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| Reference Number | UKRI2199 | |
| Title | Great British Chemicals | |
| Status | Started | |
| Energy Categories | Energy Efficiency (Industry) 70%; Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal (CO2 Capture and Storage, CO2 capture/separation) 10%; Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research (Environmental, social and economic impacts) 20%; |
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| Research Types | Basic and strategic applied research 100% | |
| Science and Technology Fields | PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry) 100% | |
| UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation | Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Policy and regulation) 50%; Other (Energy technology information dissemination) 50%; |
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| Principal Investigator |
Peter Styring University of Sheffield |
|
| Award Type | Standard | |
| Funding Source | EPSRC | |
| Start Date | 01 August 2025 | |
| End Date | 01 August 2032 | |
| Duration | 84 months | |
| Total Grant Value | £19,794,441 | |
| Industrial Sectors | Unknown | |
| Region | Yorkshire & Humberside | |
| Programme | Energy and Decarbonisation | |
| Investigators | Principal Investigator | Peter Styring , University of Sheffield |
| Other Investigator | Richard Catlow , Cardiff University Alex Cowan , University of Liverpool Russell Davenport , Newcastle University Trevor Farren , University of Nottingham Michael George , University of Nottingham Elizabeth Gibson , Newcastle University Christopher Hardacre , University of Manchester Oliver Heidrich , Newcastle University Colin Hills , University of Greenwich Thomas Howard , Newcastle University Alex Hughes , Newcastle University John Irvine , University of St Andrews Arze Karam , Durham University David Lewis , University of Manchester Peter Licence , University of Nottingham James McGregor , University of Sheffield Jon Mckechnie , University of Nottingham Fanran Meng , University of Sheffield Martyn Poliakoff , University of Nottingham James Rae , University of St Andrews Alberto Roldan-Martinez , Cardiff University Matthew Rosseinsky , University of Liverpool Rachel Smith , University of Sheffield Nimisha Tripathi , University of Greenwich Maria Val Martin , University of Sheffield Sergio Vernucci , University of Southampton Paul Webb , University of St Andrews Mohammad Zandi , University of Sheffield |
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| Web Site | ||
| Objectives | ||
| Abstract | Great British Chemicals (GBC) is a national hub uniting industry, researchers, and policymakers to revolutionise UK chemicals production by advancing innovative, scalable technologies that transform waste and renewable resources into sustainable solutions, tackling the grand challenge to reduce fossil fuel dependency while securing resilient, environmentally sound, and economically vibrant supply and value chains. GBC will demonstrate how industry can exploit the net zero transition as one of the most profitable areas for the UK, ensuring a strong economy and an improved environment that is fair and creates inclusive opportunities. The chemistry-using industries are a vast and complex sector, comprising several diverse sub-sectors, each playing a crucial role in various aspects of modern life. GBC has identified opportunities, leveraging the outcomes of major UKRI investments such as CircularChem, Flue2Chem, the Catalysis Hub, doctoral training grants and aligned research and partnerships. It will create, collate, and translate knowledge from research on defossilising (rather than decarbonising) chemicals across technologies, policy, energy, and industrial systems in partnership with industry, civic bodies, national government, and the third sector. The challenge areas have been described in recent reports: Innovate UK Sustainable Carbon Ambition, Royal Society “Defossilising the Chemical Industry”, IChemE Climate Change Action Plans, DESNZ Unlocking Resource Efficiency, Phase 2 Chemicals Report. The triple drivers leading to a focus on defossilising chemicals are: the major contribution of the chemicals sector to the UK’s industrial carbon emissions (19%); the dependence of all industries and citizens’ health on chemicals (96% manufactured goods); the critical importance of the chemicals sector to the UK economy (£61bn/a exports). Reducing the UK’s carbon emissions by 78% between 1990 and 2035 (6th Carbon Budget) cannot be achieved without addressing the carbon embedded in the feedstocks and processes in chemical using industries. GBC’s whole system approach includes mapping hotspots for replacement with zero fossil alternatives with the least disruption to the existing infrastructure, accelerating adoption of smarter technologies and chemistries, and evaluating economic and environmental impacts. GBC will target the foundation chemicals within the existing petrochemical industries and will support the community to create a new, circular chemicals supply chain. GBC’s end-to-end approach will minimise the demand for energy and competition for limited resources, such as biomass. Adopting waste hierarchy principles could optimise less energy-intensive manufacturing, including the production of vehicles, wood/paper products, consumer hygiene products, pharmaceuticals and electronics, among other industries. These sectors provide opportunities for industrial symbiosis by providing by-products as feedstocks for other industries and can provide new revenue streams for businesses. The research will be delivered via a Moonshot project on the digital acceleration of technology for Chemical transformations, three work streams: Carbon Capture, CO2 Use, and Process Intensification, all underpinned by three cross-cutting Function Streams: Planet, Prosperity, and People. Further, innovative ideas for co-creation and co-delivery with wider stakeholders will be provided via Flexible Funding structured as follows: Phase 1 (early stage) - identify high-potential research innovations and assess their industry applicability through feasibility studies, market analysis, and project prioritisation based on scalability and readiness. Phase 2 (mid stage) – advance prioritised projects to validate tools/services by supporting development, industry collaborations for real-world testing, and technical and commercial validation. Phase 3 (late stage) – enable full-scale deployment by finalising development to industry standards, supporting adoption through pilot programmes, and establishing commercialisation pathways for long-term industry uptake. | |
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| Added to Database | 07/01/26 | |
