**Challenge:** Roughly 35 billion tonnes of CO2 are emitted annually. With natural processes absorbing half of this, to negate current emissions, 17-20 billion tonnes/year require sequestration. To stabilise temperatures at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, hundreds of billions of tons of CO2 must be removed, potentially reaching trillions by the end the century. Enhanced weathering (EW) is a carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technology that speeds up the natural chemical reactions between rocks, water, and air, that removes atmospheric CO2, locking CO2 away as stable carbonate minerals. In the UK, spreading 10-20 tonnes/ha of silicate materials every 20 years onto 50% of all agricultural land could sequester 10--20 MtCO2/year (2-4% of the UK's current annual emissions). Maximum CO2 absorption via SBEW could be twenty times higher (e.g. 40-80% of the UK's current annual emissions), if only these silicate materials didn't take 20 years to weather after being deposited onto the top-dressing of UK agricultural land. There is an **unmet need** to augment EW processes to maximise the speed of CO2 that can be sequestered from the atmosphere. **In this project, FabricNano will develop an enzyme-mediated process to speed up EW** **of large silicate rocks (e.g. \>100µm) added to the top-dressing of UK agricultural land**. In doing so, FabricNano will improve the commercial potential of EW as a global CDR technology, by demonstrating the use of readily available large particle silicate material direct from rock quarries, which can be deployed rapidly onto more agricultural land. This technology leads to a step change in the CDR achievable using EW.

Biomanufacturing has emerged as a promising alternative to chemocatalysis for green, renewable, complex synthesis of biofuels, medicines, and fine chemicals. Cell-free chemical biosynthesis offers additional advantages over in vivo fermentation methods, by enabling plug-and-play assembly of separately produced enzymes into an optimal cascade, versatile reaction conditions, and direct access to the reaction environment. FabricNano have developed a synthetic biology, DNA-based nanoreactor platform technology with the potential to transform the UK's chemical synthesis industry. Their approach vastly improves reaction kinetics of multi-enzyme cascade kinetics to yield product quickly, and can contribute to the greening and sustainability of chemical production. FabricNano have identified a multi-enzyme cascade that converts waste glycerine into 1,3-Propanediol (PDO). Bioethanol/biodiesel production creates waste glycerine, valued at 20p/kg; PDO is valued at £9/kg, due to it utility across many applications (plastics, cosmetics, personal care, cleaning products) There is significant demand for PDO, but just four leading manufacturers have an annual output c. 142.5 kilotons/year. PDO chemical processing techniques are energy intensive, consume metal catalysts, and create dangerous working conditions. State-of-the-art approaches convert sugars and polyols to PDO via fermentation. However, fermentation relies on lengthy yeast culture, and consumes significant energy and fresh water. Because the Covid crisis is restricting the market for the UK's biodiesel/bioethanol producers (less leisure travel and freight services has lowered demand), FabricNano have identified an opportunity to: 1. Help bioethanol/biodiesel producers to remain profitable/viable operators during the Covid crisis by creating added-value for a low-value waste stream. 2. Create a domestic supply chain for PDO (currently no producers in the UK). The project will help to demonstrate the viability of FabricNano's biocatalyst at an industrial scale. It will also prove utility of FabricNano technology for coupling cascading enzyme reactions for the conversion of low value renewable feedstocks into high value products, which represents a keystone of renewable green chemistry.

Alcoholic hand gels are a necessity for everybody, especially frontline workers as part of their protection routine. Their demand has increased 6 folds since the outbreak. Unfortunately there is not enough hand gel available at present and the repetitive use damages the skin causing dryness and cracks, a potential entry point for the virus. The idea is to produce effective innovative formulas that take care of the hands and are very easy to make with low cost ingredients. The simplicity and low cost innovation is in view of licensing the formula to large contract manufacturers and even hospitals to make their own hand gel. In the case of satellite production like in hospitals for example, a set kit with training and instructions will be provided to manufacture at least 200 litres (40 gallons) of hand gel in less than an hour. As this crisis is here to stay for a while, setting up local, resilient and innovative supply chains, that are easy and safe is key for the benefit of the all community and public health.