Belgian Startup Makes CO2 Capture Affordable for 2050 Goals
A Belgian cleantech startup founded less than two years ago is racing to solve one of the most stubborn problems in the fight against climate change: capturing carbon dioxide from industrial smokestacks at a price that makes economic sense. Without technologies like this, the company argues, global climate targets for 2050 will remain out of reach.
ARK Capture Solutions, based in Louvain-la-Neuve in Wallonia, has developed a patented fully electric hybrid carbon capture system that combines multiple physical gas separation techniques with a final cryogenic step, liquefying CO2 to 99.9% purity — all without heat, toxic chemicals, or complex infrastructure.
The Blind Spot in Carbon Capture
Global CO2 emissions stand at roughly 38 billion tons annually, with energy production and industry accounting for 75%. Within those sectors, three-quarters of emissions have CO2 concentrations between 4% and 15% — levels long considered too dilute for cost-effective capture by conventional technologies. This segment represents approximately 50% of global emissions.
“This represents 50% of global emissions, and there was no viable solution for this segment,” Samuel Thiry, CEO and co-founder of ARK Capture Solutions, told Forbes Belgium.
Existing solutions fall into two camps. Traditional amine-based solvent systems can handle lower concentrations but require enormous energy for solvent regeneration — consuming 20-30% of a coal plant’s electricity — and use toxic chemicals whose breakdown products are released into the atmosphere. Direct Air Capture (DAC), meanwhile, costs between EUR 600 and EUR 800 per ton, making it prohibitively expensive for most industrial applications.
A Hybrid Approach
ARK’s technology takes a fundamentally different path. Instead of relying on chemical absorption, it uses a fully electric hybrid process that integrates multiple physical gas separation techniques, finishing with a cryogenic step that turns CO2 into a liquid at 99.9% purity. The system recovers over 95% of CO2 from flue gas.
“Our solution is unique because it’s hybrid — we integrate multiple technologies rather than relying on just one. This allows us to avoid the exponential cost increases that others face,” Thiry explained to Tech.eu.
The company estimates capture costs at approximately EUR 80 per ton for a large installation, with a long-term target of EUR 60 per ton. That compares favorably to amine-based systems (EUR 80-120/ton) and is a fraction of the cost of DAC.
“We are a post-combustion solution: the industrial capital doesn’t change, we simply add our equipment downstream,” Thiry noted.
From Lab to Industrial Sites in 18 Months
Founded in May 2024 by Thiry and Aurelien Vantomme — both veterans of TotalEnergies with combined decades of experience in industrial energy — ARK has moved with remarkable speed. The company filed its first patent within months, raised over EUR 2.2 million in pre-seed funding by March 2025, and now operates three operational pilots.
The first pilot, capable of capturing 2 tons of CO2 per year, is already running on a real industrial site. The company is now scaling up to a 40-ton-per-year pilot and developing a 400-1,000 ton-per-year Industrial Demonstration Unit. Its Technology Readiness Level (TRL) stands at 6-7.
In October 2025, ARK was selected for the CO2DISRUPT project, a EUR 5.6 million consortium co-labeled by the MecaTech and GreenWin clusters and supported by the Walloon Region. Demonstration units will be deployed at Aperam in Chatelet, Industeel/ArcelorMittal, and Cinergie (biogas), with deployment planned by the end of 2026.
Thorsten Zimmermann, Head of Aperam Ventures — which led ARK’s pre-seed round — said: “As lead industrial investor, we are eager to implement and test their demonstration unit at Aperam Chatelet. We support the development of this groundbreaking decarbonization solution, which has the potential to transform a broad range of industrial sectors.”
Regulatory Tailwinds
ARK’s timing aligns with a rapidly tightening regulatory environment in Europe. The revised Emissions Trading System (ETS) is gradually phasing out free CO2 allowances by 2034. The Net Zero Industry Act, adopted in May 2024, requires oil and gas producers to develop storage capacity of at least 50 million tons per year by 2030. And since January 2026, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) has required importers of carbon-intensive products to purchase certificates equivalent to ETS rights.
“If you capture and store, you no longer have to pay these taxes. It’s a business case calculation,” Thiry told Forbes Belgium.
Belgium itself is investing heavily in carbon capture. In June 2026, the Flemish government announced EUR 1.2 billion in CCS projects as part of a EUR 2 billion industrial climate transition package. The Kairos@C project at BASF Antwerp received EUR 283 million in EU approval in March 2026.
Global Ambition
Despite its early stage, ARK is already thinking internationally. The startup is involved in tender procedures in Latin America, Japan, and the United Kingdom, and has started a pre-FEED (Front-End Engineering Design) in Flanders for a larger-scale project.
“Our future is international, but Belgium already offers enormous potential,” Thiry said.
Belgium emits approximately 110 million tons of CO2 annually — the Port of Antwerp alone accounts for 18 million tons. The company has engaged with roughly 70 industrial partners and grown its team from 4 to 12 employees in the past year, including engineers with PhDs and decades of industry experience.
ARK’s near-term target is ambitious: signing a first commercial-scale contract — capturing 20,000 to 50,000 tons per year — within 18 to 24 months.
What’s Next
The global CCUS market is projected to reach between USD 6.7 billion and USD 17.6 billion by 2033, with some analysts forecasting a quadrupling by 2050. For ARK Capture Solutions, the window of opportunity is now. With a technology that addresses a neglected half of global emissions, strong regulatory tailwinds, and growing industrial partnerships, the startup from Louvain-la-Neuve is positioning itself at the forefront of a sector that may prove essential to meeting the world’s climate commitments.
As Thiry put it simply: “Without this technology, we’ll never hit the 2050 climate goals.”