CASALE SA

Their core work

Casale SA is a Lugano-based industrial engineering company with deep roots in large-scale ammonia, methanol, and hydrogen plant design — one of the world's leading process licensors in the fertilizer and chemical industry. In H2020, they participate as an industrial partner bridging fundamental electrochemical research with real-world chemical plant requirements. Their contribution to EU projects lies in translating laboratory-scale electrochemical and plasma-catalytic processes into scalable reactor concepts, particularly for green ammonia synthesis and CO2-derived fuels. They bring the engineering and commercialization perspective that academic consortia often lack.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Casale's earliest H2020 engagement (DECADE, starting 2020) centered on photoelectrocatalytic CO2 conversion — distributed, small-scale production of liquid chemicals like ethanol and ethyl acetate, a somewhat experimental departure from their traditional bulk-chemical focus. By 2021, their second project (ORACLE) pivots firmly toward ammonia as a renewable fuel carrier, using plasma-aided electrocatalysis and flexible 3D-printed reactors — territory much closer to Casale's industrial DNA in ammonia process design. The trend is a clear return to core competency: from exploratory CO2 chemistry toward green ammonia and chemical industry electrification, where they can leverage decades of process engineering at scale.

Casale is positioning itself as the industrial-scale partner for green ammonia and electrofuel technologies, moving from exploratory CO2 chemistry toward processes that map directly onto their existing plant engineering and licensing business.

How they like to work

Casale participates exclusively as a consortium partner — never as coordinator — across both projects, consistent with the role of a large industrial company contributing application expertise and scale-up know-how rather than leading fundamental research. With 23 unique partners across just 2 projects, they operate in broad, well-networked consortia (roughly 11-12 partners per project on average), suggesting they join ambitious multi-partner research programs rather than bilateral collaborations. This pattern indicates they are selective but engaged partners who bring credibility and industrial relevance to academic-led consortia.

Casale has built a surprisingly wide network of 23 unique partners across 10 countries through only 2 projects, pointing to large, internationally diverse consortia. Their geographic spread suggests strong engagement with the European research community beyond Switzerland's borders.

What sets them apart

Casale SA is one of very few H2020 participants that combines over a century of industrial ammonia and methanol process licensing with active participation in cutting-edge electrochemical and plasma-catalytic research — a rare bridge between industrial-scale chemical engineering and next-generation green chemistry. For consortium builders in the green ammonia, e-fuels, or chemical electrification space, Casale offers something academic partners cannot: direct knowledge of what it takes to take a process from bench to commercial plant. Their non-SME private company status and Swiss base also bring a commercially disciplined, IP-aware perspective to otherwise research-heavy consortia.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ORACLE
  Directly targets ammonia as a renewable fuel via plasma-aided electrocatalysis and 3D printed reactor engineering — a high-relevance topic for the energy transition where Casale's industrial ammonia pedigree makes their participation uniquely valuable.
• DECADE
  Tackles distributed, photoelectrocatalytic CO2 conversion to liquid chemicals, demonstrating Casale's willingness to explore decentralized production models beyond their traditional large-scale plant business.