Citrique Belge

[2] In 1916, Alphonse Cappuyns and Arsène Smeets, both students from Leuven, started searching for the biological production of citric acid.

Later they proceeded by selecting the Aspergillus niger fungus after which they achieved a productivity which allowed for industrial exploitation.

[1] In 1947, the basic substrate sugar was changed with the cheaper by-product molasses and the production and profitability increased steadily.

In 1977, Citrique Belge was acquired by Hoffmann–La Roche and after the acquisition, the production capacity of citric acid was more than doubled.

[4] Clema Capital from Luxembourg announced a takeover of Citrique Belge in November 2020.