This is a 48-month feasibility research project which aims to develop tools which will contribute to the COP26 Global Methane Pledge of cutting global methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030\. The project will seek to develop a naturally sourced nutritional additive to reduce methane emissions from ruminants, which currently account for 80% of the total methane emissions from agriculture in the UK. The project will also address the requirement to improve the efficiency of feed utilisation by ruminants, which will reduce the demand for imported high-protein feed materials, supporting sustainable milk and meat production. The rural economy will also benefit through diversification and employment opportunities for farming, an industry currently challenged by post-Brexit pressures. The project is based on greater use of locally available plant-based compounds called alkaloids, which can be extracted from daffodils. As daffodils are grown widely throughout the UK, production and extraction these compounds can be local, sustainable and resilient. Preliminary data estimates that by using a specific alkaloid from daffodils, direct methane emissions from ruminants can be significantly reduced whilst simultaneously improving the efficiency of feed protein utilisation by 50%. Improving feed protein utilisation will lead to increased productivity of the ruminant sector whilst reducing the production of nitrous oxide, another potent greenhouse gas. This would subsequently reduce the requirement for high-protein imported feeds such as soyabean meal, improving the sustainability of British farming. This project presents several benefits to both UK agriculture and wider society. \*Reduce the carbon footprint of the ruminant livestock sector by developing and validating a novel technology geared to boost feed protein efficiency whilst reducing methane emissions (currently more than 90% of the corporate dairy industry emissions are methane produced by cows). \*Improve productivity and resilience in the dairy sector by reducing the need to feed high-cost imported feed materials. \*Establish a UK-based supply chain to support the diversification of UK agriculture and boost the rural economy by providing higher incomes for farmers. \*Improve food security in the UK and provide rural job opportunities.

Downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) is a devastating fungal disease of grapevine in all grape growing areas of the world. Crop losses in individual years can be 100% if the disease is not controlled. The wet 2021 season resulted in significant crop losses in England due to this pathogen. There are no suitable sources of resistance in commercially acceptable varieties, so fungicides are the primary method of control. We aim to produce an organic pesticide to treat downy mildew for use in organic, biodynamic and standard viticulture. At present copper preparations are used, even in organic farming, despite environmental concerns. The European Community regards the reduction in copper use a high agricultural priority, but there have been no suitable alternatives. With the burgeoning wine growing industry in the UK (fastest growing agricultural sector; 150 % increase in acreage since 2010; production growing from 4.1 million bottles in 2016 to 13.1 million in 2018), an opportunity arises for growth in an environmentally friendly manner, reducing harmful copper and other synthetic pesticides in this industry. At present over 2 kg/ha of copper based products (in addition to synthetic pesticides) are used in normal grape farming and over 4kg/ha of copper products are used in biodynamic and organic farming. Through the EC funded ForestSpecs project, we discovered that diterpenoids from European Larch bark are highly effective against downy mildew on grapevines. In addition, in field trials of our patented product, we have demonstrated that our product also reduces the incidence of a second pathogen, powdery mildew. The active compounds can be extracted from larch bark or larch turpentine, and we have undertaken successful field trials in Switzerland and southern Europe. Our product will provide an effective treatment against this pathogen and reduce the use of copper based products. We plan to use UK larch bark to produce this organic agrochemical, for use on English vineyards and export. This project will provide a higher value outlet for larch bark for the UK timber industry. The product has a growing potential market in England and in countries where grapes are grown. In the UK the viticulture industry produces wine, employment and, increasingly, tourism opportunities.

Currently the recycling of films is greatly held back by the absence of a technology that can decontaminate post consumer polyolefin (LDPE, LLDPE,HDPE,PP) films back to food-grade and create high value end-markets for these recycled plastics back into films which is critical to boosting the recycling rate of films. The vision of this project is to fill this gap with an efficient, commercial process that can be integrated into mechanical recycling operations, targeted at high-quality film applications, to ensure that recycling targets can be met. COtooCLEAN, is a disruptive waterless cleaning process for polyolefin films based on low-pressure super-critical CO2 (scCO2) in combination with green co-solvents that can, in a single step, remove oils, fats and printing inks and effectively decontaminate polyolefin films under EFSA Challenge Test conditions back to food contact levels. The COtooCLEAN technology, in preliminary research, has shown many promising results and would greatly benefit from the optimisation of the processing conditions to design a prototype plant for use in decontamination and cleaning of films in commercial recycling operations. The industrial decontamination of post-consumer polyolefin films is currently performed using a mixture of aqueous or organic solvent washing, drying and thermal desorption. These processes have a high cost both in terms of the energy required and their environmental impact and are unable to reach food-grade compliance. ScCO2 is a non-toxic, non-flammable, non-corrosive solvent and can be selective about the contaminants it removes by the use of co-solvents. It's potential to recycle film back to food-grade quality will not only offer a new recycling stream, but will also facilitate significant reductions in waste to landfill, displacement of virgin resin with significant savings in resources and reductions in carbon emissions and water usage. ScCO2 is widely used in the extraction of food flavours and components such as caffeine. Impressively, a simple phase change can isolate dissolved contaminants and free the CO2 for re-use as a solvent once again. In this way it does not produce aqueous waste containing impurities and contaminants, or decontamination solvents that could themselves be hazardous materials as seen in competitive processes. A commercialised COtooCLEAN process has the potential to provide a unique technology that fills the gap in food-grade recycling of films. The Project is led by Nextek Ltd with deep commercial and technical support from Unilever, Amcor, Viridor, Allied Bakeries, SUPREX, University of Nottingham, Chemistry Department and BioComposites Centre, Bangor University .

BioExtractions Wales Ltd (BEW) is a Welsh based SME company specialising in the isolation of target compounds from complex mixtures typically bio-based mixtures. Pyrethrum is the most important global plant-based pesticide. It was a major income source for smallholders in east Africa and is increasingly important as availability of synthetic products becomes restricted and growing interest in organic production could drive its renaissance. Kenya is making significant efforts to re-vitalise its Pyrethrum production industry. However, growing Pyrethrum can only benefit Kenyan growers -- if there is market for the final product. Cote d'Ivoire is the largest country producer of coco beans, producing and exporting over a third of the cocoa beans globally for the production chocolate and related products. The crop accounts for a large proportion of Cote d'Ivoire foreign currency income. Cote d'Ivoire is home to International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO). There have been concerns raised about Cote d'Ivoire cocoa production in terms of environmental impacts (habitat, etc) and the occurrence of pesticide residues in chocolate products. To address the challenge of pesticide use we will seek to undertake a Global Cooperation Feasibility study deliver to establish and develop international networks from across both Kenya and Cote D'Ivoire with which to underpin the development work necessary to develop a completely new supply chain for Kenyan produced Pyrethrum. To ensure this is embedded with the national agricultural programmes we will work in cooperation with Cote d'Ivoire National centre for Agricultural research (CNRA) based in Abidjan.

Pyrethrum (_Tanacetum cinerariifolium_) is a perennial plant whose flowers are a source of bioactive pyrethrins widely recognized for their rapid knock down of insect pests in horticulture but having very low mammalian toxicity and non-persistence in the environment. They are the basis of established and globally traded natural plant insecticides. Pyrethrum is the most widely used plant pesticide in horticulture and its use is increasing with \>9000 MT grown in 2016, increasing from only 4509 MT in 2007\. Kenya was formerly the global leader in production contributing 90% of global supply in 1983 with nearly 30,000MT indicating the potential for this technology and scope for income generation among smallholders. Pyrethrin content is variable and dependent upon variety and growing conditions while flower proliferation is dependent on propagation. While pyrethrum is plant based, the use of toxic solvents for extraction and inclusion of synthetic additives as stabilizers, synergists and carriers in formulations means it is not suitable in organic farming so new plant-based synergists and carriers are required. The aim of this project is to optimise extraction and production and develop innovative pyrethrum formulations that are plant based and sustainable and that benefit smallholder farmers in Kenya through a cooperative movement. The economic benefits will serve as drivers for those farmers and the processing plants to grow once the sector is revived. New organic formulations and processing methods developed during the project will provide new products that incentivise more customers and help to support the continued growth of the sector and sustinjable food production more widely. We believe we can achieve our primary goal of making these improvements to revive the pyrethrum sector during the 36-month timeframe of the project, leaving a sustainable industry. This project will achieve the following outcomes: 1\. Develop high quality propagules using improved in vitro germination procedures to guarantee axillary shoot multiplication and rooting to optimise pyrethrin content of flowers. 2\. Develop an organic method for pyrethrin extraction based on ethanol and ultrasound. 3\. Develop new plant oil-based solvents (excipients) e.g. from _Croton megalocarpus_ and parsley seed oil readily available and indigenous in Kenya, to replace the synthetic Shell Sol(r) T oil. 4\. Develop new formulations using plant oils/synergists to replace piperonyl butoxide; and plant-based stabilizers to replace butylated hydroxytoluene e.g., from _Petroselinum crispum_ (Parsely) 5\. Identify and work with key pyrethrum stakeholders and register a pyrethrum-based product for Kenyan organic farming via a farmer cooperative.

Green Biologics (GBL) is a renewable chemical company currently commissioning the first new Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) plant to be built in the USA since 1938. GBLs technology is a bacterial fermentation, converting renewable or waste feedstocks to bio-acetone and bio-butanol. Currently butanol and acetone are derived from oil but the fermentation bio-products have superior characteristics, giving them an advantage in consumer markets. GBLs strain development programme aims to deploy the same robust microbes to produce a wider range of non-native, but natural, bio-chemicals through fermentation. Dynamic Extractions (DE) and BioExtractions Wales (BEW) provide innovative solutions for the purification of chemicals from complex mixtures. DE’s chromatography method will be applied to the extraction of these example chemicals from fermentation broth and BEW will evaluate purification and (bio)chemical transformation to higher value products. A critical need in developing new technologies is ensuring that end-user views and current market dynamics are taken into account. A social science intern will explore stakeholder perspectives in order to gauge the social feasibility of this work.

Green Biologics Ltd, a renewable chemical company which is now producing the only commercially available renewable acetone and butanol globally, is teaming up with innovative SMEs Dynamic Extractions (DE) and BioExtractions Wales (BEW) to develop a manufacturing process for the biological production of a medically and chemically important biochemical. Supported by the University of Exeter (responsible research), E4tech (life cycle analysis) and Keit (process analysis and control) the team aim to develop a process for production that uses renewable feedstocks and processing, reduces the environmental impact of manufacture and is made using methodology that is acceptable to society at large. The project will apply CLEAVE™, a GBL-developed technology that revolutionises the use of clostridial bacteria for the production of a wide range of biochemicals. GBL will develop the microbes and manufacturing process with technology developed by DE and BEW being used to purify the product and develop new markets based on promoting sustainability.