A BIOTECH REVOLUTION

We turn CO2
into renewable
chemicals.

POWERED BY NATURE AND HUMAN INGENUITY

We exist to restore balance on the planet.

CREATING SYSTEMIC CHANGE

Photanol: past, present and future.

The first patent

2008

Platform spin-out

2012

Strategic partnership with Corbion

2014

Strategic partnership with Nouryon

2016

Industrial Pilot Plant

2020

Strategic partnership with Renolit

2020

Scale up to commercial plant

2027

Commercial production

2028

A PARADIGM SHIFT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Cyanobacteria: natural, all-in-one factories.

Petro-chemicals mean mining more fossil fuel, emitting more carbon. They’re also resource, land and time thirsty - the kind of industry that has led to a planet out of balance. The Photanol solution helps reset that balance.

We can create any carbon compound. Which means we can make the monomers used for different plastics, the ingredients for personal care products and detergents; even fuels - clean, renewable and circular. All thanks to innovation that follows nature’s lead.

Photanol works with the superpower of cyanobacteria to photosynthesize. Optimizing the bacteria to absorb more CO2, adapting its metabolic pathways to produce a desired chemical. Transforming the bacteria into highly-efficient mini factories that run on sunlight, produce just oxygen as by-product and need radically less land and water than traditional variants. All primed for scalability thanks to Photanol’s platform technology.

How it works
Process

Through photosynthesis, cyanobacteria capture CO2, keep the carbon (C) and return oxygen (O2) as a by-product.

Solution

The cyanobacteria’s metabolic pathways are enhanced to produce the desired carbon compound.

Molecule

The compounds are collected straight out of our tubes installation. Upscaling production is as straightforward as laying more tubes.

Carbon compound

Our renewable chemistry is used to create circular plastics, sustainable detergents, beauty and healthcare products. Even biofuel.

Products

Photanol’s platform technology makes it possible to create virtually any carbon compound, with the power to transform many industries to circular.

Let our partners tell you why

Proof

Photanol is one of the World Economic Forum Technology Pioneers, acknowledging the potentional and uniqueness of our solution for the World of our next Generation.

World Economic Forum
MEET THE TEAM

Dedicated to restoring balance since 2008

Veronique de Bruijn, MBA

CEO

Venture capital and renewables expert Veronique merges unexpected worlds to power sustainable innovation. This drives her leadership, as well as her quest for the right partners to realize Photanol’s 100% renewable moonshot and transition to a circular future.

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Jan Wery

CTO

A.K.A our Chief ‘North Star’ Navigator: It’s all very well having a bold and lofty mission like restoring balance on our planet, but it must be backed by the brains to roadmap us there. Jan’s 20 years in industrial biotech R&D is that brain. Jan dreams up and leads the multidisciplinary programs capable of transforming breakthrough lab-scale processes into scalable success.

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Joppe Verbokkem

Director | Finance & Business Development

MSc Finance · University of Groningen | Strong background in corporate finance, business development and fundraising.

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Prof. dr. Klaas Hellingwerf

CSA

Our Founder and CSO, Prof. Hellingwerf, is a top five knowledge leader in the cyano-fermentation field and a well-respected authority on microbial photosynthesis. Prof. Hellingwerf continues researching and networking across continents to progress sustainable science and the Photanol vision.

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Aniek van der Woude

R&D Manager Strain Engineering

With Photanol since 2012 and joining us fresh from her PhD in molecular microbiology, our R&D Manager Aniek drives the strategy for the strain engineering team. Analyzing, debating and developing our most productive strains.

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Sabrina Botton

Senior Researcher / Upscaling Team Lead

Sabrina’s personal ambition is to use bacteria as a platform for sustainable innovation. After several years at different research institutes, she now uses her expertise to support Photanol’s upscaling success.

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Pierre Hakkesteegt

Site Supervisor Delfzijl

Pierre is the one optimizing operations at our demo plant. Creating the ideal conditions to maximize cyanobacteria growth, so we can maximize the amount of CO₂ we convert into valuable product.

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Théo Veaudor

Researcher / Strain Engineering Team Lead

A self-described 'lab-guy' with a PhD in cyanobacteria genetics and metabolism, Théo spends his days tweaking and experimenting with cyanos on the way to our next big strain success stories.

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Koen Mulder

Researcher / Strain Engineering Team Lead

Joining us as junior researcher, Koen has been with Photanol since 2017. He’s now the unflappable, results-driven lead our engineers need to guide them through the cultivation of our latest and greatest strains.

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Marc García López

Junior Researcher Upscaling

A passion for microbiology and its potential to mitigate climate breakdown led Marc to an internship at Photanol. Today, those two loves continue to drive his work as data scientist in the upscaling team.

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Eugenie Troia

Lead Analytical Chemist

A background in environmental chemistry and the same vision for circular solutions led Eugenie to Photanol. She powers the mission daily by deducing what needs to stay, go, or be tweaked - on the way to strain production upscale success.

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Mandy Gericke

Junior Researcher Strain Engineering

Coming to the world of Photonal after completing her Msc at the TU delft, Mandy’s mission is to shape a better future through her work. You’ll find her grafting away on biomolecular projects. Testing and iterating DNA constructs to improve our cyano-genetics, then observing their physiology for improvements.

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Mara Vincelli

Researcher Strain Engineering

A personal passion for environmental science drives Mara’s unlimited perseverance in the lab. Here she develops sustainable molecular techniques for cyano cultivation. Inventing the tools and protocol needed to research, evaluate and progress the most robust strains.

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Joost van Baarsen

Research Technician Strain Engineering

Joost came to us from a bio-waste company. Starting with us an intern, he became our Junior Researcher in 2018 and can be found in the lab, strengthening our upscaling team.

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Dean Posthuma

Junior Process Engineer

Fresh from Imperial College, TU Delft. Dean joined us at the end of 2020. He spends his days helping us unlock the unconventional approaches and smart processes that see cyanobacteria take the leading role in our new era of green chemistry.

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Daniel Antón-García

Team Lead

Researcher at Photanol, employing cyanobacteria to convert CO2 into renewable chemicals. Recently submitted my Doctoral Thesis titled "Tailored diketopyrrolopyrrolebased organic dyes in photoelectrochemical cells for solar fuel synthesis".

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Alessia De Maio

Junior Researcher

As part of the upscaling team, Alessia's main research goal is to develop methods increasing the efficiency, scalability and applicability of Photanol's technology of turning CO2 into renewable chemicals through the power of photosynthesis.

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Áureo Cutillas

Junior Researcher | Strain Development

Strain Development researcher

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Matthew Booth

Research Scientist

Experienced researcher with a demonstrated history of working in the biochemical research industry. Skilled in Matlab, data analysis, statistics, wet lab techniques and bioreactor operation. Strong research professional working towards an Engineering Doctorate (EngD) in Biochemical Engineering from University College London.

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VACANCIES

At the moment there are no vacancies but we're always on the lookout for talent. Send an open application to jobs@photanol.com.

OUR PARTNERS

The future needs like-minds.