The industry decarbonisation project received a Net-Zero Industries Award at COP30 in Brazil, for its work demonstrating the feasibility of a circular carbon supply chain
Flue2Chem has been confirmed as a winner in the 2025 Net-Zero Industries Awards.
The judging team recognised the ground-breaking project for its unique industry-to-industry collaborative approach, which assisted in the development of new technologies to repurpose CO2 emissions, often considered waste, into everyday materials for consumer products at commercial scale.
The collaboration enabled rapid technology development which may have otherwise taken years to develop. Key processes were also run on a semi-pilot plant scale which supported more effective technology scale up for several of the partners, particularly the SMEs.
This unique industry-on-industry collaboration brought together a new supply chain - consumer product companies with intermediate manufacturers and CO2 emitters, along with some SMEs with new technologies, a trade association and a charity. It captured carbon dioxide from paper mill flue gases and developed new science that enabled the CO2 to be converted to ethanol. This ethanol could then be used to create ethylene oxide, and then this was used to create the target molecule, a surfactant, which could be formulated into everyday consumer products.
Ethylene oxide is typically made from ethylene by oxidation, and this ethylene comes either from an oil refinery or from ethanol produced by the fermentation of carbohydrates.
This unique collaboration brought together 10 large companies, 2 SMEs, 2 universities, a charity, a trade association and a national technology and innovation centre. Contributors to the project were Unilever, SCI®, Procter & Gamble, Reckitt, BASF, Croda, Johnson Matthey, CCUI, CCSL, Tata Steel, Confederation of Paper Industries, Holmen, UPM, the Centre for Process Innovation (part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult), LanzaTech, University of Sheffield, and the University of Surrey.
The 2025 Net-Zero Industries Award winners were unveiled at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. The Awards celebrate the achievements of individuals and projects driving innovation in industrial decarbonisation. Flue2Chem was awarded First Runner Up in the Outstanding Projects category of the Net-Zero Industries Awards.
Sharon Todd, CEO at SCI said “The reuse of emitted carbon dioxide is critical to delivering sustainability and this project made some significant steps forward in the technologies needed to do this. This project shows it is possible to use CO2 to make materials that otherwise would have been made from fossil fuels.
Collaboration is essential to innovation, and by bringing together industry large and small with academia and government, Flue2Chem demonstrated a model approach for projects seeking to make significant steps towards delivering Net Zero ambitions.”
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About SCI®
SCI® is an independent, charitable learned society that helpsbring science from the lab into industry quickerfor the benefit of society.
SCI is a global network of innovators using science to tackle some of the big societal challenges of the day, across climate & planet and health & wellness. SCI brings together companies with $500bn in global sales and $30bn in scientific R&D; publishes nine peer reviewed journals, including the recently launched Sustainability journal; and convenes a broad range of technical and regional interest groups.
Through its mentoring and training programmes, SCI empowers future leaders in science and business.
SCI – Where Science Meets Business
About Flue2Chem
Flue2Chem was a two-year demonstration project supported by Innovate UK. It sought to redesign and validate a UK value chain to convert valuable carbon emissions into sustainable materials for consumer products.
The project aimed to support the UK’s goal to become net zero by 2050 by examining an alternative source of carbon to virgin fossil fuels for industry.
The manufacture of products from petrochemicals uses the equivalent of approximately 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide globally each year.
The Flue2Chem partnership began in December 2022 and is published its findings in June 2025. The project cost approximately £4.4 million, including £2.7 million in support from Innovate UK.
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