Limburg-based Vertoro has completed the first closing of a €17 million Series B financing round. The company, based at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen, converts plant-based residues into a renewable oil that can replace fossil raw materials in fuels and chemicals.
With the capital, Vertoro aims to take the next step in scaling up its technology. The round was led by Climate Tech Partners and Invest-NL, with participation from, among others, Maersk Growth, the Energy Transition Fund Rotterdam, LIOF, SHIFT Invest, and Chemelot Ventures.
From lignin to a usable oil
The core of the technology is the valorization of lignin, a tough byproduct of wood and bioethanol production that is currently often burned. Vertoro dissolves the lignin in alcohol, thereby converting it into liquid crude oil. This is done at low pressure and a temperature below two hundred degrees, and without expensive catalysts, keeping the process relatively simple and affordable. The end product is a crude oil that fits as a drop-in feedstock into existing refining plants and engines without requiring significant modifications to the supply chain. In doing so, Vertoro aligns with the broader discussion regarding drop-in routes, in which feedstocks chemically similar to their fossil counterparts are seen as a way to bridge the transition.
Scaling up towards Rotterdam
Vertoro is targeting multiple markets simultaneously. In the short term, the company is focusing on specialty chemicals and thermoplastics, as well as shipping and aviation, two sectors where emission reduction is challenging. The first commercial plant is planned for Rotterdam, which, as Europe's largest petrochemical port, remains largely dependent on imported green molecules. To secure sufficient raw materials, Vertoro is collaborating with the Brazilian ethanol producer Raízen, which offers access to large quantities of agricultural residues. The commercial scaling up of biomass to oil is not a given, as several major producers of second-generation ethanol closed their plants in recent years due to economic downturns. Vertoro argues that precisely the valorization of the remaining lignin can improve the revenue model. For further growth, the company is looking at a model in which it licenses its technology and produces locally at the source, rather than building plants everywhere itself.
Source: InnovationQuarter
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