On 15-16 October 2025, UP-TO-ME project partners gathered in Valencia (Spain) for the final General Assembly and 2nd Innovation Workshop of the project–a ground-breaking initiative aiming to decentralise Power-to-Methanol production for hard-to-electrify applications such as marine vessels.
Funded by the EU Horizon Europe programme (Grant No. 101083323) and the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI, Grant No. 10063697), UP-TO-ME pioneers a technology that converts CO₂ from biogas, derived from anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, and locally available renewable energy into methanol in small-scale decentralised settings, simultaneously upgrading the biogas to biomethane. This 36-month project aligns with the EU climate ambition to achieve carbon net zero by 2050.
Final General Assembly
The two-day meeting, hosted by Global Omnium Wastewater Innovation Department at the Parc Científic de la Universitat de València, brought together the consortium partners to share key developments and define final steps towards the project’s objectives and expected impact.
Partners presented key updates, showcasing advancements in each technical work package, and Isle Utilities (ISLE), leader of project’s dissemination, communication and exploitation (DCE), provided an overview of the DCE activities carried out to date and emphasised the critical role of these efforts in ensuring long-term impact beyond the completion of the project in October 2025.
Stakeholders praised the project’s results and relevance, noting its strong potential for the maritime industry and beyond and its modularity and applicability to small-scale settings
The meeting finalised with closing remarks from Matti Reinikainen, project coordinator from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, who reflected on the achievements made over the last 3 years and the collaboration achieved across the consortium, highlighting the final stages of the project and the steps needed to sustain momentum in progressing decentralised e-methanol production towards commercialisation.
Matti Reinikainen, Senior Principal Scientist at VTT, shared, “Three years ago, we set highly ambitious goals for the UP-TO-ME-project. Now, at the end of the project, the results and outcomes were presented in the final General Assembly and the 2nd Innovation Workshop to the project consortium and the members of the Industrial Advisory Board. The outstanding results from the experimental plant connected to a municipal wastewater treatment plant proved that we have succeeded in our main goal–we managed to develop novel technologies to produce renewable methanol by a fully autonomous, self-optimising and compact technology enabling the utilisation of biogenic point-sources of CO2. The technologies developed and the methodologies applied in the project will be utilised in many applications and future projects. I wish to thank the whole Consortium for the excellent cooperation!”
2nd Innovation Workshop
Innovation Workshops, organised and developed by ISLE, are crucial for bridging the gap between novel research and real-world industrial application, providing a platform for partners to showcase their innovations to relevant stakeholders and gather invaluable feedback to accelerate market adoption and foster future collaboration.
Facilitated by Babi Uku, Associate Director at ISLE, the 2nd Innovation Workshop of the UP-TO-ME project focused on e-methanol utilisation. The workshop welcomed 8 external stakeholders, including methanol specialists and maritime industry representatives, for in-depth discussions on technical feasibility, commercial potential, and future deployment opportunities. Partner presentations included:
- Decentralised Fuel Synthesis: Integrating Smart PtM Technology in Wastewater Treatment Plants–presented by Mücahit Terzi and Max Kollmer from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
- E-methanol quality requirements as marine fuel–presented by Päivi Aakko-Saksa from VTT
- Case Study Assessment–presented by Dimitrios Kolokotronis from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH)
Stakeholders praised the project’s results and relevance, noting its strong potential for the maritime industry and beyond and its modularity and applicability to small-scale settings. Moreover, the production of useful by-products, in particular oxygen, which can be directly used for aeration in wastewater treatment plants or as feedstock in oxy-fuel combustion, could further support the business model of the UP-TO-ME innovative technology.
As the UP-TO-ME project approaches its end, partners are moving towards scaling up their innovations to validate these within real-world industrial applications
Tomas Asplund, Engine Fluids Expert from Wärtsilä, commented, “Wärtsilä has served on the Advisory Board of the UP-TO-ME project. The availability of renewable fuels, including methanol, for decarbonising the marine industry is a very current topic. As a supplier of both marine- and land-based medium speed 4-stroke engines, it has been truly beneficial and interesting to learn about the UP-TO-ME project and to comment and get an insight into the produced renewable methanol fuel quality”.
Scaling innovation beyond the project
As the UP-TO-ME project approaches its end, partners are moving towards scaling up their innovations to validate these within real-world industrial applications. Guided by ISLE’s post-project exploitation strategies, the focus is on securing strategic partnerships and funding for establishing trials at laboratory- and pilot-scale and advancing the technology and market readiness levels.
About UP-TO-ME
UP-TO-ME (Unmanned Power-to-Methanol Production) is a EU-funded project under the Horizon Europe programme (GA no. 101083323, UKRI grant no. 10063697). This project is taking on the great challenge of converting decentralised CO₂ point sources to production sites for renewable fuels with the aim of significantly impacting the global journey to a net zero EU economy. UP-TO-ME is a collaborative initiative involving 7 European partners, bringing together diverse expertise in process technologies, material science, automation, and advanced modelling.
Partners of the UP-TO-ME Consortium include: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Global Omnium, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), cloudfluid, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), ICODOS and ISLE.
