Global PFAS innovators selected for RSC Change Makers programme

The businesses making up the PFAS Innovation Cohort will spend the coming months benefitting from tailored support to help them turn their cutting-edge science into technology capable of tackling of the world’s most stubborn pollutants.

Each of the eight companies brings a unique method to the global fight against forever chemicals. Four of the businesses – 2Encapsulate, Anthera Remediation Technologies, FluoroCycle and Micromelt – have each identified ways of breaking down the carbon-fluorine bond, the extraordinarily strong chemical link that gives PFAS its ‘forever’ reputation, using techniques ranging from electrochemistry to microwave catalysis.

Meanwhile, Pure Capture Innovations and Nanofinity take a different approach, using materials to filter the chemicals out of contaminated water and, in the latter’s case, also break down what they capture.

The remaining pair, ADN Coatings and Demeter Bio, have dedicated themselves to producing PFAS-free coatings designed to replace the chemicals in manufacturing before they ever reach the environment.

Over the coming months, each venture will work with a mentor from the Change Makers network of chemistry entrepreneurs for a series of one-to-one sessions. They will also be offered masterclasses on technology, routes to market and investor readiness, and given access to peer groups and professional advisers.

We want a stronger pipeline of chemistry ventures able to survive the leap from laboratory prototype to commercial product – a transition at which many deep-tech businesses fail long before their science is properly tested by the market. That is why we established the Change Makers programme and have supported dozens of companies in recent years.

Forever chemicals have made global headlines for their detrimental impacts on human health and the environment, while our YouGov research shows that nine out of 10 people in the UK want PFAS controlled in food, drinking water and the environment.

Raising awareness of PFAS and changing legislation has been a priority for the RSC for years, with our Policy and Evidence team launching our call for cleaner drinking water in the UK back in 2023 and building momentum through research and further campaigning.

Our Enterprise Impact Programmes team is similarly committed to driving positive change through chemistry, taking a hands-on approach to supporting the next generation of scientific pioneers.

As part of Change Makers, we are also supporting innovation through the Emerging Technologies Competition (ETC). This team is seeking applications for a new category, the Change Makers Spotlight Prize. The award will highlight innovative solutions to tackle PFAS, as well as sustainable polymers in liquid formulations (PLFs), as part of this year's edition of the competition.

The winner of the Change Makers Spotlight Prize will receive £2,000 as part of the £50,000 overall ETC prize pot this year, with the winners to be announced in London on 21 July.

Change Makers draws on more than a decade of similar work: since 2010, we have supported over 600 chemistry SMEs and helped SMEs in our community to raise more than £3.5 billion in grants and equity funding, as well as investing more than £7 million of our own money in programmes for SMEs.

The PFAS cohort will not be our last of 2026. We will open applications later this year for a further Change Makers cohort, this time targeting a different global challenge for deep-tech chemistry start-ups to solve, with details to be announced in due course.