Ver­bio flag­ship pro­ject in bio-based chem­ic­als: ground­break­ing for cata­lyst pro­duc­tion in Hungary

XiMo, a wholly owned sub­si­di­ary of Ver­bio SE, today held a ground­break­ing cere­mony to mark the start of con­struc­tion of the new pro­duc­tion facil­ity for the large-scale indus­tri­al pro­duc­tion of meta­thes­is cata­lysts in Gödöllő, Hun­gary. Start­ing in sum­mer 2026, innov­at­ive meta­thes­is cata­lysts will be pro­duced here. These cata­lysts will be used to man­u­fac­ture bio-based chem­ic­als at the new Ver­bio plant in Bit­ter­feld, Ger­many, as well as by indus­tri­al cus­tom­ers in sec­tors such as renew­able chem­ic­als, poly­mer pro­duc­tion, fra­grances and odor­ants, agro­chem­ic­als, research and devel­op­ment, and oth­er applic­a­tions. The facil­ity is expec­ted to cre­ate 44 new high-tech jobs. Ver­bio is invest­ing nearly EUR 30 mil­lion in the new facil­ity at the Gödöllő site. The pro­ject is being sup­por­ted by a 20 per­cent sub­sidy from the Hun­gari­an government.

Multi-mil­lion invest­ment to drive the de-fos­sil­iz­a­tion of the chem­ic­al industry
As the chem­ic­al industry primar­ily relies on fossil resources, it faces sig­ni­fic­ant chal­lenges in becom­ing more sus­tain­able. Ver­bio is com­mit­ted to driv­ing the green trans­form­a­tion of the sec­tor by sup­ply­ing bio-based chem­ic­als. Through its sub­si­di­ary XiMo, Ver­bio offers innov­at­ive cata­lysts that enable pre­cise con­trol of olefin meta­thes­is pro­cesses. This tech­no­logy makes it pos­sible to util­ize plant-based methyl esters – such as rape­seed methyl ester (biod­ies­el) – as renew­able raw mater­i­als for the chem­ic­al industry.

Ver­bio is invest­ing a total of EUR 27.7 mil­lion in the con­struc­tion of the new cata­lyst pro­duc­tion facil­ity. The Hun­gari­an gov­ern­ment is sup­port­ing the pro­ject with a 20 per­cent sub­sidy, amount­ing to EUR 5.5 mil­lion (HUF 2.2 bil­lion). Theodor Nies­mann, CTO at Ver­bio SE, expressed appre­ci­ation for the part­ner­ship: ​“On behalf of Ver­bio, I would like to sin­cerely thank the Hun­gari­an gov­ern­ment for their ongo­ing sup­port and trust in our com­pany. Your com­mit­ment is deeply appreciated.”

Break­ing ground on a pro­ject with eco­nom­ic and envir­on­ment­al impact 
The new pro­duc­tion plant will not only cre­ate jobs and strengthen the loc­al eco­nomy but also enable the chem­ic­al industry to sig­ni­fic­antly reduce CO₂ emis­sions. This pro­ject is a strong example of how envir­on­ment­al respons­ib­il­ity and eco­nom­ic growth can go hand in hand.

Among the dis­tin­guished guests were State Sec­ret­ary at the Min­istry of For­eign Affairs and Trade Levente Mag­yar and Gödöllő May­or, Dr. György Gémesi.

Nobel Prize-win­ning tech­no­logy in prac­tice
Prof. Dr. Richard Schrock, one of XiMo’s ori­gin­al founders, was amongst the guests of hon­or. He was awar­ded the Nobel Prize in Chem­istry in 2005 for his ground­break­ing work in the field of meta­thes­is – a key reac­tion in organ­ic chem­istry. He and his col­leagues con­duc­ted dec­ades of research that laid the found­a­tion for devel­op­ing molyb­denum- and tung­sten-based olefin meta­thes­is cata­lysts. Since XiMo’s acquis­i­tion by Ver­bio in 2018, the team led by XiMo’s cur­rent Dir­ect­or Dr. Levente Ondi has suc­cess­fully advanced this tech­no­logy for indus­tri­al application. 

With the con­struc­tion of the new pro­duc­tion plant in Gödöllő, these sci­entif­ic dis­cov­er­ies are now being trans­lated into indus­tri­al prac­tice. This marks a sig­ni­fic­ant mile­stone, open­ing new pos­sib­il­it­ies not only for the chem­ic­al industry, but also for Verbio’s con­tin­ued diver­si­fic­a­tion and inter­na­tion­al­iz­a­tion efforts.

“With the launch of this new mul­tipur­pose plant, XiMo is demon­strat­ing that it is eco­nom­ic­ally viable to pro­duce molybdenum‑, tungsten‑, and rutheni­um-based meta­thes­is cata­lysts on an indus­tri­al scale. This tech­no­lo­gic­al break­through lays the ground­work for con­vert­ing renew­able veget­able oils into high-value organ­ic com­pounds, which can be used in the pro­duc­tion of clean­ing agents, high-per­form­ance lub­ric­ants, and plastics. This not only enhances sus­tain­ab­il­ity but also reduces the chem­ic­al industry’s reli­ance on fossil-based raw mater­i­als such as pet­ro­leum,” says Dr. Levente Ondi, Dir­ect­or of XiMo Hun­gary Kft. 

A sig­ni­fic­ant share of the cata­lysts pro­duced at the Gödöllői plant will be used by Ver­bio in its new plant for bio-based chem­ic­als in Bit­ter­feld. Moreover, XiMo will extend access to its cata­lysts to addi­tion­al cus­tom­ers across vari­ous markets.

Ver­bio Expands into New Mar­ket Seg­ment
The con­struc­tion of the new cata­lyst pro­duc­tion plant in Gödöllő marks a key step in Verbio’s inter­na­tion­al­iz­a­tion and diver­si­fic­a­tion strategy. Theodor Nies­mann, Chief Tech­no­logy Officer at Ver­bio, high­lights the stra­tegic rel­ev­ance of the ini­ti­at­ive: ​“By expand­ing our product port­fo­lio to include renew­able molecules and green solu­tions, we are enter­ing a new mar­ket seg­ment bey­ond bio­fuels. This diver­si­fic­a­tion is a cru­cial factor for sus­tain­able growth and long-term sta­bil­ity at Verbio.”

In par­al­lel, Ver­bio is con­struct­ing a facil­ity in Bit­ter­feld, ded­ic­ated to pro­du­cing bio-based car­bon molecules from rape­seed methyl ester. This pro­cess util­izes meta­thes­is cata­lysts developed by XiMo. In the long term, the com­pany plans to pro­duce up to 60,000 tonnes of renew­able products annu­ally for the chem­ic­al industry. The Bit­ter­feld plant is expec­ted to begin oper­a­tions in 2026.