Climate Neutrality: Marine Fuel From Wastewater

ICODOS, a spin-off from KIT, and partners are launching “Mannheim 001”, the first plant for the climate-neutral production of e-methanol in a wastewater treatment plant

There are around 80,000 wastewater treatment plants in Europe – and thus considerable potential for a novel, climate-neutral process for producing the general-purpose chemical methanol. ICODOS, a startup founded at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and its partners have built a plant at the Mannheim wastewater treatment plant that cleans generated biogas and converts it into climate-neutral marine fuel using green hydrogen. They opened the plant today, March 24, 2025.

According to estimates by the International Maritime Organization, shipping is responsible for around three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. To change this, environmentally friendly alternatives to conventional fossil fuels are urgently needed. A consortium consisting of the Institute of Micro Process Engineering and the Institute of Automation and Applied Informatics at KIT, the spin-off company ICODOS, and the Mannheim municipal wastewater utility, commissioned a demonstration plant today, Monday, March 24, 2025, that uses wastewater as a resource to produce climate-neutral methanol as a future marine fuel. Dr. Volker Wissing, Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Transport, pressed the start button.

"To achieve our climate protection goals, we must keep all technological options open. In addition to electrification and hydrogen-based propulsion, we need climate-friendly fuels, especially in maritime shipping. Germany should take a pioneering role in research and development. This represents a growth market of the future," said the Transport Minister. "It's also about making our country independent of energy imports. 'Mannheim 001' demonstrates how economic efficiency and climate protection can go hand in hand. This project can serve as a model for many other locations in Germany and Europe."

"The new plant impressively demonstrates how research and entrepreneurial spirit can produce practical solutions for the sustainable transformation of our economy," says Professor Thomas Hirth, Vice President of Transfer and International Affairs at KIT. "Here, a valuable resource is extracted from biogas generated during wastewater treatment – ​​an innovative approach that demonstrates how existing resources can be used intelligently and in a climate-friendly manner."

"The flagship project 'Mannheim 001' is further proof that climate protection and industrial growth can go hand in hand with new technologies," explained Mannheim Mayor Christian Specht, who was also present. "Here, a start-up company from our Mafinex Technology and Business Start-up Center, with support from the City of Mannheim's Climate Fund and in close cooperation with the city's sewage disposal system, is demonstrating how green fuel for shipping can be produced from wastewater. This is another 'Made in Mannheim' innovation that we can be proud of."

Innovative process uses biogas
The "Mannheim 001" demonstration plant uses a patented process to convert biogas from wastewater into climate-neutral methanol. The biogas produced in the wastewater treatment plant is first purified. The CO_₂ it contains then reacts with renewably produced hydrogen to produce methanol – a versatile raw material that can be used as marine fuel or in the chemical industry. "With our technology, we extract a high-quality energy source from an existing source," explains Dr. Vidal Vazquez, co-founder of ICODOS. "In Germany alone, wastewater treatment plants could produce several million tons of sustainable methanol annually." Thanks to its compact and scalable design, the process is particularly suitable for decentralized implementation. "The current project shows that wastewater treatment plants can serve as the heart of sustainable fuel production – a potential that has so far remained untapped," says Vazquez. ICODOS is already in discussions with other wastewater treatment plants to set up production facilities there as well.