University of Cambridge

Annually, over 400m tonnes of plastic waste are generated. Protonera addresses the issue of plastic waste by using a novel chemoenzymatic photoreforming process.

This scalable technology utilises light and unique catalysis to convert waste polymers into hydrogen and valuable organics, including monomers, enabling re-processing and reducing landfill waste. Co-founded at the University of Cambridge by CEO Dr Jack Chengzhi Guo, CSO Professor Erwin Reisner, Technology Advisor Professor Florian Hollfelder and former PhD student of Prof. Reisner, Dr Subhajit Bhattacharjee.

Watch the video to hear about Protonera’s breakthrough journey from Jack, Erwin, Florian, along with Dr Irina Gostimskaya, Enzyme Development Lead at Protonera, and Dr Oleksandra Korychenska, Technology Development and Project Manager at Cambridge Enterprise.

Converting plastics into green hydrogen

After repeatedly telling his grandfather to stop picking up waste plastic bottles, Jack grew tired of this futile endeavour and decided to tackle plastic pollution altogether. During his PhD at the Department of Biochemistry, he developed biocatalysts to break down petrol-derived polymers. He was joined by Erwin, the Professor of Energy and Sustainability in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and a Fellow of St. John’s College. Erwin is an expert in renewable energy and sustainable chemistry, particularly in sunlight-powered production of sustainable fuels and platform chemicals.

Supported by Cambridge Enterprise from the very beginning in 2022, Protonera has since filed initial patent applications, completed the Founders at the University of Cambridge START 1.0 accelerator programme in 2024 and is a part of Cambridge Enterprise’s Technology Investment Fund portfolio. As they scale up their technology, they aim to provide a solution for plastic recyclers that can be easily integrated. Protonera is making revolutionary strides in commercialising a waste-to-value technology, providing a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels by linking the plastic recycling market with hydrogen production.

The software is available for licensing from Cambridge Enterprise.