ICO2NIQ Project

Cool Planet is installing a 10,000 t/yr CO₂ capture unit at the TÜPRAŞ Izmit refinery in Turkey under the EU-funded ICO2NIQ Horizon programme, using its new 4th-generation membrane technology that aims to cut energy use and lower costs compared with solvent-based CCS. The captured CO₂ will be supplied to consortium partners. using electrochemical conversion, fermentation, and downstream processing, to produce commercial feedstocks, making this a refinery-scale CCU demonstration rather than pure storage. The project is intended to prove a modular, chemical-free, retrofit-friendly capture technology and establish a viable CO₂-to-products value chain starting in 2027. The ICO2NIC consortium will be led by SINTEF and will establish a comprehensive value chain, from the CO2 emitter, on-site demonstrator and executor (TUPRAS) to the end consumers (TUPRAS and Procter & Gamble). The process consists of carbon collection and purification (Cool Planet Technologies), electrochemical conversion to formic acid (Avantium), followed by bioconversion and up-grading (b.fab and NoPalm Ingredients), and the scaling up the fermentation process (BBEPP) to microbial oils. These oils and their chemical derivatives will be evaluated by Procter & Gamble and TUPRAS as a feedstock for the Hydrotreated Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) process in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production.