Professor Yulong Ding
Founding Chamberlain Chair of Chemical Engineering
Staff profile for Professor Yulong Ding, Founding Chamberlain Chair of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham.
Spin-out: PeroCycle
Pioneering a closed-loop carbon recycling technology for steelmaking and other industries
The steel industry accounts for roughly 8% of global CO₂ emissions, releasing more than 3 gigatonnes each year.
PeroCycle, a University of Birmingham spin-out, is pioneering closed-loop carbon recycling technology designed to cut emissions from steelmaking by up to 90% and make low-carbon steel production commercially viable.
PeroCycle was built on research by Professor Yulong Ding and Dr Harriet Kildahl at the University of Birmingham, and spun out by the University of Birmingham and Cambridge Future Tech, a deep tech venture builder and early investor, in collaboration with Anglo American. In August, the company appointed Grant Budge as CEO. With experience in carbon capture infrastructure, decarbonisation strategy, and raising substantial public and private funding, Mr Budge aims to lead PeroCycle toward pilot-scale deployment, supported by a £4.5 million seed round to accelerate growth.
Perocycle CEO, Grant Budge, with co-founder Professor Yulong Ding and the prototype
At the heart of PeroCycle’s approach is a perovskite-based catalyst and reactor system that transforms captured CO₂ into carbon monoxide, a valuable feedstock for processes in the foundational industries, including steel, chemicals and petrochemicals.
Crucially, the system integrates directly into existing steel furnaces, enabling operators to reduce emissions without replacing infrastructure. This makes it more commercially viable than many other existing low-carbon solutions. “Operators don’t have to replace entire plants. They can keep running their mills, just with our capture system bolted on,” says Mr Budge. The technology is designed to be the most complete solution in terms of capture efficiency, ease of integration, and commercial potential.
This closed-loop scenario enables us to capture the carbon and turn it into something with value, potentially in multiple sectors.
The company is still refining its technology in the lab, but its strategy is built on flexibility and learning from the ecosystem around it. “Enterprise enables us to observe, to be in the ecosystem, and to absorb insights from all the different types of people and opportunities around us,” says Mr Budge.
The next stage of funding is to develop a pilot model. “The key to fundraising is finding deep-tech investors with an understanding of the scale and the timeline,” says Mr Budge. Enterprise’s support and network will be crucial to guiding the company through this upward trajectory.