{"id":161998,"date":"2025-04-24T07:37:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T05:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=161998"},"modified":"2025-04-16T12:56:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T10:56:35","slug":"from-co%e2%82%82-to-sustainable-materials-co%e2%82%82smos-delivers-key-results-for-circular-bio-based-industries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/from-co%e2%82%82-to-sustainable-materials-co%e2%82%82smos-delivers-key-results-for-circular-bio-based-industries\/","title":{"rendered":"From CO\u2082 to Sustainable Materials: CO\u2082SMOS Delivers Key Results for Circular Bio-Based Industries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"323\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2025\/04\/Bildschirmfoto-2024-11-22-um-17.01.37-1024x323-1.png\" alt=\" \" class=\"wp-image-162013\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2025\/04\/Bildschirmfoto-2024-11-22-um-17.01.37-1024x323-1.png 1024w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2025\/04\/Bildschirmfoto-2024-11-22-um-17.01.37-1024x323-1-300x95.png 300w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2025\/04\/Bildschirmfoto-2024-11-22-um-17.01.37-1024x323-1-150x47.png 150w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2025\/04\/Bildschirmfoto-2024-11-22-um-17.01.37-1024x323-1-768x242.png 768w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2025\/04\/Bildschirmfoto-2024-11-22-um-17.01.37-1024x323-1-400x126.png 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u00a9 CO<sub>2<\/sub>SMOS<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/co2smos.eu\/\">The European-funded CO\u2082SMOS project<\/a> officially concludes this month after four years of collaborative research and innovation aimed at supporting the bio-based industry in reducing its carbon footprint. With \u20ac7 million in funding from the Horizon 2020 programme, the project has developed and scaled technologies that convert biogenic CO\u2082 emissions into valuable chemicals and materials, bringing them closer to real-world application.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Launched in May 2021, CO\u2082SMOS (Advanced chemicals production from biogenic CO\u2082 emissions for circular bio-based industries) brought together a multidisciplinary consortium of 15 partners from across Europe, coordinated by CARTIF Technology Center. The aim was to develop cost-competitive technologies for transforming CO\u2082 emissions from bio-industrial processes into renewable chemicals, durable polymers, and biodegradable biomaterials, contributing to Europe\u2019s climate goals and the development of a sustainable circular economy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Turning Biogenic CO\u2082 Into Valuable Products&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>CO\u2082SMOS focused on technologies that transform biogenic CO\u2082, generated from processes such as fermentation, into intermediate building blocks like acetate, syngas, and other valuable compounds. These were then used to create renewable polymers, biochemicals, and biodegradable materials. Key achievements include:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Biotechnological and Electrocatalytic CO\u2082 Conversion: Lab-scale innovations included the biological production of bio-acetate using acetogenic bacteria and the electrocatalytic generation of green syngas and intermediates. In the first lab-scale approach, continuous fermentation processes were scaled up to 10L, successfully producing acetate at industrially relevant titers.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Synthesis of Monomers and Intermediates: Novel catalysts and microbial strains enabled the transformation of CO\u2082-derived acetic acid into value-added monomers such as PHB, PHA, and 2,3-BDO, as well as the cycloaddition of CO\u2082 to biomass derivatives to produce cyclic carbonates with potential as plasticisers. Physicochemical approaches delivered efficient separation and purification processes, including solid electrolyte reactors and advanced membrane technologies.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pilot-Scale Success: At the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, several of the project\u2019s CO\u2082-based value chains were successfully scaled. CO\u2082-derived acetic acid was used to produce kilograms of high-purity PHB, while mcl-PHA was generated at a 150L scale, surpassing industry benchmarks. These materials were then validated in industrial applications.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">From Innovation to Real-World Applications&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The three end users within the consortium demonstrated the practical potential of the materials derived from CO\u2082SMOS technologies:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Novamont used PHAs produced from biogenic CO\u2082 to develop, among others, compostable films for packaging. These materials showed good thermal stability and mechanical performance while meeting strict biodegradability standards.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Avantium used 2,3-BDO as a building block to synthesize new polyesters with improved heat resistance. The materials have potential for applications requiring higher performance than conventional plastics and, following a different approach, it even showed promise when combined with recycled PET to create a new co-polyester.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nadir focused on transforming CO\u2082-derived polymers into filaments suitable for 3D printing. These filaments demonstrated good printability and flexibility, with one formulation incorporating hydroxyapatite for potential use in biomedical applications.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Supporting a Circular Economy Beyond Technology&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the technological developments, CO\u2082SMOS also focused on the broader aspects needed to ensure the successful deployment of CO\u2082-derived materials. Market studies identified potential sectors for these bioproducts, while Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) evaluated their environmental benefits. Additionally, <a href=\"https:\/\/co2smos.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/CO2SMOS-Press-Release_Policy-Recommendations.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">policy analysis<\/a> examined regulatory pathways to integrate these innovations into EU frameworks, ensuring alignment with sustainability goals and facilitating their future industrial scale-up.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Foundation for Future Innovation&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While the technologies developed in CO\u2082SMOS are not yet market-ready, the project has demonstrated their technical feasibility and laid the groundwork for future scale-up.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;CO\u2082SMOS has helped close the loop on carbon use in bio-based industries. Thanks to the collaborative work of the consortium, we now have a set of validated processes that can move forward toward industrial deployment,&#8221; said <strong>Nicol\u00e1s Mart\u00edn S\u00e1nchez, the project coordinator from CARTIF Technology Center<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The consortium, which included leading research centres (CARTIF, CSIC, SINTEF, FUNDITEC, University of Amsterdam, RWTH Aachen, University of Twente, CERTH), industrial partners (Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, Avantium, Novamont, Nadir, HERA Group), and organisations such as CO\u2082 Value Europe and RINA, will continue to collaborate beyond the project\u2019s end to ensure knowledge transfer and impact across the European bioeconomy, as well as strengthening Europe\u2019s position in the field of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:12px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About the CO2SMOS Project&nbsp;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>For more information on the CO\u2082SMOS project please visit <a href=\"https:\/\/co2smos.eu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/co2smos.eu\/<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European-funded CO\u2082SMOS project officially concludes this month after four years of collaborative research and innovation aimed at supporting the bio-based industry in reducing its carbon footprint. With \u20ac7 million in funding from the Horizon 2020 programme, the project has developed and scaled technologies that convert biogenic CO\u2082 emissions into valuable chemicals and materials, bringing [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":162013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"The CO\u2082SMOS project concludes its EU-funded research, marking a significant step forward in the development of CO\u2082-based bioproducts and sustainable materials","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[11270,5838,14520,10744,10416,15106,14329,10743],"supplier":[742,21793,12504,1082,21884,25234,21711,17726,7768,26166,509,98,6642,512,4853,22481,1301],"class_list":["post-161998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-biodegradability","tag-bioeconomy","tag-biopolyesters","tag-carboncapture","tag-circulareconomy","tag-filaments","tag-green-chemistry","tag-useco2","supplier-avantium-technologies-bv","supplier-bio-base-europe-pilot-plant-vzw","supplier-cartif","supplier-certh","supplier-co2value-europe","supplier-co2smos","supplier-funditec","supplier-hera-group","supplier-horizon-2020","supplier-nadir","supplier-novamont","supplier-rheinisch-westfaelische-technische-hochschule-aachen-rwth","supplier-rina-services","supplier-sintef","supplier-spanish-national-research-council-csic","supplier-university-of-amsterdam-uva","supplier-university-of-twente-nl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161998"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=161998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}