissions and requires 99% less land – is an attractive proposition. “We are showing the industry that yeast oils no longer only exist in the lab, but can also be produced at large scale, and that we are a reliable partner for sustainable oil alternatives,” said Langhout.

The company has struck partnerships with Unilever, Colgate Palmolive, Zealandia and Those Vegan Cowboys, and currently makes two products under its Revóleo brand. Revóleo Soft is a beige, semi-solid microbial oil meant to replace palm oil, cocoa butter, or milk fat in confectionery, bakery items, and plant-based meat and dairy, and Revóleo Silk is a soft butter for cosmetics and personal care products like hair conditioners, colour cosmetics, and soaps.

“We have proven that our technology works, and by taking the entire process into our own hands, we maintain maximum control over every step: from raw material to end product,” said chief commercial officer Julie Cortal. “This guarantees consistent quality, high standards, and security of supply – and with that, a solid foundation for long-term partnerships with customers who want to become more sustainable and grow.”

The factory, whose location was agreed upon with support from the East Netherlands Development Agency (Oost NL), the province of Gelderland, and the municipality of Ede, will provide space for testing new raw materials and process improvements. The permit procedure for the facility is progressing, and will help NoPalm Ingredients guarantee reliable deliveries, supported by long-term contracts and optimised logistics.

It is one of several firms leveraging fermentation to produce palm oil substitutes, including Palm-Alt, Clean Food Group, Äio, Time-Travelling Milkman, Savor, and Smey, among others.