CO2-based Fuels and Chemicals Conference 2026: Preliminary Program Now Available

The preliminary program for the CO₂-based Fuels and Chemicals Conference 2026 taking place on 28-29 April 2026 is now available, featuring strategic outlooks, technology breakthroughs and project updates across the CCU value chain ranging from CO₂ capture to fuels, polymers, chemicals and materials. This leading event regularly gathers over 230 leaders from industry, science and policy in Cologne, Germany, and online, providing essential insights into scaling CCU and Power-to-X to replace fossil carbon amid growing policy support like ReFuelEU Aviation and the US Inflation Reduction Act. Key topics of the upcoming edition include green hydrogen ramp-up, cost-competitive e-fuels via integrated capture-methanol synthesis, CO₂-to-chemicals/polymers, pilot-scale electrolysis, gas fermentation biomanufacturing, AI-driven biogenic CO₂ detection and presentations by the nominees of the Best CO₂Utilisation innovation award.

The full program is available at https://co2-chemistry.eu/program/. 

Day 1, 28 April 2026 (09:30 – 18:15 CET)

Strategy, Certification and Sustainability

• Michael Carus, nova-Institute (DE): When Will CCU Go Mainstream?
• Naser Odeh, KAPSARC (SA): Strategic Prioritization of Carbon Capture and Utilisation Pathways for Saudi Arabia’s Circular Carbon Economy
• Esther Hegel, RSB (CH): Certifying Sustainability: Current Frameworks and Developments for CO₂-Based Fuels and Materials
• Àngel Puente, nova-Institute (DE): Sustainability in CCU
• Nils Rettenmaier, ifeu (DE): Integrating Prospective Life Cycle Assessment into Early Development of Carbon Capture Technologies

Green Hydrogen Production, Biogenic CO₂ Sources and Carbon Capture

• Stefan Herrig, NRW.Energy4Climate (DE): The Hydrogen Economy in North Rhine-Westphalia – Where Does the Ramp-up Stand? What’s Next?
• Maryanne Maina, TNO (NL): The Indispensable Role of Low-Emissions Hydrogen in the Chemicals Industry
• Eric Rambech, Endrava (NO): Unlocking Hidden CO₂: AI Approaches to Identifying Industrial Biogenic Emissions Outside Europe and North America
• Dominik Baust, SGS Beta (US): Leveraging Carbon-14 Biogenic Content Measurement to Quantify CO₂ Capture, Utilisation and Removals (CCU)
• Kevin Hofer, Kanadevia Inova (CH): t.b.a
• Anita Demuth, PtX Lab Lausitz (DE): Onboard Carbon Capture and Usage (OCCU) for PtX Fuels

Poster Pitch Session

• Heleen de Wever, VITO (BE): UNICO₂RN – Flexible and Efficient Capture and Bioconversion of CO₂ to Materials and Ingredients
• Gia Trung Hoang, KIT (DE): Catalytic Approaches for Sustainable Production of Synthetic Hydrocarbon Fuels from Methanol/DME

Presentations of the Nominees for the “Best CO₂ Utilisation 2026” 

Day 2, 29 April 2026 (09:00 – 17:00 CET)

CO₂ to Chemicals and Fuels 

• Maike Lambarth, Cyclize (DE): Cyclize: Enabling a Carbon Circular Economy Through CO₂ and Waste Conversion
• Christian Wünsch, ICODOS (DE): Achieving Cost-Competitive Green Fuel Production Through Interlinked CO₂ Capture and Methanol Synthesis
• Rudolf Dörpinghaus, IASA (DE): Fuels in Focus – How to Mitigate the Impact of Aviation on Climate Change

CO₂ to Chemicals, Fuels, Polymers and Materials

• Reinier Grimbergen, Blue Circle Olefins (NL): Carbon Dioxide to Chemicals – Quo Vadis?
• Nick Smith, ViridiCO2 (UK): Solving Critical Challenges to the Surfactant Industry with a new CO₂-to-Polymers Catalyst
• Enzo Duriez, Lesaffre International (FR): CCU for Food – The Development of More Sustainable and Resilient Solutions for Food Production Through an Open Innovation Approach

Advanced Research in CCU

• Annelie Jongerius, Avantium Chemicals (NL): Powering the Future: Advancing Electrochemical CO₂ Conversion with the WaterProof Project
• Achim Schaadt, Fraunhofer ISE (DE): DME – Sustainable All-Rounder for Defossilisation
• Markus Janasch, SINTEF (NO): Unlocking CO₂-Based Biomanufacturing: Multi-Omics-Driven Optimization of Gas Fermentation Coupled to Acetate-Based Production of Proteins and Omega-3 Fatty Acids

CO₂ Utilisation Technologies 

• Mohammad Rezaei, GIG Karasek (AT): The Green Frontrunner Project – Advancing Electrochemical CO₂ Conversion from Concept to Pilot Scale
• Ray Mattioli, Oxylus Energy (US): Direct, Low-Temperature CO₂ Electrolysis to Methanol with Demonstrated Selectivity, Scalable Cell Architecture, and Superior Energy Efficiency
• Tamas Fodi, eChemicles (HU): Low-Temperature CO₂ Electrolysis in a Real Industrial Setting

Innovation Award, partnerships and sponsors

Organised by nova-Institute and CO₂ Value Europe under the sponsorship of Yncoris the “Best CO₂ Utilisation” innovation award recognises cutting edge innovation in CCU from fuels to materials. Submission is open until 6 February 2026 at www.co2-chemistry.eu/award-application. 

Gold sponsor Holcim is an enterprise dedicated to the defossilisation of the chemicals and materials industry through renewable carbon solutions supporting the event.

The CO₂-based Fuels and Chemicals Conference 2026 is supported by numerous industry and trade associations, non-profit organisations, research institutions and interest groups, that are thematically linked to the conference: BCNP Consultants (DE), BBE – Bundesverband Bioenergie (DE), BioBase (AT), C.A.R.M.E.N. e.V. (DE), ChemCologne (DE), Chemie-Cluster Bayern (DE), CLIB – Cluster Industrial Biotechnology (DE), CO₂ Value Europe (EU), Global CO₂ Initative (International), IN4climate.NRW (DE), IBB – Industrielle Biotechnologie Bayern Netzwerk (DE), kunststoffland NRW (DE), Plastics Europe (DE), Renewable Carbon Initiative (International).

Information on exhibition, sponsoring and partnerships are available at https://co2-chemistry.eu/sponsoring/. 

About nova-Institute

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 defossilisation of the industry and for a climate neutral future. More information at: nova-institute.eu – renewable-carbon.eu

Get the latest news from nova. Subscribe to https://renewable-carbon.eu/newsletters

Source

nova-Institute, press release, 2025-12-12.

Supplier

Avantium Technologies B.V.
BioBASE
BlueCircle Olefins
Bundesverband BioEnergie e.V. (BBE)
C.A.R.M.E.N. e.V.
CaptureMap Endrava
ChemCologne
Chemie-Cluster Bayern
Cluster Industrielle Biotechnologie e.V. (CLIB2021)
CO2 Value Europe
Cyclize
eChemicles (HU)
Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO)
Fraunhofer-Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
GIG Karasek GmbH
Holcim Ltd.
IASA International Association for Sustainable Aviation
ICODOS GmbH
IFEU - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg GmbH
IN4climate.NRW
Industrielle Biotechnologie Bayern Netzwerk GmbH (IBB Netzwerk GmbH)
Kanadevia Inova
KAPSARC
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
kunststoffland NRW e.V.
Lesaffre Group
nova-Institut GmbH
NRW.Energie4climate
Oxylus Energy
Plastics Europe
PtX Lab Lausitz
Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI)
Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels IUCN
SGS Beta
SINTEF
The Global CO2 Initiative
TNO
ViridiCO2

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