FluoRok secures £1.2M in funding strengthening the commercial proposition for the novel HF-free process for producing Fluorochemicals
ARC Oxford based FluoRok has secured an additional £1.2M grantaccelerating delivery, and strengthening the commercial proposition of their novel HF-free process for producing lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF₆).
The funding is part of the UK Government’s £4 billion DRIVE35 programme, delivered by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Innovate UK.
FluoRok’s project will deliver a comprehensive feasibility study for a First-Of-A-Kind commercial manufacturing facility, decoupling from oversees based supply chains and supporting the development of a competitive and sustainable UK battery ecosystem.
Andrew Schwarz, FluoRok’s Chief Business Officer said “This project is an exciting milestone for FluoRok. The continued support from the DRIVE35 programme enables FluoRok to accelerate and derisk commercial development of electrolyte salt manufacturing. Together with our customers and value chain partners we will support the growth of a competitive, sustainable, and local UK Li-Ion battery supply chain.”
FluoRok’s technology offers a HF-free route to Fluorochemicals such as LiPF₆, delivering significantly lower CO₂ emissions, reduced capital expenditure and lower operating costs vs incumbent technology. Our value proposition fundamentally builds an alternative path, extending to our customers a sustainable, secure, and local supply which is resilient to a volatile geopolitical climate whilst improving cost competitiveness.
Last year FluoRok, a University of Oxford spin-out focused on reinventing fluorination, expanded by 175% our ARC Oxford Campus as the company continues its growth trajectory as it scales its innovative, more sustainable and lower cost fluorochemical manufacturing process.
FluoRok has decades of combined experience in chemical manufacturing, fluorination chemistry, scale-up and business development. Fluorochemicals are fundamental to our daily lives, with critical applications in pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals and a key component of Lithium-ion batteries.
Currently the production of fluorochemicals relies on a toxic, energy-intensive process developed more than a century ago. FluoRok is re-inventing fluorination by developing new disruptive technologies that provide safe, efficient, lower cost and sustainable access to these key materials.
