COOloop: Pioneering the Future of Carbon-Negative Chemistry

In the global race to decarbonize our economy, one of the most challenging frontiers remains the petrochemical industry. While renewable energy has made remarkable strides in transforming power generation and electric vehicles are revolutionizing transportation, the chemicals sector—responsible for producing everything from paints to plastics, textiles to food preservatives—has remained stubbornly dependent on fossil fuels.

Enter COOloop, a London-based climate technology startup that's rewriting the rules of chemical production. With a bold mission statement—"Turning Carbon into Chemicals"—COOloop is pioneering a breakthrough catalyst technology that converts captured CO₂ and green hydrogen directly into acetic acid, one of the world's most important industrial chemicals. But this isn't just another incremental improvement in green chemistry. COOloop's innovation represents a paradigm shift: a production process that is not just carbon-neutral, but genuinely carbon-negative, while remaining cost-competitive with traditional fossil fuel-based methods.

In an era where "greenwashing" has become all too common and many sustainable alternatives carry prohibitive price premiums, COOloop's promise of carbon-negative chemistry at fossil fuel parity pricing sounds almost too good to be true. Yet, backed by cutting-edge research from Monash University and inspired by Nobel Prize-winning technology, this startup is positioning itself at the forefront of what could be the next industrial revolution.

The Carbon Dilemma: Understanding the Challenge

To appreciate the significance of COOloop's innovation, we must first understand the magnitude of the problem they're addressing. The petrochemical industry is trapped in what COOloop aptly calls "a carbon dilemma."

The Acetic Acid Market

Acetic acid might not be a household name, but it's a chemical workhorse that touches nearly every aspect of modern life. Approximately 20 million tonnes of acetic acid are produced globally each year, and virtually 100% of this production is fossil-derived. This colorless liquid with a distinctive pungent smell is a critical ingredient in:

• Paints and coatings: Used in vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) production
• Food industry: As a preservative and acidity regulator (you know it as vinegar in diluted form)
• Textiles: In the production of cellulose acetate for fabrics
• Plastics: As a key component in various polymer productions
• Pharmaceuticals: As a solvent and chemical intermediate

The global acetic acid market is valued at approximately $13 billion and is growing at a healthy 7% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). This growth is driven by expanding demand across emerging markets and increasing applications in various industries. The sectors that depend on acetic acid collectively represent over $100 billion in global economic activity.

The Rising Pressure

Chemical producers face mounting pressure from multiple directions:

1. Rising carbon costs: Carbon pricing mechanisms and emissions trading schemes are making fossil-based production increasingly expensive
2. ESG expectations: Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria are becoming non-negotiable for investors and customers
3. Investor pressure: Shareholders are demanding concrete decarbonization strategies
4. Regulatory tightening: Governments worldwide are implementing stricter emissions regulations
5. Customer demands: End-users across industries are seeking sustainable supply chains

Yet despite this pressure, the industry has lacked scalable alternatives that can deliver both carbon reduction and cost competitiveness. Most "green" alternatives either remain at laboratory scale, carry significant cost premiums, or offer only marginal carbon improvements. This is the dilemma COOloop aims to solve.

The Breakthrough: MOF Catalyst Technology

At the heart of COOloop's innovation is a proprietary catalyst based on Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) technology—a field that earned its pioneers the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This recognition underscores the transformative potential of MOF materials across multiple applications.

What Makes This Catalyst Special?

COOloop's catalyst, developed in partnership with researchers at Monash University in Australia, enables something previously thought impossible: the direct, single-step conversion of captured CO₂ and green hydrogen into acetic acid.

Traditional acetic acid production typically follows one of several fossil-based routes:

• Methanol carbonylation: The dominant method, using methanol (usually derived from natural gas) and carbon monoxide
• Acetaldehyde oxidation: Using petroleum-derived ethylene
• Ethane oxidation: Direct oxidation of natural gas components

All these methods start with fossil feedstocks and release significant CO₂ emissions throughout the production chain.

COOloop's approach is fundamentally different. By using:

• Captured CO₂: Sourced from industrial emissions or direct air capture
• Green hydrogen: Produced from renewable electricity via electrolysis
• MOF catalyst: Their proprietary catalyst that enables the direct conversion

The process creates a carbon-negative production pathway. Rather than extracting and burning fossil fuels, COOloop's technology actually removes CO₂ from the atmosphere or industrial waste streams and locks it into useful chemical products.

Key Technical Advantages

1. High yield: The catalyst demonstrates efficient conversion rates, making the process economically viable
2. Modular scalability: Reactors can be designed at scales from 10,000 to 100,000 tonnes annually, allowing flexible deployment
3. Intellectual property protection: The technology is IP-protected through COOloop's partnership with Monash University
4. Cost competitiveness: Perhaps most remarkably, the process achieves cost parity with fossil-based production, even without subsidies

This last point deserves emphasis. Many green technologies require substantial subsidies or carbon credits to compete economically. COOloop's claim of cost competitiveness with fossil incumbents without subsidies, if validated at commercial scale, would be genuinely revolutionary.

The Business Model: Smart Scaling Through Licensing

COOloop has adopted a licensing model for commercialization—a strategic choice that offers several advantages:

Rapid Deployment

Rather than building and operating chemical plants themselves (which would require enormous capital and decades of time), COOloop can license their technology to existing chemical producers. This approach enables:

• Faster market penetration: Leveraging existing infrastructure and expertise
• Lower capital requirements: Avoiding the massive capital expenditure of building plants
• Risk distribution: Sharing operational risks with established partners
• Faster path to impact: Accelerating the timeline from technology to meaningful carbon reduction

Integration with Existing Infrastructure

The modular design of COOloop's reactors makes them relatively easy to integrate with existing CO₂ sources, including:

• Industrial facilities with concentrated CO₂ emissions
• Carbon capture plants
• Direct air capture facilities
• Biogas upgrading operations

This integration capability is crucial for adoption, as it allows chemical producers to decarbonize without completely rebuilding their operations.

The Impact: From Tonnes to Megatonnes

COOloop's environmental impact potential is substantial. According to their projections, each tonne of acetic acid produced through their process can prevent over 2 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions compared to conventional production methods.

The Math of Impact

Let's break down this impact:

• Current global production: 20 million tonnes of acetic acid annually
• COOloop's 10-year target: Capturing a significant market share
• Projected CO₂ avoidance: 17 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent annually within 10 years

To put 17 million tonnes of CO₂ in perspective:

• It's equivalent to taking approximately 3.7 million cars off the road for a year
• It's comparable to the annual emissions of a small country
• It represents a meaningful contribution to global decarbonization targets

But the impact extends beyond just acetic acid. COOloop's platform technology has potential applications across C1 and C2 chemistry—meaning other single-carbon and two-carbon molecules could be produced using similar approaches. This could include:

• Methanol
• Ethanol
• Ethylene glycol
• Formaldehyde
• Other key chemical building blocks

If successfully extended to these other molecules, COOloop's technology platform could address a significant fraction of the petrochemical industry's carbon footprint.

The Team: Where Science Meets Industry

COOloop's leadership team brings together the two critical ingredients for deep-tech success: cutting-edge scientific expertise and substantial industry experience.

Ike Omambala - CEO & Co-Founder

With over 25 years of experience in chemicals and climate innovation, Omambala brings the industry knowledge and business acumen necessary to navigate the complex world of chemical manufacturing. His experience spans the commercial, operational, and strategic aspects of bringing new technologies to market in highly regulated and capital-intensive industries.

Raj Lakshman - CTO & Co-Founder

As a catalyst engineer and co-inventor of the Monash CO₂-to-acetyl process, Lakshman represents the scientific foundation of COOloop. His deep expertise in catalysis and chemical engineering is essential for translating laboratory breakthroughs into industrial-scale processes.

Advisory Board

COOloop has assembled an impressive advisory board that includes:

• Prof Akshat Tanksale (Monash University): Providing ongoing scientific guidance and maintaining the academic-industry partnership
• Robin Harrison (Carbon Clean; ex-Shell): Bringing experience from both carbon capture technology and major oil and gas operations
• Simon Hombersley (Xampla; former CEO): Contributing expertise in scaling climate tech startups

This combination of academic excellence, corporate experience, and startup savvy positions COOloop well for the challenging journey from laboratory to commercial deployment.

Market Opportunity: Riding Multiple Waves

COOloop is positioned at the intersection of several powerful market trends:

1. The Carbon Pricing Wave

Carbon pricing mechanisms are expanding globally:

• The EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS) continues to tighten
• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAM) are being implemented
• More countries are adopting carbon taxes or cap-and-trade systems

These mechanisms make fossil-based production increasingly expensive, creating a growing cost advantage for carbon-negative alternatives.

2. The ESG Investment Wave

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria have moved from niche concern to mainstream requirement:

• Trillions of dollars in assets are now managed with ESG considerations
• Chemical companies face increasing pressure to demonstrate decarbonization pathways
• Supply chain sustainability is becoming a competitive differentiator

3. The Circular Economy Wave

The concept of circular economy—where waste becomes feedstock—is gaining traction:

• CO₂, previously just a waste product, becomes a valuable input
• Captured carbon becomes a resource rather than a liability
• Chemical production shifts from extractive to regenerative

4. The Green Hydrogen Wave

As renewable energy becomes cheaper and more abundant, green hydrogen production costs are falling:

• Electrolyzer costs are declining
• Renewable electricity prices continue to drop
• Governments are investing heavily in hydrogen infrastructure

This trend is crucial for COOloop, as green hydrogen is a key feedstock for their process.

Challenges and Considerations

While COOloop's vision is compelling, it's important to consider the challenges they'll face in bringing this technology to commercial scale:

Technical Challenges

• Catalyst longevity: Industrial catalysts must maintain performance over extended periods
• Scale-up risks: Laboratory processes often face unexpected challenges at industrial scale
• Process optimization: Fine-tuning for maximum efficiency and minimum cost
• Integration complexity: Connecting with various CO₂ sources and hydrogen supplies

Commercial Challenges

• Conservative industry: Chemical producers are often risk-averse, preferring proven technologies
• Capital availability: Even with a licensing model, partners will need capital for reactor installation
• Regulatory approval: New chemical processes must navigate complex regulatory requirements
• Competition: Other companies are also working on CO₂ utilization technologies

Market Challenges

• Green hydrogen availability: The technology depends on sufficient green hydrogen supply
• CO₂ capture infrastructure: Requires access to captured CO₂ sources
• Price volatility: Fossil fuel price fluctuations could affect competitiveness
• Policy uncertainty: Changes in carbon pricing or subsidies could impact economics

The Road Ahead: From Pilot to Planet-Scale Impact

COOloop is currently in the critical phase of moving from proven technology to commercial deployment. Their immediate priorities likely include:

1. Pilot plant demonstration: Proving the technology at meaningful scale
2. Partner engagement: Securing licensing agreements with chemical producers
3. Financing: Raising capital to support scale-up and commercialization
4. Regulatory approval: Navigating the approval processes in target markets
5. Supply chain development: Ensuring access to CO₂ and green hydrogen feedstocks

The company is actively seeking partners and investors to accelerate this journey, as evidenced by their clear calls to action on their website.

Conclusion: A Catalyst for Change

COOloop represents more than just a new chemical process—it embodies a fundamental shift in how we think about carbon, chemistry, and climate action. By transforming CO₂ from a waste product into a valuable feedstock, they're helping to close the carbon loop (hence the name) and create a more circular economy.

The petrochemical industry has long been seen as one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize, often relegated to the "too difficult" category in climate discussions. COOloop's approach suggests that even these challenging sectors can be transformed with the right combination of scientific innovation, business model creativity, and determined execution.

If COOloop succeeds in delivering on its promise—carbon-negative chemistry at fossil fuel prices—it could catalyze a transformation across the entire chemicals sector. Other companies would be incentivized to adopt similar approaches, investors would fund competing technologies, and the industry could shift from being a major source of emissions to a significant carbon sink.

The journey from startup to industry transformation is long and uncertain. Many promising technologies have faltered at the pilot stage or struggled to achieve commercial viability. But with Nobel Prize-winning science as their foundation, experienced leadership at the helm, and powerful market forces at their back, COOloop has positioned itself as well as any startup could for this challenging journey.

As the world races to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century, innovations like COOloop's are not just nice to have—they're essential. We cannot decarbonize our economy without transforming how we make the chemicals that underpin modern life. COOloop is showing us that this transformation is not only possible but can be economically attractive.

The question is no longer whether we can turn carbon into chemicals profitably—COOloop has shown it's possible. The question now is how quickly we can scale this technology to make a meaningful dent in global emissions. For the sake of our climate, let's hope the answer is: very quickly indeed.

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