The CATCO2NVER project focuses on transforming industrial CO2 into five high-value chemicals (glyoxylic acid, lactic acid, FDME, cyclic carbonates/CCFAMEs, and bio-methanol) through two main stages:
•Phase 1, Foundation (M1-M30): Partners designed and synthesized catalysts (electro-, bio-, and thermocatalysis) and established optimal processing conditions to achieve the conversion of CO2 into 5 chemicals at a laboratory level (TRL4).
•Phase 2, Validation (M31-M54): The project progressed to TRL5, testing technologies with real gas compositions at industrial sites and validating the resulting chemicals with end-users.
•Strategic Integration: The project successfully bridged the gap between laboratory research and industrial application by strategically mapping CO2 sources to specific purification needs and downstream processing. After developing catalysts and enzymes at a lab scale across various catalytic methods, the team selected the most promising systems to scale up into functional TRL5 prototype units. These installations included specialized electrochemical units, pressurized biocatalytic reactors, and modular thermocatalytic skids tailored to each of the five conversion routes. Beyond the initial synthesis, the project finalized downstream processing for key substances like glyoxylic and lactic acids, validating their use in practical applications such as cosmetics, biopolymers, and NIPU foams. To ensure a viable market deployment, the initiative also completed essential cross-cutting work, encompassing life cycle and techno-economic assessments, circularity analysis, business modeling, and intellectual property planning.
Main results:
•TEC1 – Glyoxylic acid: CO2-to-oxalate was scaled from lab to a 0.1 m² reactor using a non-Pb catalyst, with Faradaic efficiency above 85% in the prototype. The paired electrolysis concept was validated, and a final run using partly CO2-derived oxalic acid achieved about 80% Faradaic efficiency to glyoxylic acid. Electrodialysis-based DSP also demonstrated very high glyoxylic-acid puriy.
•TEC2 – Lactic acid: the project proved enzymatic CO2 incorporation into lactic acid. It achieved >90% conversion and up to 65% yield at small scale from acetaldehyde + CO2, and 2.0 g/L lactic acid at 0.5 L scale with 42% yield using industrial synthetic gas. The full ethanol-to-lactic-acid cascade was also demonstrated, but still at lower yield.
•TEC3 – FDME: the thermocatalytic route from furfural and CO2 was fully optimised at lab scale, with 100% furfural conversion, up to 47% of the FDCAC intermediate, and complete esterification to FDME. The process was reproduced with one simulated industrial CO2 stream, and FDME was validated as a monomer for bio-based polyester synthesis.
•TEC4 – CCFAMEs / cyclic carbonates: catalyst synthesis was scaled and also demonstrated through a more sustainable mechanochemical route. TRL5 validation produced more than 500 g of soybean-oil-based cyclic carbonate, with final prototype-scale conversions around 97–98%.
•TEC5 – Bio-methanol: the route confirmed the strong negative effect of O2 and especially H2S impurities, but with the optimised catalyst and recycle loop it reached about 90% global CO2 conversion at high recirculation while maintaining methanol selectivity near 80%. The condensate was concentrated to about 87 vol% biomethanol for application testing.
•Product validation: FDME was successfully validated in polyester/co-polyfuranoate development; CCFAMEs were validated in NIPU foam formulations with >90% biobased content; and project biomethanol was validated as a solvent for lipid extraction from vinasse, with performance comparable to fossil methanol.
•Cosmetics validation: Glyoxylic and lactic acids were tested in various cosmetic matrices, passing stability and safety evaluations. However, full validation for skin-cream was hindered by low production volumes and an unexpected shift to D-lactic acid
•Sustainability: the project established a TRL5 sustainability baseline across all 5 technologies, demonstrating significant emission reductions and fossil-carbon substitution. While TEC4 and TEC5 performed best environmentally, the 80% CO2 reduction target versus fossil benchmarks remains a goal for future development.
•CO2 purification and integration: Standard purification outperformed the alternative on cost and GWP for most routes, except for TEC1, which requires the ultra-high purity provided by Avantium.
A robust framework for industrial deployment was set by defining 5 technology-specific business models and identifying 17 Key Exploitable Results (KERs) across its CO2 valorization routes. These exploitation strategies are highly diversified, ranging from the licensing of chemical processes and the direct commercialization of modular pilot units to collaborative R&D and internal valorization within partner pipelines. To support these pathways, the project developed comprehensive commercial-scale production concepts that address plant sizing, logistics, and industrial symbiosis, ensuring that the thermocatalytic and electrochemical technologies are market-ready with formalized Intellectual Property protection.
Beyond technical development, the project maintained a high-impact dissemination strategy that reached both specialist and non-specialist audiences through trade fairs, scientific journals, and multilingual digital platforms. Notable engagement included the "From Emissions to Solutions" final event and successful clustering activities with sister projects like CO2SMOS and VIVALDI to address policy barriers in Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU). With strong online metrics, including significant LinkedIn engagement and thousands of website users, the project has secured its visibility for the next two years, laying a solid foundation for post-project demonstration and continued industrial uptake through platforms like Innovation Radar.
