Paul O’Connor

After graduating as Chemical engineer at Eindhoven University of Technology in 1977, Paul has been active in heavy oil conversion processes, mainly in Fluid Catalytic Cracking at Shell and at Akzo Nobel Catalysts (later acquired by Albemarle, now Ketjen).

In 2006 he formed BIOeCON, focused on the economic conversion of biomass to renewable fuels and energy. In 2018 Paul co-founded CELLiCON to commercialize BIOe CON’s technology to fractionate biomass into novel bio-based materials.

In 2010 Paul launched ANTECY and developed several patents in the capturing and conversion of CO2. This technology which was acquired in 2019 by Climeworks.

Most recently Paul and his team in YERRAWA (founded in 2021) are working on the catalytic carbonization of hydrocarbons, biomass and plastic wastes. This technology enables the conversion of organic materials into solid carbon and hydrogen avoiding the costs of capturing, transporting and sequestering CO2, while producing valuable products from the carbon.