Hydrogen Power

World-class engineers tender for contract to design low-carbon hydrogen production plant at Grangemouth

3
min 2022

CO2
Gas will be captured and stored permanently under seabed

2030
INEOS will be able to cut emissions by more than 60%

£1billion
Massive investment is needed to move to the production and use of hydrogen

Hydrogen barge

INOVYN is working with a Dutch company to develop Europe’s first-ever hydrogen-fuelled barge to transport chemicals. The barge currently runs on oil. But VT Group is stripping out the combustion engine and fitting the barge with hydrogen technology, so that it can run on unwanted, low-carbon hydrogen produced by INOVYN during its chemical manufacturing processes.

“Our strong relationship with INOVYN has always enabled us to innovate,” said Niels Groenewold, CEO of VT Group.

Once operational, the barge will ship vital raw materials for INOVYN between its Antwerp and Jemeppe sites in Belgium.

Wouter Bleukx, Hydrogen Business Manager for INOVYN, said hydrogen-powered transport was going to play a critical role in Europe’s journey to net-zero. “This alone will cut CO2 emissions by about 1,000 tonnes a year,” he said.

ANOTHER significant step has been taken by INEOS to ensure the sustainable future of its businesses at Grangemouth in Scotland. The world’s best engineering companies are currently tendering for the right to design a world-scale, low-carbon hydrogen production plant at the UK site.

“This is an important step forward in our road map to net zero by 2045,” said Andrew Gardner, CEO and Chairman at Grangemouth.

“It will help us to reduce our own emissions, create products that will help others to reduce their emissions and allow us to play a leading role in a clean hydrogen revolution.”

Once built, the new plant will produce hydrogen from natural gas, capturing the CO2 by-product.

It will enable the businesses at Grangemouth to replace hydrocarbon fuels, such as natural gas, with clean low-carbon hydrogen to power its processes and manufacture vital chemicals, which are used in everything from bottles, cables and insulation to food packaging and medicines.

The plans underpin INEOS’ commitment to the Acorn Project - Scotland’s first, large-scale carbon capture and storage project.

The CO2 will be transported through existing pipelines and permanently and securely stored in rock formations under the North Sea.

Stuart Collings, CEO INEOS O&P UK., said the carbon capture and storage project was an important part of both Scotland’s and the UK’s drive to net zero.

“Our investment in a hydrogen plant, alongside access to the Acorn Project, will result in reductions of more than one million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year from the site,” he said.

INEOS is determined to build on the significant CO2 reductions already made since it acquired the Grangemouth site from BP in 2005 – and cut emissions by more than 60% by 2030.

It is currently investing in a new, highly-efficient energy plant, which is under construction and due to be commissioned in 2024.

That plant will drive down emissions by at least 150,000 tonnes a year.

Once the site is producing clean, low-carbon hydrogen, this new power plant will be supplied with hydrogen which will further reduce CO2 emissions.

Access to locally-produced hydrogen will also benefit other assets at the Grangemouth site, fuelling the existing combined heat and power plant, the KG ethylene cracker and assets in the Forties Pipeline System and Petroineos refinery.

“This will require a new hydrogen distribution network throughout the site and modifications to the existing fuel gas network, all of which are captured within the scope of the engineering design,” said Stuart.

INEOS also wants the hydrogen production plant to be designed so that it can link to other industries in the local area, thus supporting the development of a local hydrogen hub.

“Any resulting inward investment should boost local employment as well as the local and national economies,” said Stuart.

“The scope of design is also planned to provide capability to link the hydrogen production to third parties in the local area to support development of a local hydrogen hub.”

Overall, £1billion of investment is needed by 2030 to move to the production and use of hydrogen at the Grangemouth site.

‘This is an important step forward in our road map to net zero by 2045’ - Andrew Gardner, CEO and Chairman, Grangemouth.

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Big reaction

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3 min read

INEOS Sports timeline

INEOS appoints new Director of Sport - LEADING FROM THE FRONT Sir Dave Brailsford has been appointed as its new Director of Sport. Dave, who was part of the INEOS 1:59 performance team that helped marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge storm into the history books, said it was an opportunity to work together with all the other sports teams across INEOS. Over the past few years, INEOS has forged partnerships with some of the very best teams in the world in cycling, Formula One, sailing, football, hockey and running. The latest partnership is with the world famous All Blacks from New Zealand. “As the sports organisation has grown, we are looking to develop a performance agenda across all sports,” he said. Dave said its ethos mirrored how INEOS liked to do business. “This culture and approach are at the heart of what makes INEOS such a successful business,” he said. “It has a federal structure with clear responsibilities, but also a desire to cross pollinate new thinking and ideas across the group. The aim now is to replicate this model across all the sports at INEOS.” Clark Laidlaw, the All Blacks Sevens’ head coach, described the performance partnership with INEOS as unique. “It will give us the ability to learn from some of the world’s highest performing teams across a range of sports,” he said. Alongside Dave’s new role as Director of Sport, he will continue to lead INEOS Grenadiers cycling team, with Rod Ellingworth as his deputy. “We are already deep into the planning for 2022 and are committed to going all in for the season,” he said. “For me there is no more exciting place to be in global sport right now than at INEOS, given the extraordinary range of talents across the different teams” – Sir Dave Brailsford Below we look at the INEOS Sports Timeline 2010 – DecINEOS becomes front of shirt sponsor of Lausanne Hockey Club 2017 – NovemberINEOS acquires Swiss football club FC Lausanne-Sport 2018 – AprilINEOS TEAM UK competed for the America’s Cup in 2021. Now as INEOS Britannia it is the challenger of record for the 37th America’s Cup in 2024 2019 – MayINEOS acquires cycling team TEAM Sky who become Team INEOS and then the INEOS Grenadiers (2021) 2019 – AugustINEOS acquires French football club OGC Nice 2019 – OctoberINEOS supports Eliud Kipchoge’s record-breaking marathon as he becomes the first person to run a marathon in under 2 hours at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge 2020 – FebruaryINEOS becomes Principal Partner to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1Team 2020 – DecemberINEOS joins Daimler and Toto Wolff as equal owners of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team 2021– JulyINEOS becomes Performance Partner to New Zealand Rugby and the Teams in Black 2021 – DecemberDave Brailsford announced as Director of Sport at INEOS 2022 – JanuaryINEOS becomes Performance Partner to Eliud Kipchoge and the NN Running Team  

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Running partner

The NN Running Team is the first professional team within the world of running and is delighted to formalise a long term performance partnership with INEOS. INEOS is reuniting to help Eliud win a record-breaking, third, consecutive Olympic gold medal in the marathon at the Paris Olympics 2024. Eliud Kipchoge made history in 2019 when he became the first man to run a marathon in under two hours at the INEOS 1:59 Challenge. As he crossed the line in Vienna, Austria, he said: “This shows no one is limited.” Since then Eliud and INEOS have worked on various campaigns, but they have now signed a new performance partnership agreement to tackle new challenges together. The knowledge and expertise of the team, who helped to make history on the streets of Vienna, are reuniting to help Eliud win a record-breaking, third, consecutive Olympic gold medal in the marathon. The Kenyan athlete won golds at Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021 and will be going for gold in Paris in 2024. “To receive the support from such a great entity in sports is a huge boost to myself and the team,” he said. INEOS’ backing, he said, also presented a huge opportunity for the greatest minds in sport to share their experiences and ideas. “We have already changed the world together once,” he said. Eliud will be working with Sir Dave Brailsford in his new role as Director of Sport at INEOS. “Eliud is a once-in-a-generation athlete,” said Dave. “He has broken athletic boundaries that many felt impossible. “Collaborating with Eliud, his performance team and INEOS on the 1:59 Challenge was a truly inspiring experience. The opportunity to come together again to tackle new ambitious challenges with Eliud and the wider running team is incredibly exciting.” INEOS founder and chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who was in the Prater Hauptallee on that historic day, said Eliud’s approach and mindset transcended sport. “We have a great opportunity ahead of us to support not only his performance goals but understand how his approach can help others achieve theirs,” he said. Long distance running may seem like a solitary pursuit. But in reality, it’s a team sport. Many people worked behind the scenes to help Eliud become the first man to run 26.2 miles in under two hours, including 41 pacemakers. Eliud and his Dutch-based NN Running Team will begin working with the other teams backed by INEOS, which include the All Blacks, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, INEOS Grenadiers cycling team, America’s Cup Challenger of Record INEOS Britannia, OGC Nice and FC Lausanne-Sport. Through their performance partnerships, INEOS has brought together some of the best minds and talent in sport to tackle sports' greatest challenges. Under Dave, the teams involved are working together to identify opportunities for performance gains that can be shared and applied across the group. “Across sports, we all face the same challenge, which is the need to continually improve,” said Dave. ‘To receive the support from such a great entity in sports is a huge boost to myself and the team’ – record-breaking Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge

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Chain reaction

A COUNTRY famed for producing the world’s best distance runners could soon be making real headway – in the world of cycling. Eliud Kipchoge, the 5ft 4 Kenyan athlete who made history on the streets of Vienna by running a marathon in under two hours, has teamed up with INEOS to launch a cycling academy at the renowned Kaptagat camp where he trains. “This is very great news,” Kevin Richie Preacher posted on Facebook. “I can foresee a Kenyan continental team coming up very soon.” The INEOS Eliud Kipchoge Cycling Academy will be headed up by Valentijn Trouw, who was heavily involved in the record-breaking INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Austria in 2019. Also involved will be the INEOS Grenadiers, one of the world’s most successful cycling teams. Sir Dave Brailsford, INEOS’ Director of Sport and Team Principal of INEOS Grenadiers, said the new academy could help to develop new riders from Africa. “We all know the talent is there,” he said. “We have seen it this year.” In March Biniam Girmay became the first black African to win a World Tour race at Belgium's Gent-Wevelgem classic. Two months later he made history as the first black African winner of a Grand Tour stage in the Giro d'Italia. INEOS Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe recently visited the Kaptagat-based training camp. “There is such exciting sporting talent, passion and ambition in Africa,” he said. “I am convinced that this partnership can do something truly different and unique for cycling – as well as for aspiring young African athletes.” For more than 30 years Valentijn, who will work with the wider Kaptagat team, has identified and nurtured long-distance runners in Kenya, creating a pathway for them to compete on the world stage. “Their passion, dedication and love of sport is a perfect fit with the INEOS Grenadiers’ spirit of giving it all to race and be your best,” said Dave. “Together I believe we can achieve something unique and important for cycling in Kenya, Africa, and the sport itself.” Eliud, who will be seeking to make history in Paris 2024 by winning his third successive Olympic men’s marathon, said he was proud that the camp would no longer be a purely athletics-focussed training camp. “The cycling academy is a very natural fit,” he said. “It’s got great potential to enable our young talented cyclists to make the next steps towards the top level of cycling.” Valentijn said he, too, was excited at what could be achieved by working with INEOS and the INEOS Grenadiers cycling team. “It is an opportunity to build a relatively new sport in Kenya and bring together our collective knowledge and insights from running and cycling for the benefit of the sport,” he said. ‘We all know the talent is there. We have seen it this year’ – Sir Dave Brailsford, INEOS’ Director of Sport and Team Principal of INEOS Grenadiers INEOS and Eliud Kipchoge share a passion. They both believe that no human is limited. So it was only a matter of time before they linked up again.

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Programmes, partnerships and philanthropic donations

INEOS supports health, education, conservation and grassroots sport initiatives throughout the world. “Through our giving we aim to make real impact big and small, whether that’s trying to find a solution to the global crisis of antibiotic resistance, improving the lives of children living in poverty, or supporting local community groups around our sites,” said Ursula Heath, Communications Manager INEOS. Forgotten Forty Giving headteachers the chance to make a difference IT is estimated that more than four million children in the UK – over 40% of children in some regions – were living in poverty before the pandemic. But with successive lockdowns and increases in the cost of living in the UK, the problem will only worsen. Often their parents do not rely on state benefits. They are simply working all hours in low-paid jobs to make ends meet, leaving little time and money for non-essentials. Following a successful pilot scheme involving 20 schools in some of the UK’s most deprived communities, 100 headteachers have now been chosen by INEOS to benefit from an annual £20,000 grant to spend on initiatives that could transform the lives of their most deprived children. These initiatives are taking place and being evaluated, with learnings shared across the group of teachers. Over three years, INEOS hopes to not only witness a meaningful, short-term impact on the lives of several children living in poverty, but also to gain insight into effective ways of tackling the negative effects of deprivation in primary schools, which can be shared and scaled. CHILD poverty is nothing new. It has been a priority for successive UK governments for about 70 years. Attempts to tackle the problem, though, have focused on raising standards in schools. No one has tackled the root cause, which is what goes on beyond the school gates. Until now. “INEOS’ decision to want to play its part in eradicating poverty represents a radical, new approach,” said Brian Padgett, a former deputy head who is working closely with four other ex-teachers on INEOS’ Forgotten Forty initiative. The Forgotten Forty team – Brian, Elaine and John Wyllie, Sheila Loughlin and Elaine Crotty – were brought together in 2019 to consider what might be done differently to help tackle the impact of poverty on some of the most deprived children in the UK. They came up with the concept of giving teachers a ‘blank cheque’ to try out new projects that might inspire children from poorer homes to believe in a better future – with the intention of INEOS learning what works, and what doesn’t. All five members of the Forgotten Forty team know from experience that a child’s home life can seriously hamper his or her ability to do well in school and limit what they go on to achieve. “The home underpins everything,” said Brian. “By helping families to cope and live better, the children will benefit.” They also know the challenges facing headteachers whose primary schools care for some of the most deprived children in the UK, with their ability to help often constrained by limited and overstretched school budgets. To help, INEOS has committed to giving £20,000 a year for three years to 100 primary schools serving some of the poorest communities in the UK – and is putting that funding into the hands of headteachers. All INEOS wants is for them to use that money to help build a child’s confidence, develop their resilience, excite their curiosity about the world around them and inspire them to want to do well. “The money is not there to send a child on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Africa,” said Brian. “It’s about opening a child’s eyes to the world around them and showing them what is on their own doorstep. “It could be as simple as taking them to a local museum or an art gallery that they have never visited before.” The team is now working closely with all the 100 schools. “Headteachers are not short of ideas,” said Elaine Wyllie, who founded The Daily Mile when she was headteacher of St Ninian’s Primary School in Scotland. “At the last count, they had come up with more than 600 initiatives.” Headteachers know that not all learning takes place in the classroom, and that valuable lessons can be learned on school trips, after school and at weekends. But they also know that children from poorer backgrounds are less likely to go on school trips, enjoy days out at the seaside, learn to play a musical instrument or join a sports club because their families simply cannot afford it. ‘The Forgotten Forty project is so flexible and is the best initiative I have ever been involved in. It has already had a huge impact on the community and will allow our children to build aspirations for the future’ - Nick Anderson, Headteacher Bede Primary School, Gateshead The Forgotten Forty project’s goal is to allow headteachers to help their most deprived pupils enjoy a well-rounded education that children from wealthier homes take for granted. “INEOS trusts us and we trust our teachers,” said John, who spent 32 years working in Scottish secondary schools. The teachers have been given some rough guidance – they cannot spend it on staff salaries or capital projects – but apart from that, they have been trusted to spend it wisely. Elaine Crotty, who specialised in early years’ education, said it didn’t matter if one of the teachers’ initiatives didn’t work. “We are not expecting them all to work,” she said. “What we want to do is encourage teachers to take a risk and try something new. With any luck, some of the findings will be applicable to other schools too - whether or not they are currently part of the Forgotten Forty programme.” The headteachers have also been introduced to one another so that they can share their ideas and successful initiatives. INEOS will host an annual conference each year to allow them to build a network. “Talking to each other has also helped them to realise they are not alone,” said Brian. He said successive governments had blamed the underachievement of children from poor backgrounds on schools. “They have wilfully ignored all the challenges stacked up against the children, their parents and local communities,” he said. He said if INEOS’ intervention showed promising new ways of alleviating the effects of poverty, it could influence how schools spend their funding in future. “The team are also hoping the initiative encourages other private donors to get involved with supporting primary schools,” said Brian.  

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The world at its feet

THE eyes of the world will be watching when the United States stages the World Athletics Championships for the first time. Hoping to attract some of that attention between July 15 and 24 will be The Daily Mile, which has been named as an official event supporter. A film extolling the physical and mental benefits of this INEOS-backed initiative will be regularly shown in the stadium during breaks in the competition. And Daily Mile banners will adorn the inside of Oregon’s Hayward Field, one of the greatest track and field stadiums ever built. “We are hoping to encourage children in Oregon, the rest of the US and across the world to take part in The Daily Mile,” said Elaine Wyllie, who founded the initiative 10 years ago to help improve the fitness of pupils at her primary school in Scotland. Today – with INEOS’ support – more than three million children around the world now regularly run, walk or jog The Daily Mile. “As childhood becomes more sedentary than ever, we’re proud that The Daily Mile has helped those children get up and running because we know that the positive experiences we have at a young age shape habits for life,” said INEOS Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe. About 2,000 of the world’s greatest track and field stars from more than 200 nations – along with thousands of fans from around the globe – will be heading for the USA this summer. As part of the 100-day countdown to these historic Championships, children in Portland ran The Daily Mile for the first time as part of the World Wide Welcome Youth Relay. Each leg of the relay will be dedicated to one of the global track and field teams who will be competing on US soil for the first time. The Daily Mile has not only improved children’s fitness. It has also led to improved performance in the classroom. “It is free, simple and effective and fits into the school day easily,” said Elaine. Sarah Massey, CEO of the Championships’ local organising committee, Oregon22, LLC, said The Daily Mile and the World Wide Welcome Youth Relay were a perfect match, and would be working together to show new schools and community groups across Oregon what they could do – for free – to improve children’s fitness. “Both programmes serve to encourage healthy activity in the younger generation, so we couldn’t be prouder to collectively build this into the lead-up to these World Athletics Championships,” she said. worldathletics.org

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Pride of Scotland

SCOTLAND was where The Daily Mile all started. So it was only right that Scotland should host the 10th anniversary party of that simple initiative that has become a runaway success with school children all over the world. And there to see it was former headteacher Elaine Wyllie, who Pagefounded it as a way to improve the fitness of her own pupils from St Ninian’s Primary School in Stirling. “It has been an incredible journey so far,” she said. In Dundee, more than 800 children from six local primary schools took part in the largest-ever mass Daily Mile run in Baxter Park in front of distinguished guests. At the same time, more than 260,000 children around the world took part in a virtual event – across 1,040 schools in 16 countries from Scotland to New Zealand. “The fact that we were able to do this mass global event with hundreds of schools to celebrate our 10th birthday was a real testament to the enthusiasm behind the initiative,” said Elaine. “It was a fantastic way to celebrate all we have achieved.” She praised the children, teachers, schools and INEOS, which has helped to spread its appeal throughout the world. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Founder and CEO of INEOS, said INEOS had supported the Daily Mile for years because it shared Elaine’s passion. “It’s a free, simple and effective way to improve children’s physical and mental wellbeing,” he said. The initiative has enjoyed phenomenal success since it was founded 10 years ago. Today more than three million children across 14,000 schools in 87 countries globally are now running The Daily Mile. In just 10 years The Daily Mile has become phenomenally successful, but all involved agree that there is still so much more that can be done. Hear from the experts, how - from a single class, in one school - this simple, but effective INEOS-backed initiative has already transformed millions of children's lives. thedailymile.org

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Six Rivers Project

Conservation methods begin to bear fruit as team continues to focus on the best ways to save this incredible species from extinction. CONSERVATION methods – adopted by the INEOS-backed Six Rivers Project to try to save the Atlantic salmon – are beginning to bear fruit. Recent work has led to an improvement in the number of juveniles in the Sela river, which has long been a safe haven for this threatened species. “The management of fishing pressure has also played a significant role here,” said Pete Williams, INEOS’ Director of Technology. All fish caught must be released, and anglers are allowed to use light fishing tackle only. “We are confident that by changing traditional fishing habits, we can enhance both the quality of all the rivers and improve the life of the fish that inhabit them,” he said. Icelandic rivers are world renowned for their salmon fishing and attract enthusiasts from all over the world every year. But if the salmon disappear, a source of income for those living in remote parts of North East Iceland vanishes too. INEOS Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe has, for years, been working with the former Strengur Angling Club, now part of the Six Rivers Project. They are working to ensure that profit from the world-class salmon fishing business will be reinvested in the conservation work to protect the species locally and beyond. “In essence the fishing will provide the means to protect the local environment,” said Pete. The Six Rivers Project, which was initiated by Jim, is working with experts from Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Institute and Imperial College London on a ‘multi-faceted’ conservation programme. Salmon ladders have been built to allow the salmon to reach new spawning grounds further up the rivers. Eggs have been planted in new areas. Adult fish have been relocated to new parts of the rivers, where competition for food may not be as fierce. And botanists have been planting native vegetation along the riverbanks which has increased the food supply in the rivers. The team also tagged 1,000 smolts – maturing salmon – so that scientists could track and monitor their behaviour. From that research alone, they discovered that half of smolts in the Vesturdalsa died before they even reached the sea – and very few, just 13 in 1,000, of the tagged smolts returned to spawn. “All these conservation measures have set a new standard in Iceland,” said Pete. “But there is much more to do in this long-term project.” The team, though, remain confident that, with careful management, they can reverse the decline in the wild Atlantic salmon which used to thrive in Iceland – and provide insights for protecting the species elsewhere. “It is important that we share our findings with other groups around the world,” said Pete, who is co-ordinating the academic research. “Conservation resources are limited so we need to ensure we’re not unnecessarily repeating work done elsewhere.” As part of the team’s desire to share their findings, INEOS hosts an annual Six Rivers International Conference in Reykjavik every year. In September 2021 academics from Canada, Norway, England, Iceland and beyond met to compare research. “Ultimately, we have the same aim,” said Pete. “We all want to leave the environment and habitat in better shape than we found it.” Experts from Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater Institute and Imperial College London are working on the ‘multi-faceted’ conservation programme as part of the Six Rivers Project, which was initiated by INEOS Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe. www.sixrivers.is ‘Our conservation measures have set a new standard in Iceland’ - Pete Williams, INEOS’ Director of Technology  

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INEOS Oxford Institute

The accidental discovery by Alexander Fleming of a mouldy petri-dish in 1928 kickstarted a 20 year journey to develop the world’s first mass-produced antibiotic. But little progress has been made since the 1980s to develop new drugs to combat the growing ‘silent pandemic’ of antimicrobial resistance. Now scientists at the Ineos Oxford Institute have helped to identify a potential future drug that could extend the life of ‘last resort’ antibiotics. IN January 2021 INEOS committed £100 million to Oxford University amid fears that a growing, ‘silent pandemic’ of antimicrobial resistance would end modern medicine as we know it. A year on, scientists, based at the Ineos Oxford Institute, have made a promising discovery. Carbapenems are vital, often ‘last resort’, antibiotics that are used to treat serious infections, such as sepsis and pneumonia, when all others have failed. Despite that, some bacteria have found a way to render those carbapenems useless by producing enzymes called metallo-betalactamases (MBLs), leading to a rise in superbugs. But new collaborative research, conducted by scientists from the Ineos Oxford Institute and several institutions across Europe, has found that indole carboxylates, a new class of enzyme blockers, can stop those enzymes working, leaving the antibiotic free to attack and kill bacteria, such as E. coli, in the lab and in infections in mice. The researchers first screened hundreds of thousands of chemicals to see which would attach tightly to the metallo-beta-lactamases enzymes to stop them working – and which didn’t react with any human proteins. By zooming in to take a closer look at how they work, the researchers found that these potential drugs attached to the enzymes in a completely different way to any other drugs because they copied how the antibiotic behaved with those enzymes. The researchers then chemically changed aspects of the drugs to make them as effective as possible and tested them, in combination with carbapenems, against multi-drug resistant bacteria in both dishes in the lab and in mice. “The potential new drugs, in combination with carbapenems, were found to be many times more potent at treating severe bacterial infections than carbapenems alone,” said Professor Schofield. Antimicrobial resistance is currently responsible for about 700,000 deaths every year, but it threatens to get much, much worse, with fears that 10 million people could die every year by 2050 from common infections. “It is a massive problem because collectively we haven’t been making enough new clinically useful antibiotics,” he said. “As a society we must find ways both to make new antibiotics and protect the ones we have. The alternative is that routine modern medicine will be disrupted in a manner simply too horrendous to conceive.” INEOS’ £100 million, which was used to set up the Ineos Oxford Institute, will support research into the growing resistance to antibiotics. The money will enable more than 50 researchers to address the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, collaborate with other global leaders and develop new drugs for people and animals. “With the fantastic support we have received from INEOS, we can replicate the latest drug discovery programme within the institute for multiple different bacterial targets and applications,” said Professor Tim Walsh, Academic Lead (Microbiology) at the Ineos Oxford Institute. This latest research is the culmination of years of work and is a long way from being a proven solution. But if indole carboxylates can be developed, tested and made into safe, human medicines, they could extend the effectiveness and lifespan of some of our current antibiotics and save lives all over the world. Professor Tim Walsh said the discovery also proved that academia, given the space to create, could produce something amazing. “That’s what we have seen here,” he said. “And we hope to make many more similar promising discoveries as the institute grows over the years.” “This clever, Trojan Horse trick allowed these potential drugs to be highly effective against a very wide range of MBL-producing superbugs,” said Professor Christopher Schofield, Academic Lead (Chemistry), at the Ineos Oxford Institute at the University of Oxford. Scientists, based at the Ineos Oxford Institute, have made a promising discovery which could extend the life of 'last resort' antibiotics ‘This clever, Trojan Horse trick allowed these potential drugs to be highly effective against a very wide range of MBL-producing superbugs’ - Professor Christopher Schofield, Academic Lead (Chemistry), at the Ineos Oxford Institute at the University of Oxford Penicillin The discovery of Penicillin and its purification into the first antibiotic in the early 1940s was one of the greatest medical advances of the 20th century. Antibiotics changed the course of medical history, saving countless lives at the end of the Second World War, making childbirth safe for the first time in human history and allowing the creation of all modern surgery and cancer treatment that we benefit from today. Following the discovery of Penicillin there was a “golden age” of antibiotic discovery lasting several decades. Sadly, this era has finished, and we are left with a dwindling stock of medicines that are becoming ever less effective as bacteria naturally develop resistance to their actions. Society needs to continue working hard to keep hold of these medical gains, and avoid returning to a pre-antibiotic era when a simple cut could be fatal. The Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research was established to advance the search for solutions to one of the biggest public health challenges of our time. Researchers are working in the lab, in the field and with the public to discover new ways to prevent and treat drug resistant infections. INEOSOXFORD.OX.AC.UK

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