Thirteen projects awarded a combined £7 million in grant funding have demonstrated industrial advancements in a range of industrial settings, including: metalworking, food equipment cleaning, brewing heat recovery, in-situ road resurfacing and recycling textiles and plastics.
Funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero under its Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP), the third and fourth phases of the IEEA were delivered by the Carbon Trust in partnership with Jacobs and Innovate UK Business Connect.
According to the results published by the Carbon Trust, the projects have demonstrated innovative solutions to increase resource and energy efficiency in the UK’s industrial sector, with the potential to save 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over 10 years. That is the equivalent of the annual CO2 emissions (2023 data) from the UK’s largest gas fired power station.
These projects showcased the potential for new innovative technologies to reduce energy and resource use in industry — the third largest emitting sector in the UK — which currently accounts for the equivalent of around 48 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
Lord Vallance, Minister for Science, Innovation, Research and Nuclear said:
“The UK is leading the way in industrial innovation to cut emissions and boost productivity across the UK. Programmes like this have allowed us to back new technologies that will help a wide range of businesses, from food to construction.
“This is a great example of how government and industry are working in tandem to deliver real-world solutions to tackle the climate crisis and back industry on the journey to Net Zero.”
Paul McKinney, Associate Director at the Carbon Trust and programme manager of the IEEA said:
“I have been proud to be part of the IEEA since the start and to manage the programme over the last six years. The sheer range of sectors covered, from food and chemicals to metals and construction, and the variety of technologies demonstrated from efficient plant cleaning and heat recovery to advanced sensors, AI and robotics clearly shows that there is no shortage of resource and energy efficiency technologies being developed to help industry on its Net Zero journey.
“Many of these technologies bring step-change energy savings to industrial processes, and often provide quality, productivity and other benefits as well as carbon savings. I very much look forward to seeing wide deployment of the technologies we have supported.”
The IEEA funds industrial-scale demonstrations of novel technologies with the potential to reduce energy consumption, maximise resource efficiency and cut carbon emissions. Across all four phases, over £28m in public and private match funding has been invested across 30 IEEA projects since 2018. Grant contributions have been between £130,000 and £1 million, typically providing around 40-60% funding, with the remainder funded by the projects themselves.
The demonstration projects included:
- Project Plan B in partnership with the Salvation Army: A system that has processed over 182,000 kg of textile waste by converting post-industrial polyester waste into high-quality recycled polyester (rPET) pellets. This shows the potential for a viable UK-based fibre-to-fibre textile recycling solution. The project has demonstrated innovative thermo-mechanical extrusion recycling technology to tackle textile waste sourced from donation centres and industrial waste streams and produce processed polyester pellets that retain much of the original material’s integrity, making them suitable for textiles and rigid plastics. In enhancing recycling capacity, Project Plan B hopes to accelerate the shift towards a circular textile economy and the promotion of sustainable product design.
- Luxus’ Odour Control Accelerator: this project has significantly reduced odour and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in recycled polymers through large-scale production of Odour-Extraction (ODEX) compound. Odours, and the volatile organic compounds responsible for them, are one of the largest barriers to using recycled polymer, particularly in post-consumer waste (PCW). Through the Odour Control Accelerator, odours have been reduced to undetectable levels allowing the volume of recycled material used in products to increase, reducing the requirement for virgin polymers and saving over 1,200 kg CO2e per tonne. This is especially beneficial with future regulations pushing for an increase in closed-loop recycling.
- APRIL™ Robotics Cooking Cell: developed by OAL, APRIL™ Robotics Cooking Cell is a robotic food processing system that fully automates soup and sauce cooking operations, designed and developed to adapt to individual customer requirements. It uses OAL’s innovative Steam Infusion technology which reduces energy use for cooking and cleaning, requires less cleaning water and improved product yield from 90 to 98% in trials. Carbon savings of up to 75% were demonstrated through the IEEA project.
- 4T2 Sensors has developed a sensor-detection technology to optimise the cleaning of process pipework in the drinks industry, reducing water, energy and chemical use. Demonstrated at Diageo’s Leven site which bottles some of the world’s most famous spirit brands, it uses real-time monitoring of fluid properties to replace time-based cleaning cycles. Roll-out across the site could save 1.5 million litres of water, along with energy reductions and improved production uptime. 4T2’s sensor technology has recently been licensed to the world’s largest Clean-In-Place (CIP) system and chemical supplier, which is expected to lead to widespread adoption.
What’s next
The IEEA was a unique opportunity for UK technology developers to bring their innovations to market, and to prove their technology works at scale in a production environment and the technology providers have gone on to raise over £40m of private finance.
It has shown that innovative energy and resource efficient technologies can provide a significant boost to UK industry’s transition to Net Zero. The projects have comprised installation and demonstration of new technologies in live production environments, with many leading to step change efficiency improvements of up to 70% in some cases.
The technology developers supported by the IEEA are now focused on scaling their solutions, expanding into new markets, and demonstrating real-world benefits. As regulations tighten and demand for sustainable practices grows, these projects have shown that industry will benefit by actively engaging with new technology, piloting new applications, and investing in collaborative efforts to accelerate adoption and drive sector-wide change. Case studies with further details of the technologies and the demonstration results can be found on the IEEA website.
Jake Norman, Managing Director at OAL said:
“This project has shown how advanced robotics can transform core processes like soup and sauce production, improving energy efficiency, reducing waste and increasing yield. Through the IEEA programme, we’ve gained valuable insight into the carbon footprint of food manufacturing and a clear pathway for scalable, intelligent automation across the sector.”
Sam Scutt, COO at 4T2 Sensors said:
“Participating in the IEEA programme enabled us to demonstrate how real-time fluid monitoring using electrical impedance spectroscopy can transform Clean-In-Place processes, saving water and boosting production. The support from IEEA was instrumental in validating our technology and accelerating its path to commercial deployment across multiple sectors”
Braydon Koss, Sustainability & Project Lead at Luxus Ltd said:
“We were excited to be part of the IEEA. This new technology will aid in developing high quality polymer grades to be used within multiple industries allowing for an increased volume of PCW used in products, not only reducing the need for virgin polymer, but decreasing carbon emissions and helping companies meet the upcoming regulations for sustainability.”
David Ogden, Executive Director Asset and Maintenance at Colas said:
“We were delighted to bring a new in-situ recycling technique to the UK, breaking the mould and helping the sector deliver its collective decarbonisation targets. It was great to collaborate with our clients and industry stakeholders, as part of the IEEA, to introduce this exciting new process and learn together how different solutions can be demonstrated, adopted and scaled within the UK Highways sector.”