The Groningen province in the Netherlands provided a €50,000 (U.S. $54,000) subsidy to support Stadskanaal-based Airgroup’s efforts to develop and produce lubricants based on vegetable oils.
“The new lubricants and maintenance products for vehicles and machines, the so-called ‘airolubes,’ are made from rapeseed from Groningen and Drenthe,” the Groningen province government said in a press release. “The packaging is also environmentally friendly due to the use of recycled plastic ….”
Airogroup is a subsidiary of the Borgesius Group in Stadskanaal, a city in the province of Groningen, which is in the northeast region of the Netherlands. Its lubricant and maintenance products are used in agricultural equipment, automobiles and bicycles.
According to the Borgesius Group’s website, its product portfolio consists of high-end bulk, semi-commodity, specially tailored oils, fats, fatty acids and fat powders of consistent, traceable and high quality for the production of food, feed and industrial applications. The most common raw materials the company uses include rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil, shea nut oil, palm oil, palm kernel oil and other specialty oils.
The government subsidy, which helped support the addition of 10 jobs, came from the Innovative and Sustainable portion of the Groningen @ Work program, which is an economy and labor market program run by the province of Groningen. The program includes projects, grant schemes and revolving funds, which entrepreneurs can participate in or appeal to.
Rapeseed flowers in a field. The province of Groningen, in the Netherlands, provided a subsidiy to support Airogroup’s development and production of lubricants based on vegetable oils.