Colsen
Colsen is a family-owned Dutch engineering firm that designs, supplies, and commissions proprietary biological wastewater, biogas, and nutrient-recovery systems for municipal water boards, food processors, paper mills, and agricultural operators across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1988
- HeadquartersHulst, Netherlands
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Colsen does
Colsen is a privately held, family-owned Dutch engineering company headquartered in Hulst, Netherlands, operating since 1988 in the water, energy, and environment sector. The company designs and supplies proprietary biological and physical-chemical treatment systems for municipal wastewater, industrial effluent, and agricultural manure streams, serving water utilities, food processors, paper mills, and agricultural operators across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and the Americas with reference projects installed in at least 11 countries including the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Poland, Turkey, China, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Chile, and Mexico.
The technology platform comprises seven trademarked in-house systems: DIGESTMIX® for thermophilic/mesophilic digester heating and mixing; BIDOX® for biological biogas desulphurisation using aerobic bacteria in a gas scrubber; ANPHOS® for struvite-based phosphate recovery, which was formally cited as Best Available Technique in the EU Reference Document for Food and Dairy in December 2019; AMFER® for nitrogen stripping into ammonium sulphate/nitrate fertiliser; NAS®/NAS-ONE®/SBR-NAS®/MBR-NAS® anammox-based nitrogen removal variants; Poul-AR® for chicken manure pre-processing; and UPHOS® for continuous phosphate pellet production. Engineering scope spans feasibility, permitting, design, equipment supply, construction supervision, commissioning, and optimisation across UASB anaerobic reactors, thermophilic sludge digestion lines, and full waste-to-energy resource recovery trains.
Colsen generates revenue through three streams: (i) technology and equipment supply within consortiums bidding on public tenders and directly to enterprise clients (hardware sales), (ii) engineering and consultancy services including permit applications and system optimisation studies, and (iii) participation in EU-funded research consortia where technology co-development is partially subsidised. Customer acquisition runs through enterprise field sales, EU-funded project tenders, and local engineering partners including Ahidra (Spain, joint venture), Aquest Colsen (South Africa), Budimex (Poland), BESIX (UAE), and ATAL Engineering (China). Long-tenure clients include Lamb Weston/Meijer (partnership since 1991) and PekaKroef (since 1993).
Colsen firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Colsen
- Legal name
- Colsen
- Website
- https://colsen.nl
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1988
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Colsen is a family-owned Dutch engineering firm that designs, supplies, and commissions proprietary biological wastewater, biogas, and nutrient-recovery systems for municipal water boards, food processors, paper mills, and agricultural operators across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Colsen is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Hulst
- HQ country
- Netherlands
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices4 records
Markets served
Colsen business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Technology supply and equipment provision: Colsen supplies proprietary technologies (design, engineering, and key equipment) as a technology supplier within consortiums or directly to clients. Revenue is generated through project-based equipment and technology contracts for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment installations.
- Engineering and consultancy services: Colsen provides engineering design, consultancy, construction supervision, startup, and commissioning services for wastewater, biogas, and manure treatment systems. Services include master planning, permit applications, environmental management, and system optimisation studies.
- Technology licensing and co-development: Colsen participates in EU-funded research projects (e.g., ManureEcoMine) as a technology co-developer, contributing to pilot demonstrations and receiving funding support for innovation. Technologies are co-developed with research institutes and deployed commercially.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels7 records
Colsen product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Colsen is an engineering and technology supplier that designs, engineers, and equips wastewater, biogas, and manure treatment installations for municipal and industrial clients. It combines proprietary process technologies (DIGESTMIX®, BIDOX®, ANPHOS®, AMFER®, NAS®, Poul-AR®, UPHOS®) with engineering design, equipment supply, construction supervision, commissioning, and environmental permitting services to deliver integrated resource-recovery and energy-neutral treatment plants.
Product overview
Colsen offers an integrated portfolio of proprietary technologies and engineering services for sustainable waste treatment, focusing on four core areas: water purification, biogas installations, manure processing, and environmental permits. The core technology platform includes DIGESTMIX® for mixing/heating in digesters, BIDOX® for biological biogas desulphurisation, NAS®/NAS-ONE® and SBR-NAS® for anammox-based nitrogen removal, ANPHOS® for phosphate recovery via struvite formation, AMFER® for nitrogen stripping, and Poul-AR® for chicken manure preprocessing. These modular technologies can be combined in various configurations—e.g., combining thermophilic digestion with BIDOX® biogas treatment and NAS-ONE® sidestream nitrogen removal—to create complete waste-to-energy and resource recovery systems. The company also provides the UPHOS® technology for phosphate pellet production, enabling closed-loop agricultural phosphate cycles.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- DIGESTMIX®
Quantifiable outcome
- NAS® technology cuts water treatment operating costs by 40% compared to conventional nitrogen removal methods
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Colsen
Customer profileNamed customers17 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Colsen technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature8 records
Colsen partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.
- BESIX Middle EastmajorBESIX Middle East, part of the Belgium-based BESIX Group, realised the first sludge-to-energy facility in the UAE for client ASPCL (Ajman Sewerage). Colsen supplied the design, engineering, and DIGESTMIX® technology for this landmark project featuring two 2.4 MWe power generators.
- BudimexmajorColsen supplied NAS-ONE technology to Budimex as main contractor for two sub-projects of Phase III of the EU-funded Wastewater Management project at the Łódź Metropolitan Area wastewater treatment plant. Colsen provided design, engineering, and key equipment, and supported Budimex from design through construction, startup, and commissioning.
- ATAL Engineering (Shanghai) LtdmajorColsen partnered with ATAL Engineering to build and start up one of the world's largest anammox reactors in Qingdao, China. ATAL provided local expertise and technological design realisation in practice. Colsen supervised commissioning and trained operators of the SBR-NAS® system on site.
- AhidracoreJoint venture with Ahidra for the development and realisation of the manure valorisation plant in Navia, Spain. Colsen and Ahidra were contracted together as a joint venture based on their combined experience and the added value of Colsen's proprietary technologies (DIGESTMIX®, BIDOX®, MBR-NAS®, ANPHOS®). The project processes 420,000 tonnes of manure per year producing 4.5 MW(e) of energy.
- Ecopreneur Chile S.A.minorPartnership with Ecopreneur Chile S.A. to offer a WWTP to Colun, a dairy processing company in Chile. Colsen provided technological and technical design of the anaerobic water treatment system (UASB), with local finalisation by Chilean suppliers.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Colsen competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Paques Technology B.V. Dutch-headquartered competitor in anaerobic wastewater treatment and biogas technology, with comparable UASB, biogas desulphurisation, and nutrient recovery offerings. Closest direct peer due to overlapping customer base in municipal water boards and food industry across Europe.
Broad incumbents
- Veolia Water Technologies: Global water and wastewater treatment incumbent offering a broad portfolio of biological, anaerobic, and nutrient-recovery solutions. Comparable in target customers (municipal and industrial wastewater) but competes across a much wider solution stack than Colsen's niche.
- SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions: Global water technology provider with overlapping biological treatment and sludge digestion capabilities, as well as nutrient recovery offerings. Competes for similar municipal and industrial tenders in Europe.
- Xylem Water Solutions: Large water technology and treatment company with biological wastewater and resource recovery products. Overlaps with Colsen in municipal STP and industrial wastewater applications but operates at substantially greater scale.
- Wärtsilä Energy Storage: Engine manufacturer and energy systems provider with biogas and grid-flexibility solutions that overlap with Colsen's biogas-related offerings. While broader in scope, competes for bioenergy projects and energy-neutral STP infrastructure.
- Aquatech International: Specialist in water treatment and desalination, including industrial wastewater recycling. Overlaps with Colsen on industrial wastewater and water reuse workstreams though Colsen is more focused on biological/anaerobic streams.
- Royal HaskoningDHV: Dutch engineering and consulting firm with water and environmental advisory practices. Comparable on environmental permitting, MER assessments, and STP master planning—services Colsen also performs directly.
Emerging players
- Anaergia Inc. Specialist in anaerobic digestion and resource recovery from organic waste, including biogas upgrading and nutrient recovery. Comparable technology scope (anaerobic digestion + nutrient recovery) and overlapping customer segments in food waste and wastewater.
- Cambrian Innovation: US-based specialist in industrial wastewater treatment with resource recovery and biogas-to-energy platforms. Targets food and beverage processors with circular-economy value propositions similar to Colsen's industrial customer base.
Regional players
- Hjørring Biogas / Thorsø Biogas (Bigadan): Danish anaerobic digestion and nutrient recovery firm focused on manure-to-biogas projects. Comparable in scale and technology focus (digestion + nutrient recovery), primarily serving Danish agriculture but with European overlap.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Colsen social profiles
Digital presenceColsen compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Colsen financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Colsen leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Colsen subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
Colsen funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Colsen M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Colsen
What does Colsen do?
Colsen is an engineering and technology supplier that designs, engineers, and equips wastewater, biogas, and manure treatment installations for municipal and industrial clients. It combines proprietary process technologies (DIGESTMIX®, BIDOX®, ANPHOS®, AMFER®, NAS®, Poul-AR®, UPHOS®) with engineering design, equipment supply, construction supervision, commissioning, and environmental permitting services to deliver integrated resource-recovery and energy-neutral treatment plants.
Is Colsen a public or private company?
Colsen is a private company. It is classified as family owned and is currently operating.
When was Colsen founded?
Colsen was founded in 1988. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Colsen based?
Colsen is headquartered in Hulst, Netherlands, in the Europe region.
How does Colsen make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Technology supply and equipment provision is the primary driver. The others are engineering and consultancy services and technology licensing and co-development.
Who are Colsen's main competitors?
Paques Technology B.V. is listed as a direct peer. Broad incumbents are Veolia Water Technologies, SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions, Xylem Water Solutions, Wärtsilä Energy Storage, Aquatech International and Royal HaskoningDHV. Emerging players are Anaergia Inc. and Cambrian Innovation. Hjørring Biogas / Thorsø Biogas (Bigadan) is listed as a regional player.
Does Colsen have an API?
No public API is recorded for Colsen.