Global Experts Join HutanBio's Advisory Board to Advance Breakthrough Sustainable Fuel Technology

January 27, 2025

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(HutanBio) Former BP Chief of Staff, leading biofuel expert and Cambridge University Professor of Chemical Engineering join HutanBio's advisory board; HutanBio targets £4bn sustainable fuel market with HBx Technology

HutanBio announces the formation of its Technical Advisory Board (TAB), bringing together three renowned experts from the global energy sector. This milestone aligns with the company’s ongoing mission to decouple long distance transportation from fossil fuels, by leveraging its innovative HBx sustainable fuel technology.

“The formation of our Technical Advisory Board represents a powerful validation of HutanBio's vision and technology said Dr John Archer, CSO of HutanBio. “Having these industry luminaries choose to join our journey speaks volumes about the potential of our HBx technology to transform sustainable aviation and marine fuels. Their guidance and expert insight will provide the business with real-time value and be instrumental in accelerating our path to market.”

With over three decades of experience across the energy sector, Dominic Emery, brings invaluable expertise to the advisory board. Dominic served as Chief of Staff at BP until 2022, where he played a pivotal role during one of the company’s most transformative periods. Since retiring, he has focused on advancing the energy transition, providing strategic guidance to large energy companies, start-ups, and consultancies. He is a Senior Fellow with the World Economic Forum, Mission Possible Partnership, and Cambridge University Judge Business School, and serves on the boards of three companies.

In addition to his 36-year tenure at BP, he was the founding CEO of OGCI Climate Investments, a groundbreaking $1 billion fund established by the world’s largest oil and gas companies to accelerate the deployment of carbon-reducing technologies.

A geologist by training, Dominic holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and an MA from the University of Oxford. His deep technical expertise, combined with his strategic vision, will be instrumental in helping HutanBio drive its mission of advancing sustainable biofuels solutions.

“There’s a clear gap in low-carbon fuels for hard-to-abate transportation sectors,” Emery stated. “HutanBio’s innovative approach provides a compelling solution to this pressing need.

I am eager to contribute strategic insights into potential customer segments and techno-economic pathways. Our goals are clear: secure near-term customers, drive initial revenues, and unlock long-term strategic opportunities in key demand sectors - and be the stand-out biofuel for the tough transportation sectors.”

To support process engineering decision making, Professor Alex Routh, a leading expert in colloid science who serves as a Professor at the University of Cambridge forms part of the Advisory Board. Professor Routh holds an MEng and BA in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge and earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.

He received the prestigious 2025 Graham Lecture Award, which honours UK-based scientists with international acclaim and in recognition of his outstanding contributions to early-career mentorship, was awarded the IChemE Davidson Medal.

His background in chemical engineering and physical chemistry ideally positions him to make impactful, quantitative contributions to process engineering decision-making and the further development of HutanBio’s biofuel production processes.

“Biofuels are critical to the future energy system,” said Professor Routh. “To achieve maximum impact, we must address purification and allocation challenges—global issues that need to be developed through data-driven engineering insights.”

With over 40 years in biofuels, Paul Beckwith brings significant insights into market strategy and renewable energy innovation. His experience includes leadership roles at BP and Butamax Advanced Biofuels.

“HutanBio’s independence from agricultural and power value chains offers unique advantages in creating sustainable solutions,” Beckwith remarked. The challenge will be to optimise the biotechnology and production process to remain both simple and cost effective whilst gaining acceptance for HBx as a biocrude feedstock for sustainable transportation, including sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)”

HutanBio are expected to become a major disruptor in the fuel supply market and make a significant contribution to the decarbonisation of transport. Given the need for CO₂ as a feedstock for its algae, HutanBio expects to locate some of its bio- reactor farms on land adjacent to high CO₂-emitting heavy industries, for example, cement production.

Founded in 2019 after a decade of research and the discovery of the rare microalgae species HBx, the company’s groundbreaking innovations have successfully and rather ingeniously unlocked the potential of algae as a low carbon fuel - firmly drawing a line under a generation of failed attempts. 

Having already established their ability to repeatably produce a high energy density, low carbon, sulphur-free, bio-oil, the team are now poised to meet the growing market demand. Fuelled by regulatory drivers which include the recently signed UK SAF mandate and the IMO’s (International Maritime Organisation) mandate on reducing shipping emissions by 40% by 2030 and absolute greenhouse gas reduction by 2050.

These regulatory drivers, combined with increasing corporate commitments to net-zero targets, position HutanBio's innovative HBx technology at the intersection of regulatory compliance and market demand. Industry forecasts suggest the SAF market alone could reach £2.5bn by 2030, with marine sustainable fuels expected to match this growth as shipping companies race to meet IMO targets.

 HBx biofuel has a light touch footprint which is hugely significant. Unlike other energy crops, the process requires no freshwater and will be deployed in areas of strong sunlight. Grown in enclosed bioreactors it takes advantage of barren, unproductive land, meaning it can scale without competing with agriculture, drawing on already scarce fresh water supplies or driving deforestation and other harmful consequences. 

HutanBio’s ability to leverage expert insights further demonstrates the need and opportunity for robust sustainable fuel solutions. “The calibre of expertise we’ve attracted underscores the revolutionary potential of HBx technology,” said Dr Peter Collins, Board Chair. “These leaders have shaped global energy transitions, and their guidance will be invaluable as we position HBx as the sustainable fuel of choice.”

About HutanBio (www.hutanbio.com): HutanBio exists to make the world we live in a better and more equitable place. They are on a mission to disrupt the biofuel industry, scaling their HBx program to make carbon-negative biofuels to meet the challenge of transitioning to net zero in the marine, aviation and heavy transport sectors. Founded by John Archer PhD, Noor Azlin Mokhtar PhD and Suhaiza Jamhor in 2019, world class scientists with expertise in Microbial Genetics and Genomics.  

About Clean Growth Fund (www.cleangrowthfund.com): CGF was launched in May 2020. It is a £101m venture capital fund that is targeting the UK’s most promising early stage “clean growth” companies that are pioneering carbon emission reductions in the areas of power and energy, buildings, transport, agriculture and waste. Its remit is to drive superior financial returns for investors and accelerate the development and commercialisation of clean growth technologies in the UK – leading to the creation of new and skilled jobs across the country and contributing to the UK’s efforts to deliver net zero by 2050. To date, it has invested in 19 UK companies.  

About UKI2S (https://ukinnovationscienceseedfund.co.uk/): UKI2S is a national seed investment fund that nurtures innovative businesses to leverage private investment and scale, recycling profits from the realisation of our investments into the next generation of impactful UK companies. We invest in innovations emerging from the UK’s publicly funded science and knowledge base at pre-seed and seed stages. We continue to leverage private capital by backing the best companies at Series A and B.  

We are mission driven and naturally align with key Government policies to drive impact through the creation of jobs in the UK, facilitate further investment by the private sector, and by backing companies that facilitate sustainable growth, enhance the health and security of society, improve productivity, and deliver economic gains.   READ MORE