Safer and easier ethylene applications aid in destination ripening Almost 50 years ago Catalytic Generators was founded by a banana ripener. He didn’t like the risky ways that were used to add ethylene to a room. With ethylene being explosive, the methods used back in the day carried hazards to workers, from handling pressurized gas to filling a room with too much ethylene, allowing the space to reach the explosive level. “At Catalytic, we changed all of that by introducing a new method of creating small amounts of ethylene in the ripening room when it was time to ripen,” says Greg Akins, President and CEO of Catalytic Generators.