IN LONDON: A UK-based start-up, co-founded by Monash University PhD graduate Rajan Lakshman, has secured £150,000 in seed funding from Carbon 13 Ventures to commercialise technology developed at Monash.
The company is pioneering a world-first catalytic process that converts captured CO2 and renewable hydrogen directly into acetic acid, offering a carbon-negative alternative to fossil-based production.
COOloop’s world-first metal-organic framework (MOF) catalyst enables direct CO2 conversion, potentially eliminating millions of tonnes of carbon emissions while remaining cost-and scale-competitive with traditional methods.
The company has invented a novel iron-based catalyst that converts CO₂ and methanol into acetic acid, replacing expensive noble metals.
The work was published in Nature Communications in 2023. COOloop then developed a cobalt-nickel bimetallic catalyst capable of producing acetic acid directly from CO₂, eliminating the need for methanol as an intermediate.
CEO Ike Omamabala says the partnership with Monash is key to “commercial success”.
“At COOloop, we’re turning carbon from a liability into a valuable resource,” Omamabala says,
“Partnering with Professor Akshat Tanksale’s group at Monash allows us to bring cutting-edge, world-first catalysis from the lab into industrial reality.
“This collaboration shows how science and entrepreneurship can build a circular carbon economy and accelerate the transition to net-zero chemicals.”
CTO Rajan Lakshman says he has worked on developing new ways to convert carbon dioxide – one of the world’s most “significant” greenhouse gases – into valuable chemicals.
“COOloop represents an opportunity to take this technology beyond the lab and towards industrial application, with the potential to make a global impact on sustainable chemical production,” Laksham says.
Every year, the world produces around 20 million tonnes of acetic acid, a key chemical used in plastics, textiles, paints, adhesives and food products, almost entirely from fossil fuels.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: COOloop
