“Best CO₂ Utilisation 2025”: Celebrating Pioneering Innovation in Carbon Capture and Utilisation Technologies
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“Best CO2 Utilisation 2025”: Celebrating Pioneering Innovation in Carbon Capture and Utilisation Technologies
Six Innovative Technologies Redefining the Future of Carbon Capture and Utilisation at the CO2-based Fuels and Chemicals Conference 2025
The “Best CO2 Utilisation 2025” innovation award is a prestigious recognition shining a spotlight on groundbreaking technologies and products that effectively utilise CO2. This year, six nominees are driving the future of Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) across various industries, with breakthroughs in novel carbon capture and CO2 electrolyser systems, sustainable polyurethane technologies, green methanol production, and processes for high-value carbon materials like graphite and carbon nanotubes from CO2 emissions.
The award ceremony is one of the highlights of the 13th CO2-based Fuels and Chemicals Conference, taking place from 29-30 April 2025 in Cologne, Germany. This hybrid event is the premier forum for the CCU and Power-to-X industries, bringing together over 250 experts from industry, science and policy to explore cutting-edge developments in carbon capture, green hydrogen production, CO2-based chemicals, materials, and fuels. Addressing the CCU industry’s need for long-term CO2 supply, this year's event will focus particularly on persistent biogenic CO2 sources, efficient carbon capture technologies, and the constant supply of renewable hydrogen, as well as the large variety of CO2 valorisation technologies and CO2-based products.
More information on the event and nominees is available at https://co2-chemistry.eu.
Meet the Nominees: Shaping the Future of CO2 Utilisation
Innovation in CCU is key to transforming CO2 into a valuable resource for the chemicals and materials sector, supporting a circular carbon economy. By converting CO2 into renewable carbon products, these technologies reduce dependence on fossil resources and create new business opportunities.
eChemicals (HU): Low-Temperature Electrolyser Technology for CO2 Reduction to CO
eChemicles, a recognised Top Innovator by UpLink – World Economic Forum, has developed the world's first containerised, scalable low-temperature CO2 electrolyser system to revolutionise the chemical industry, driving its transition towards a better tomorrow. The technology is capable of directly utilising CO2 in a waste-to-wealth manner, transforming emissions into valuable molecules. The electrolyser technology can be easily integrated with existing industrial infrastructure, enabling faster uptake and lower investment cost, without the need for scrapping previously built assets. It also has the potential to be directly coupled with renewable energy sources, contributing to balancing the intermittency of renewables. The stacked design is scalable, allowing easier transition to larger scales without redesign and providing more flexible scalability.
Far Eastern New Century Corporation (TW): FENC® TopGreen® CO2-based NIPU
The world’s first CO2-based NIPU (Non-isocyanate Polyurethane) technology transforms CO2 into high-performance elastomeric materials. Unlike traditional thermoplastics polyurethanes (TPU), which rely on toxic phosgene and isocyanates, this exclusive NIPU technology offers a safer, sustainable alternative for applications such as waterproof and breathable membranes, shoe uppers, midsoles, elastic fibres, and artificial leather. Utilising Far Eastern Group’s carbon capture technology, CO2 is converted into chemicals with over 50 % CO2 content, then combined with advanced polymer production to mass-produce CO2-based NIPU elastomers, achieving permanent carbon capture. This innovation reduces carbon emissions by up to 58 % compared to traditional TPU manufacturing while delivering exceptional performance and sustainability.
Oxylus Energy (US): Methanol Producing Electrolyser
Oxylus Energy has developed a direct electrochemical approach to green methanol production. This remarkable carbon electrolysis technology directly converts industrial emissions into sustainable methanol with only renewable electricity and water. With this breakthrough technology, Oxylus can generate carbon-neutral and carbon-negative methanol at a competitive cost to fossil methanol. This approach not only enables direct decarbonisation of industrial emissions via carbon conversion to a liquid product, but also offers an economically viable route to defossilise the hard-to-abate sectors of aviation, shipping, and chemical production, responsible for ~11 % of global emissions.
Skytree (NL): Skytree Stratus
Skytree’s Stratus Direct Air Capture (DAC) Park provides a cost competitive source of CO2 for Power to X facilities. This park can be connected to an electrolyser, which is fed with the water that is a by-product of the carbon capture process. The DAC Park and the electrolyser plant then provide inputs for the production of sustainable fuels at a synthesis plant. Unlike point source carbon capture (PSC), the DAC Park operates independent of other industrial activities, while climate modules allow global deployment; thus, the approach can optimise the DAC Park location based on electrolyser and electricity costs. The low temperature requirements of this technology allow it to be powered with industrial waste heat, geothermal heat & power, and other renewable energy sources.
TNO (NL): Sorption Enhanced DME Synthesis (SEDMES)
The Sorption Enhanced DME synthesis technology – SEDMES – by TNO, provides an essential element in closing industrial cycles and contributing to a circular carbon economy by converting CO2 efficiently into dimethyl ether (DME). DME has an important market potential in the current energy transition. It can replace diesel and LPG as well as become a major intermitted feedstock for the chemical industry or an important H2 carrier. SEDMES combines two process steps in one reactor. CO2 and (green) H2 is converted to DME in one reactor step with high conversion rates and efficiency due to the in-situ separation of H2O. The conversion rate increases significantly (>80 %) reducing recycles and downstream steps. Most recent milestone (2024) includes 1000 hrs operation of a state-of-the-art SEDMES pilot plant.
UP Catalyst (EE): Battery-Grade Graphite from CO 2
UP Catalyst has developed a process using Molten Salt CO2 Capture and Electrochemical Conversion (MSCC-EC) Technology to transform CO2 emissions into long-lived carbon materials such as graphite and carbon nanotubes (CNT). UP Catalyst’s technology has the lowest energy requirement per tonne of graphite produced. This technology produces carbon materials in a continuous process at 500-750 °C, significantly lower than the 2,800 °C required for conventional production, using 2x less energy to produce graphite compared to conventional synthetic graphite production methods and 20x less energy to produce CNTs.
Impact and Future Directions
These innovations represent significant strides in addressing the technical and economic challenges of CCU commercialisation across various sectors, from the chemical industry to sustainable fuel production and materials science.
The conference offers a dynamic platform for networking, collaboration and knowledge sharing among industry leaders, researchers, initiatives, and policymakers. It covers critical topics such as innovation strategies in CCU, advanced carbon capture methodologies, and breakthroughs in CO2-based technologies but also policy requirements. As the global demand for CO2-based products surges, with current production capacity exceeding 1.5 million tonnes, this conference will explore the pivotal role of CCU in establishing CO2 as a viable and sustainable renewable carbon feedstock.
For more information and registration details, visit https://co2-chemistry.eu.
The CO2-based Fuels and Chemicals Conference 2025 conference is supported by visionary sponsors who are committed to promoting CCU in various industries. Enviro Ambient, Holcim and GIG Karasek support the event as sponsors. Yncoris is the sponsor of the innovation award “Best CO2 Utilisation 2025”. This established award, co-organised by nova-Institute and CO2 Value Europe, recognises pioneers in the field of CCU. CO2 Value Europe, the European association dedicated to CO2 utilisation, brings its expertise in promoting sustainable industrial solutions, while Yncoris, a leader in the planning, construction, and operational support for chemical industry plants, supports the commitment to advance sustainable technologies. nova-Institute, an independent research institute, contributes its extensive expertise in renewable carbon cycles and sustainability to the award.
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Responsible for the content under German press law (V. i. S. d. P.): Dipl.-Phys. Michael Carus (Managing Director) nova-Institut GmbH, Leyboldstr. 16, DE-50354 Hürth (Germany) Email: contact@nova-institut.de Phone: +49 (0) 22 33-460 14 00
nova-Institut GmbH has been working in the field of sustainability since the mid-1990s and focuses today primarily on the topic of renewable carbon cycles (recycling, bioeconomy and CO2 utilisation/CCU).
As an independent research institute, nova supports in particular customers in chemical, plastics and materials industries with the transformation from fossil to renewable carbon from biomass, direct CO2 utilisation and recycling.
Both in the accompanying research of international innovation projects and in individual, scientifically based management consulting, a multidisciplinary team of scientists at nova deals with the entire range of topics from renewable raw materials, technologies and markets, economics, political framework conditions, life cycle assessments and sustainability to communication, target groups and strategy development.
50 experts from various disciplines are working together on the defossilization of the industry and for a climate neutral future. More information at: nova-institute.eu – renewable-carbon.eu
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