Oxford, UK, 27 January 2026: FluoRok recently welcomed its Oxford East local constituency Member of Parliament (MP) Anneliese Dodds to its facilities at ARC Oxford, to see in action FluoRok’s groundbreaking technology which will help strengthen domestic supply chains for critical fluorochemicals used in Li-ion batteries, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and advanced materials.
Fluorochemicals are essential to the UK’s clean energy, health and food supply, yet global production still relies heavily on hazardous, centuries-old manufacturing routes and is concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region. Li-ion electrolyte salts in particular are key fluorinated components of Li-ion batteries, yet the UK is 100% dependent on imports, almost exclusively from China, creating strategic vulnerabilities at the heart of net-zero and industrial growth ambitions.
FluoRok, a deep-tech start-up spun out of University of Oxford research (2022), is changing that paradigm with a safe, low-cost and sustainable fluorination platform which enables fluorochemical production without hydrogen fluoride (HF). The company’s approach is designed to improve safety and reduce emissions while lowering costs, with performance highlights including up to 43% reduction in CO₂ emissions, up to 75% lower capital expenditure, and up to 25% lower operating costs. The platform can also leverage fluorinated waste streams (including recycled minerals and waste polyfluorinated materials), reducing reliance on carbon-intensive virgin materials and imports from geopolitically sensitive regions and helping unlock reshoring of manufacturing to the UK and wider West.
During the visit, Ms Dodds met FluoRok’s multidisciplinary team and toured its bespoke R&D laboratories and pilot production facility, where the company is accelerating commercialisation and scaling towards its mission to be Europe’s leading manufacturer of Li-ion battery electrolyte salts with planned production capacity at scale on kilo tonnes per annum – enough to support the manufacture of millions of electric vehicles each year. This progress is supported by vital UK government grant backing, with more than £6 million secured since 2022. Recent awards include £750K from Innovate UK’s Faraday Battery Challenge (2024), £700K from the Advanced Propulsion Centre’s Automotive Transformation Fund (2024), and a ~£1.5m APC DRIVE35 Demonstrate grant (2025) to advance domestic capability in Li-ion battery electrolyte salts.
Anneliese Dodds MP said, “FluoRok is exactly the kind of ambitious British innovation we need – turning world-leading research into industrial capability here in the UK. Their work has the potential to make critical supply chains safer, cleaner and more secure, supporting the UK’s net-zero goals while creating high-value jobs and skills. It was a pleasure to visit the Oxford facility and meet the team.”
Dr Gabriele Pupo, CEO and Founder of FluoRok, said, “We were delighted to welcome Anneliese Dodds to see our progress and discuss how FluoRok’s platform can build a more resilient, low-carbon supply chain for Li-ion batteries and fluorochemicals in the UK and how institutions and government can support home-grown innovation to scale in the UK.”
Note to editors:
About FluoRok: FluoRok is a deep-tech start-up company based in Oxford, UK and focused on fluorochemical manufacturing and licensing. It develops novel and transformational technologies to access fluorochemicals in an efficient, safe, lower cost and sustainable way and unlock localised production. Spun-out of the University of Oxford in 2022, FluoRok’s team has decades of cumulative experience in fluorination chemistry, and extensive manufacturing, commercial and business development expertise.
FluoRok’s proprietary technology directly employs fluorinated waste or naturally occurring fluorite mineral as raw material, to access high value fluorochemicals that are key to the world’s energy transition, our global food supply, and our health. Its innovative solution reduces energy requirements, lowers CO2 emissions, enables reshoring of manufacturing due to intrinsic process safety and introduces for the first time the circular economy in fluorochemical production. Traditional barriers to entry such as high capital expenditure, regulatory challenges, and complex controls of hazardous operations, are circumvented, thus allowing for easy adoption and rapid scale-up of the technology.
Its market focus is Li-ion battery electrolyte salts and agrochemicals.
FluoRok is backed by an outstanding investor syndicate including Oxford Science Enterprises, BGF, Green Generation Fund, Volta Energy Technologies, Excellis and the University of Oxford.
Contact: Dr Gabriele Pupo or Clare Simpson, info@fluorok.com