Join us for this exciting Pioneer Presents live event to hear from experts across the UK Chemicals sector and their endeavours to become more sustainable, through the development and deployment of renewable carbon feedstocks.

We live in a world driven by linear economies, where we take resources, make things, consume them, and throw them away. This way of living uses finite raw materials and produces vast waste. In contrast, in a circular carbon economy, things made from carbon, such as chemicals and plastics, are created and consumed in a way that minimises our use of virgin-fossil resources, cuts waste and reduces carbon emissions. We must accelerate our transition to a truly circular carbon economy.

The chemicals and plastics sector are responsible for nearly 10% of global GHG emissions, with the use of fossil carbon from below ground, being the main cause of anthropogenic climate change. Reductions in the inflow of further fossil carbon from the ground into our system must be reduced as quickly as possible and by high volumes. While the UK rightly emphasises reuse and avoidance, the chemical and material industries are essentially only possible with carbon-based feedstocks – and unlike the energy sector, the chemicals sector cannot be “decarbonised”. Instead, this industry must be de-fossilised.

Circular Carbon Economy

Agenda

09:00 Coffee and Registration
09:30 Welcome and introduction to Pioneer Group Toby Reid, Pioneer Group
09:45 Alternative feedstocks for the UK chemicals industry Adrian Higson, NNFCC
10:15 Polymers in liquid formulations: Opportunities for a sustainable future Professor Anju Massey-Brooker, Royal Society of Chemistry
10:35 Green innovation in carbon technologies Ameilia Barton, Appleyard Lees LLP
10:50 Break
Session One: Chemical Recycling
11:10 Polymer recycling technology for the textiles industry Professor Du, University of Huddersfield
11:30 Producing renewable base chemicals while preventing the incineration of plastic waste Dr Abi Mountain, Head of Product & Partnerships, Itero Technologies
11:50 Engineering Biology for reducing plastic pollution Professor Pickford, University of Portsmouth
12:10 Lunch and Networking
Session Two: Carbon Capture and Utilisation
13.00 Recycling carbon with biomanufacturing Dr Anne Delille, PhD, Government Grants Finance Manager, LanzaTech
13.20 Flue2Chem Project David Bott, SCI
13.40 CCU in the Northeast Process Cluster – A Hub for Industrial Symbiosis Ryan Siddall, Head of Technical, NEPIC
14.00 Industrial gases for chemicals Michael Burnett, Innovate UK Business Connect
14:20 Break
Session Three: Biomass for Biochemicals and Bioenergy
15:00 A hierarchy for biomass utilisation Anna Zhenova, Green Rose Chemistry
15:30 Biorefineries as a hub for a de-fossilized chemical industry Chris Holt, Ensus
15:50 Producing Carbon-Neutral, Renewable Chemicals From UK-Sourced Biomass Andy West, Sonichem
16:10 Net zero acrylics Mark Reynolds, Mitsubishi Chemicals
16:30 Scaling-up to create biobased value chains Dr Mark Corbett, Director, The Biorenewables Development Centre
16:50 Close

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Venue: Wilton Centre
Location: what3words: warm.royal.direct

Lunch & refreshments will be provided.

At Pioneer Group, we believe in the power of innovation and collaboration, to tackle our human and planetary health challenges.

Pioneer Presents is our inspiring new event series exploring the challenges that we, as a life-sciences community, strive to solve.