Timur Ashirov

Timur Ashirov is founder and CEO of Separatic, a spin-off of the University of Fribourg that develops graphene membranes for capturing CO2 and separating gases. Its modular systems are designed for decentralised capture from sources such as flue gas, biogas and hydrogen streams, and the company runs pilots with Groupe E, KEBAG and Linde.

He holds a PhD in chemistry and is the lead inventor of Separatic's patented porous graphene membranes, which he developed in chemistry research at the University of Fribourg. He has published more than 15 scientific papers on gas capture and separation. His research earned the Swiss Nanotechnology PhD Award in 2022, the Vigener Prize and an ACS Global Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 2023, and the Helvetica Prize in 2024.

By 2025 Separatic had raised more than CHF 1 million in non-dilutive funding, including Venture Kick, an SNSF BRIDGE Proof of Concept grant, a Gebert Rüf InnoBooster, support from the Peter Bopp Foundation and Innosuisse grants.