Pioneering innovations within the EIC Portfolio on “CO2 and Nitrogen Management and Valorisation”

ICFO’s project “ICONIC” is one of eight large-scale projects funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) under the Pathfinder Challenge ‘Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Management and Valorisation’. The Portfolio members, made up of 51 organizations from 12 EU Member States and 3 non-EU countries, have shared their progresses and discussed pioneering innovations at the ‘EIC CO₂ and Nitrogen Portfolio’ annual meeting held on June 17-18, 2024, in Helsinki. The meeting, hosted by Finnish food technology company and project partner Solar Foods, has served to encourage and foster conversations aimed at reshaping Europe’s environmental future.

The eight initiatives – CONFETI, DAM4CO2, ECOMO, HYDROCOW, SUPERVAL, Mi-Hy, MINICOR, and ICONIC – are formed by multidisciplinary teams from universities, research and technology organizations, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises. Collectively, these projects have embarked on a common mission to pool their resources and expertise to transform pollutants and waste into energy and value-added products, in an economically and environmentally sustainable way.

Schematic of the carbon and nitrogen cycles, and where each project is located at.

As the planet’s climate continues to warm, the urgency for effective action increases. Emissions of CO₂ and nitrogen pollutants need to be reduced and can also be used as feedstock for valuable products. This sustainable and circular approach aims to enhance the effectiveness of sustainable practices and enable a greener, more liveable future.

In this context, the EIC launched the Pathfinder Challenge ‘Carbon Dioxide and Nitrogen Management and Valorisation‘ in 2022, aiming to develop novel sustainable processes and technologies to capture and convert CO₂ and nitrogen into useful products. This challenge focuses on different routes that integrate the capture and/or recovery of CO₂ and nitrogen compounds. From here they are converted into value-added products or net-zero commodities, chemicals, fuels, energy vectors for different uses and applications, using renewable energy sources and non-critical raw materials.

Reshaping Europe’s environmental future requires technical innovations and innovative policies to enable breakthrough products, processes and services to reach the marketplace. To ensure their successful uptake, the consortium is also joining forces to consider future ethical, societal and regulatory challenges that will enable European businesses and communities to access these developments and collectively contribute to a greener, healthier Europe.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed here are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.