Ike Omambala and Raj Lakshman, CEO and CTO of COOloop talk about their metal-organic framework (MOF) catalyst that turns hydrogen and CO2 into e-ethanol. Learn about the unique industry benefits that would unlock cheaper e-ethanol in the road fuel, sustainable aviation and chemicals markets. Now with $200K in funding, the founding team are aiming to breakthrough to TRL5 which would confirm that the catalyst can have 500+ hours of stability in industry. Get into the technical details, market opportunity and industry momentum in the interview below.
Sara: Hello everybody! Today I’m joined by Ike Omambala and Raj Lakshman, because we’re diving into the world of commercialising carbon dioxide utilisation and synthetic ethanol. Amazing. Okay, easy question first. In a nutshell, what does COOloop do?
Ike: We’re developing a catalyst platform that converts carbon dioxide and hydrogen directly into e-ethanol. E-ethanol is the first product we’re commercialising, but there’s potential for us to develop other products in the future.
Sara: What’s the market for e-ethanol?
Ike: The main market for ethanol is fuel decarbonisation. Road fuel decarbonisation is a live market today. Then there’s the sustainable aviation fuel market, which is growing through mandates like the UK SAF mandate. The EU is going to follow very soon, and globally more and more countries are taking these on board. So it’s fuel decarbonisation across aviation, road and marine, and that’s where we can grow this business.
Sara: So, this is part of the phase-out of fossil fuels, basically.
Ike: Exactly.
The technology
Sara: I want to ask a bit more about the technology and the breakthrough that differentiates you from competitors. Just so our audience knows, this is a team that’s already got quite a few letters of intent from some big names, such as INEOS, and BP and Shell, I think. Why are they so interested?
Ike: We have six letters of intent, as you say, but they’re not from BP and Shell, although both have been heavily engaged in the market discovery we’ve carried out. The technology is a metal-organic framework catalyst, and Raj was the inventor, so maybe he should describe it.
Raj: It’s a catalyst derived from a MOF, a metal-organic framework. MOFs aren’t typically used in industrial applications. They’ve traditionally been limited to uses like gas absorption and storage. We’ve produced a material derived from a MOF that’s stable and usable for industrial applications, so we think we’re doing something new here.
Sara: Metal-organic frameworks are a really interesting technology that we’re going to see a lot more of in the coming years. A couple of other startups at Carbon13 are exploring them too.
milestones
Sara: You’ve got letters of intent. Talk us through any other significant milestones you’re working on. How are your TRLs looking?
Raj: We’re at TRL 4. We’ve demonstrated the chemistry, so we know it works: it produces ethanol directly from CO2 and hydrogen, and we’ve validated that in a batch reactor at lab scale. We’ve also shown, to some extent, that the catalyst is stable, having cycled it up to five times in the lab. To get to the next phase, we need to demonstrate long-term stability. That’s the aim of our next development phase, which will take us to TRL 5, moving from batch to a continuous flow process and hitting our catalyst stability milestone of 500-plus hours. That’s the critical next step towards the next scale-up stage.
the 10-year vision
Sara: Let’s assume you get through all that progress, and we’re looking 10 years down the line with COOloop where you want it to be. What does success actually look like?
Ike: We’re a technology licensing business with a catalyst platform, and this first catalyst focuses on e-ethanol. In 10 years’ time, we’ll have successfully launched the licensing business with probably 50-plus customers who are CO2 emitters of various kinds. Our beachhead market is bioethanol producers, because they have a very pure biogenic carbon dioxide stream.
Beyond that, we’ll have started to explore the wider platform, which we have IP to back up. We can develop catalysts for new products such as methanol, acetic acid, even formic acid. Once we’ve got our wedge into the market through ethanol, it opens the doors to many different markets with the technology already proven. So, this step, taking us from lab to market, unlocks the whole platform. That’s why it’s so important, and that’s why we’re raising in this current round.
the raise
Sara: So you’re raising at the moment, and you’re particularly interested in talking to angels, especially those interested in alternative chemicals and fuels. Anything else?
Raj: Angels with industry experience, particularly a chemical engineering background, who can help not only with funding but also bring industrial experience and maybe a network, which could be really helpful as we expand the business.
Sara: That makes a lot of sense. If you were talking to an angel right now, what’s the one thing you’d want them to take away about COOloop?
Ike: What’s really exciting is that we’re solving two important problems. The first is carbon dioxide: carbon costs are rising, and compliance costs are a real problem for industrial companies, particularly in Europe but globally too.
The second is hydrogen. Hydrogen has seen lots of government investment, so the supply is there, but a number of projects are stalling. Over 1,500 projects have been announced, only around 500 have reached final investment decision or later, and last year alone 60 projects were cancelled. What we provide is bankable demand for hydrogen. We sit at the intersection of those two problems, creating value for CO2 emitters and helping accelerate the hydrogen economy. I think that’s very exciting.
Sara: Those industries need you to scale. And likewise, sustainable aviation fuel needs you too. You’re needed by both sides of the coin.
why now
Sara: To elaborate on that a little: why does launching COOloop in 2026 feel like the right time? Is it because MOFs are just starting to come into their own and you can be an early mover? Or because of where hydrogen is in the UK right now?
Ike: You’re right to mention sustainable aviation fuels, but more generally, regulation and mandates are moving towards fuel decarbonisation. In the UK we already have the SAF mandate. In the EU there’s RED III, with its renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO) regulations, which really focus on synthetic fuels.
What we provide is a much-needed additional way to convert hydrogen into a fuel that can be used both for road fuel decarbonisation and as a feedstock for ethanol-to-jet technologies. Normally, with bioethanol, ethanol-to-jet producers make standard SAF. Our ethanol lets them make e-SAF, from renewable energy. So, there are a number of ways in which what we’re doing is highly relevant today, because the markets have been created and we can really add value.
Sara: Absolutely. And it’s not just fuel decarbonisation, its fuel resilience, full stop.
Ike: Yes, that’s a key question. Fuel security: the ability to take what is, to be honest, a waste product, CO2, and make fuel for cars within Great Britain makes sense.
Sara: Those are all my questions, guys. I’m really excited to see you move forward, and I hope your funding round goes well, because we need to see you develop.
Ike & Raj: Thank you so much, Sara.
Sara: Thanks, guys!