Durable roads for a low-carbon future

Uberbinder is developing a multifunctional bio-binder to extend and replace the bitumen at the core of the world's roads.

How it works Speak with us

Patents granted (done)
First field pilot laid, 2025 (done)
Field trials booked for 2027 (done)

Materials Innovation Factory, Liverpool

Our recent press

Two people crouch on a new, empty highway under the words “Build something massive”, Creative Destruction Lab’s programme image

CDLUberbinder Accepted into CDL’s 2026-2027 ProgramWe are proud to announce that Uberbinder has been accepted into the CDL program, scaling our sulfur-based bio-binder from TRL5 to commercial readiness at massive scale.

All announcements

Bitumen is a triple threat

Every road is held together by bitumen — the residue left when crude oil has been refined into everything more valuable.

Price-volatile, supply-insecure, carbon-intensive, and without a scalable alternative.

~530 kg CO₂e
per tonne, primarily sourced from heavy crude in the Persian Gulf, Venezuela, the Gulf of Mexico, and Russia -- regions with elevated geopolitical risk.
> 2 billion tonnes
of bituminous asphalt every year. That's a Great Pyramid of Giza in asphalt built every single day, all year round.
~ 25 million miles
of paved road worldwide to maintain — enough to go to the Moon and back 50 times.

The supply shock arrives before the carbon deadline

Demand is rising while the refineries that make bitumen close: 34 across the US and EU shut or converted between 2009 and 2021.

The critical issue is bitumen supply's downward trajectory with no alternative binder currently available that's capable of achieving such scale.

8~15% a year
The natural decline rate of oil production.
IEA, The Implication of Oil and Gas Field Decline Rates, 2025; ExxonMobil, Global Outlook to 2050, 2024
+400%
The price rise with permanent 15%-a-year supply loss.
ExxonMobil, Sensitivity Analysis — Global Outlook to 2050, 2024
↓ 20%
Estimated reduction of Europe's bitumen production capacity by 2035.
S&P Global

A multifunctional bio-binder made from waste sulfur and natural oils

Mounds of sulfur as industrial byproduct and waste

Uberbinder is built on two of the planet's most abundant materials — waste sulfur and natural fatty acids — brought together by our patented process into one binder that does the work of several. It is designed to be interoperable, cost-competitive with profit uplift, and is intended to be licensed into the supply chain you already use.

See how it works →

Achieving Net Zero: Key levers for 2030–2040

The asphalt sector named five key levers to achieve Net Zero. Our chemistry is designed to address four in a single binder.

1–3 of 51 / 5

1
Bio-binders
to reduce our reliance on fossil binders; this emerging solution to become commercially viable and drive significant additional reductions throughout 2030–2040.
2
Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA)
already becoming the industry default, WMA must represent over 80% of the total asphalt we lay by 2030 to reduce energy and fumes.
3
Long-life materials
durable pavement solutions designed to withstand growing climate stressors and reduce the frequency of future maintenance.
4
Recycled Asphalt (RA/RAP)
average recycled content of at least 35% in thin surface courses and 55% in asphalt concrete layers by 2035.
5
Electrification and zero-carbon fuels
decarbonise all roadbuilding vehicles, equipment, and asphalt plants through electrification and zero-carbon fuel adoption.

Momentum

Uberbinder science team at the Materials Innovation Factory

Patents granted in key markets. (done)
First field pilot laid in 2025, and through its first winter. (done)
Independent validation underway with an international engineering consultancy. (done)
Field trials booked with road authorities in the UK and Spain for 2027. (done)
A route to industrial scale being independently assessed. (done)