News
ICODOS Plant S project VICTORIA selected by the EU Innovation Fund
VICTORIA is one of 16 pilot projects selected from 358 applications. ICODOS is now preparing the grant agreement with the EU agency CINEA.
VICTORIA in numbers
- Grant: up to €13.78 million from the EU Innovation Fund
- Call: 2025 call for net-zero technologies, pilot topic
- Competition: 358 applications, 77 projects selected, 16 of them pilots
- Plant: Plant S, ICODOS' entry-level commercial plant for biogenic CO₂ sources
- Concept: biogenic CO₂ from wastewater treatment and hydrogen from a 10 MW electrolyser, converted into renewable e-methanol (RFNBO)
- Planned output: around 3,800 tonnes of e-methanol per year
- Next step: grant agreement preparation with CINEA; the European Commission expects to announce the results in the first quarter of 2027
Mannheim, 20 October 2026. The European Commission has selected VICTORIA, a project led by ICODOS GmbH, for a grant of up to €13.78 million from the EU Innovation Fund. VICTORIA is one of 77 projects selected under the 2025 call for net-zero technologies and one of 16 projects in the pilot category. The call drew 358 applications requesting €17.5 billion, about six times the available budget of €2.9 billion.
From wastewater CO₂ to e-methanol
VICTORIA is a Plant S project. Plant S is ICODOS' entry-level commercial plant, designed for sites with biogenic CO₂ point sources such as wastewater treatment plants and biogas plants. VICTORIA is designed to bring ICODOS' patented hybrid process to commercial scale in Spain. The plant will capture biogenic CO₂ from the biogas of a wastewater treatment plant with a methanol-based solvent and convert it, together with hydrogen from a 10 MW electrolyser, into renewable e-methanol for the maritime sector. The project will produce around 3,800 tonnes of e-methanol per year. In its first ten years of operation, VICTORIA will produce more than 35,000 tonnes of e-methanol and prevent the direct venting of more than 48,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
Selected in an independent evaluation
Innovation Fund projects are evaluated by independent experts against five criteria: potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, degree of innovation, project maturity, replicability and cost efficiency. VICTORIA is designed as a replicable route to decentralised e-fuel production at biogenic CO₂ sources such as wastewater treatment plants. ICODOS has demonstrated its process at the Mannheim 001 pilot plant, which has run for more than 5,000 hours on CO₂ from sewage gas.
"Being selected in such a competitive call is a strong signal for our technology and our team. VICTORIA shows how wastewater treatment plants can become a source of renewable fuel for shipping. We are now working with CINEA on the grant agreement and the next steps for the project," says David-André Strittmatter, CEO of ICODOS.
What happens next
ICODOS and CINEA, the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency, are now preparing the grant agreement. In this phase, the budget, timetable, technical and financial deliverables and legal responsibilities are finalised. The grant becomes binding only when the agreement is signed. The European Commission expects to announce the results of this phase in the first quarter of 2027.
ICODOS thanks its team and partners for their work on the application, and the European Commission and CINEA for selecting VICTORIA.
Further information
About ICODOS
ICODOS is a Germany-based technology company that develops e-methanol production solutions. Its patented hybrid process captures CO₂ from biogenic and industrial off-gases and converts it into e-methanol in one integrated system.
Press contact: David Strittmatter, david.strittmatter@icodos.com