BERLIN — At the recent Fruit Logistica 2026, Catalytic Generators, a family-owned company providing ethylene application systems for fruit ripening, shared its worldwide expansion strategy and offered an advance look at its soon-to-be-released digital control and remote monitoring for fruit ripening operations worldwide.
While the Norfolk, Va.-based company operates across the globe, supplying fresh produce companies, grocery distribution centers and growers with the tools to ripen bananas, avocados, tomatoes and more, banana ripening is a core part of Catalytic Generators’ business — something that’s critical to get right, says president and CEO Greg Akins.
“When fruit is ripened properly, evenly and to the right color, there’s less shrink and consumers return with their tastebuds,” Akins says.
Helping to get the ripening process right is Catalytic Generators’ different conversion settings that allow users to set the parts per meter of ethylene.
“It’s set-it and forget-it technology, which is valuable because there’s no measuring required,” he says.
Safety is Key
Safety is another key tenet of Catalytic Generators’ business, Akins says.
“Our generators are very good at creating ethylene efficiently and safely, which is the hallmark of our business,” he says.
The company’s generators are certified by TÜV SÜD, a global, accredited technical services provider. Through rigorous testing of its generators and frequent inspections of its production facility, TÜV SÜD has certified Catalytic Generators’ compliance with international safety standards.
“TÜV is akin to UL [Underwriters Laboratories],” Akins says. “It shows our products have met the highest safety standards.”
Catalytic Generators manufactures both ethylene generators and ethylene concentrate.
The company says it’s working with an EU task force to ensure ethylene is reregistered as a legal and safe plant protection product while pursuing the necessary product approvals.
A Solution for Every Operation
The company offers a variety of sizes to suit the needs of different operations. At Fruit Logistica, the company showcased one of its Easy-Ripe models that is compact and narrow to help prevent it being hit by a forklift — something Akins says is a common issue. It’s also wall mountable.
For larger ripening centers, Catalytic Generators offers a centralized system that pumps ethylene liquid to every room through a tube that feeds the generators, so there’s no need to walk around and fill them, Akins says.
Smarter Ripening
Catalytic Generators says its core value proposition is to create a system designed to make ethylene application the easiest, safest and most predictable part of the ripening process.
“Once customers see how simple and dependable our system is in day-to-day use, the conversation quickly moves from ‘Why change?’ to ‘How fast can we implement?’” Akins says.
And it’s about to get even easier, he says.
At Fruit Logistica, Akins teased the company’s newest innovation that’s expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2026: a digital platform that wirelessly connects its ethylene generators to a secure, cloud-based interface.
Through a dedicated web portal, customers will be able to view generator status in real time, confirm when ethylene application starts and ends or is interrupted, monitor Ethy-Gen II levels and receive alerts if performance is affected.
This gives operators confidence that ethylene application is correctly occurring during the critical 24-hour application period, Akins says. Generators can also be adjusted remotely and integrated with room control systems for optimized ethylene levels.
“This innovation gives ripeners peace of mind when it matters most,” Akins said in a news release. “Ethylene already works quietly in the background. Digital visibility will take it one step further by removing uncertainty and reinforcing our promise that ethylene should be the easiest part of ripening.”
