What Celtic Renewables does

Celtic Renewables Ltd is a Scotland-based, privately held green chemicals company (registered in Scotland, company number SC394571) that commercialises a patented Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) fermentation process to convert low-value by-products, residues and waste from the food, drink and agriculture industries into three high-value green chemicals: bio acetone, bio butanol and bio ethanol. The technology is supported by bespoke fermentation strain development, enabling the process to be localised to whatever by-products, residues and waste streams are available in a given geography, and the company positions its offering as delivering up to 65% carbon savings versus petrochemical equivalents. Celtic Renewables operates Scotland's first biorefinery — a 24/7 commercial demonstrator plant at 3 Caledon Green, Grangemouth (FK3 8TR) — and is shipping product to industrial B2B customers in pharmaceuticals, personal care, paints, household cleaning products, and vitamins/medicines. A flagship circular-economy feedstock partnership with Rosebank Distillery (now in its sixth year, with a three-year extension announced in April 2026) has processed over 4,600 tonnes of whisky pot ale to produce approximately 500 tonnes of chemicals annually.

The company's go-to-market is sales-led and enterprise-focused: prospective industrial customers reach out via the website contact form, a dedicated enquiries email, and phone, with quote-based, pay-as-you-go pricing negotiated per customer. Revenue today comes principally from direct sales of green chemicals; the company also signals intent to license its biorefinery build blueprints, technical and commercial know-how, and bespoke fermentation strains internationally, suggesting a future licensing and technology-transfer revenue stream. In December 2025 the company announced plans for a £120 million industrial-scale biorefinery at Grangemouth with ten times the capacity of its current operation, supported by £6.23 million from the Scottish Government, an additional £10 million from public and private sources (cumulative £16.23 million for the project), and approximately $9.49 million from the UK Department of Health and Social Care and Innovate UK. The expanded facility is targeted to create 149 jobs by 2030 and forms part of a broader Scottish Government-supported redevelopment of the Grangemouth industrial site alongside MiAlgae, with up to 460 new biotech jobs planned across the two anchor tenants.

Capitalisation is mixed public/private with founder involvement: the company was founded by Prof. Martin Tangney OBE (now Founder & Scientific Advisor), and is led by CEO Mark Simmers, Executive Chairman Brett Simpson, CFO Kerry Crawford, COO Jim Gibson, CCO Bettina Brierley, and CPO Kerry Johnson, supported by Heads of Manufacturing, Engineering & Projects, Technical/R&D, and Business Planning & Analysis. Current employee count is 11-50, with the senior leadership team reflecting the operational and commercial scale-up required for the £120 million build-out.

Name

Celtic Renewables

Legal name

Celtic Renewables Ltd

Website

https://celtic-renewables.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Celtic Renewables operates Scotland's first biorefinery in Grangemouth, using a patented ABE fermentation process to convert food, drink and agricultural by-products into bio acetone, bio butanol and bio ethanol for industrial B2B buyers in pharmaceuticals, personal care, paints and cleaning products.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Bio-based Green Chemicals

NAICS

Ethyl Alcohol Manufacturing (325193)

SIC

Medicinal Chemicals & Botanical Products (2833)

akta.pro primary industry

Bio-based Platform & Commodity Chemicals (e.g., bio-ethylene, bio-propylene, bio-BTX, bio-methanol) (EUAAAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Bio-based Solvents & Process Chemicals (e.g., bio-acetone, bio-butanol, bio-IPA, green solvents) (EUAAAIAB), Biofuels & Renewable Fuels Switching (Biomethane/RNG, Bio-oils, Sustainable Biomass) (EUABAJAD)

Keywords

• Green chemical production
• Bio acetone manufacturing
• Bio butanol fermentation
• ABE biorefinery operations
• Renewable chemical solvents

Headquarters

HQ city

Edinburgh

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Operations, Supply Chain, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Green chemical product sales: Celtic Renewables generates revenue by producing and shipping bio acetone, bio butanol and bio ethanol from its Grangemouth biorefinery to industrial buyers (pharmaceuticals, personal care, paints, cleaning products, medicines). Demonstrator plant runs 24/7 and is shipping to customers. New industrial-scale facility will have ten times the capacity of the current operation.
2. Technology licensing and biorefinery build know-how: Indications that the company offers technical and commercial know-how, biorefinery build and operating blueprints, and bespoke fermentation strain development for opportunities across the globe, suggesting a future licensing / technology transfer revenue stream alongside chemical product sales.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Celtic Renewables operates a patented Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) fermentation process that converts low-value by-products, residues and waste from the food, drink and agriculture industries into high-value green chemicals — bio acetone, bio butanol and bio ethanol — produced and shipped commercially from Scotland's first biorefinery in Grangemouth.

Product overview

Celtic Renewables offers a vertically integrated biorefinery offering built around a single patented core technology — the ABE (Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol) Fermentation Process — combined with the Grangemouth Demonstrator Biorefinery production asset and three co-produced green chemical products: Bio Acetone, Bio Butanol and Bio Ethanol. The patented ABE Fermentation Process is the technological platform that converts food, drink and agricultural by-products and waste into chemicals; the Grangemouth Demonstrator Biorefinery in Scotland is the operational asset where that platform runs 24/7 at commercial scale, de-risking future growth; and the resulting Bio Acetone, Bio Butanol and Bio Ethanol are the named product outputs sold to customers in pharmaceuticals, personal care and other sectors, delivering up to 65% carbon savings versus petrochemical equivalents. A planned £120 million industrial-scale biorefinery, alongside extensions of feedstock partnerships such as the Rosebank Distillery pot ale supply, extend this core platform into a larger, multi-site biorefinery portfolio.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bio Acetone Bio-based acetone produced via patented ABE fermentation of food, drink and agricultural by-products and waste, displacing petrochemical acetone and delivering up to 65% carbon savings for industrial buyers in pharmaceuticals, personal care, paints and cleaning products.
• Bio Butanol Bio-based n-butanol produced through patented ABE fermentation of industrial by-products and waste, supplied to pharmaceuticals, personal care and industrial customers as a lower-carbon alternative to petrochemical butanol.
• Bio Ethanol Bio-based ethanol co-produced by the patented ABE fermentation process from food, drink and agricultural by-products and waste, used as a renewable chemical building block displacing fossil-fuel-derived ethanol.

Quantifiable outcome

• Up to 65% carbon saving versus petrochemicals
• +3 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Rosebank DistilleryflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 2 April 2026Extended circular-economy partnership under which Rosebank Distillery transfers pot ale by-products from its Falkirk site to Celtic Renewables' Grangemouth biorefinery. The partnership has now lasted over six years (with a three-year extension reported in April 2026) and has processed over 4,600 tonnes of by-product to produce 500 tonnes of chemicals annually, supporting sustainable waste management and circular economy practices.
• MiAlgaecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 December 2025MiAlgae and Celtic Renewables are co-located at the Grangemouth industrial site as the two major beneficiaries of a Scottish Government support package following the closure of Scotland's only crude oil refinery, with combined plans for up to 460 new biotech jobs by 2026-2030.
• Edinburgh Napier UniversitycoreTechnology or Integration · 1 June 2025Edinburgh Napier University is displayed on the Celtic Renewables website among its partners, supporters and awards; the company's founder Prof. Martin Tangney OBE has a long-standing association with the university and acts as Founder & Scientific Advisor.
• IBIOIC (Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre)minorOthers · 1 June 2024IBIOIC logo is displayed on the Celtic Renewables homepage among its partners, supporters and awards, reflecting the company's association with Scotland's industrial biotechnology innovation ecosystem.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Green Biologics: UK-based industrial biotech company producing bio-based n-butanol and acetone via fermentation routes, directly overlapping with Celtic Renewables' ABE product portfolio and target end-markets in chemicals and personal care.
• LanzaTech: Gas fermentation pioneer producing bio-ethanol and other chemicals from industrial waste gases, a directly adjacent carbon-negative fermentation platform competing for the same 'waste-to-chemicals' value proposition that Celtic Renewables sells into pharma and personal care.
• Gevo: US-listed renewable chemicals and biofuels company producing bio-isobutanol and sustainable aviation fuel via fermentation, directly comparable in product chemistry (butanol family) and in selling low-carbon drop-in chemicals into industrial buyers.
• Butamax Advanced Biofuels: Bio-butanol joint venture (originally BP and DuPont) developing and licensing bio-isobutanol technology, a direct competitor in the bio-butanol space that Celtic Renewables targets for blending and chemical applications.

Broad incumbents

• INEOS Bio: INEOS-owned bioenergy business that operated one of the world's first commercial-scale waste-to-ethanol facilities using a related ABE-style fermentation route, a broad incumbent with comparable technology heritage and much larger corporate backing.
• Cargill Bio Industrial: Diversified global ingredient and bio-industrial business producing bio-based solvents, acids and fermentation products at scale; competes with Celtic Renewables for the same industrial buyer accounts in personal care and pharma.
• BASF: Global chemical incumbent producing acetone, n-butanol and ethanol at massive scale and increasingly investing in bio-based alternatives; the principal incumbent competitor Celtic Renewables must displace in industrial chemical supply chains.
• Eastman Chemical Company: US-listed specialty chemicals producer with a growing bio-based and circular chemicals portfolio, a broad incumbent that competes for the same low-carbon solvent and chemical slots in personal care and pharma end-markets.

Regional players

• MiAlgae: Scotland-based biotech using fermentation to upcycle industrial by-products (including whisky co-products) into omega-3 for animal feed, co-located with Celtic Renewables at the Grangemouth industrial site and part of the same Scottish biotech cluster.

Others

• IBIOIC (Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre): Scotland's industrial biotechnology innovation cluster and ecosystem body, which already displays Celtic Renewables as a member/partner and provides industry-network, funding and policy access relevant to its scale-up.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/crl_uk
• Facebookfacebook.com/Celtic-Renewables-251218038281479
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/celtic-renewables-limited

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds10 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Celtic Renewables