£7m to make UK process sector more sustainable
24 Sep 2012
London – The Technology Strategy Board has announced that 70 UK companies, universities and research organisations will share over £7 million of government funding to undertake research towards the development and commercialisation of new approaches to sustainable manufacturing for the process sector.
TSB and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will invest the funding in 17 R&D projects that will develop process technologies to improve sustainability in sectors, such as food & drink and chemicals. The total value of the R&D, including contributions from the participating companies, will exceed £14 million.
Sustainable manufacturing is of critical importance across the process industries, including the bulk & fine chemical, pharmaceutical & biotech, agrochemical, coatings & lubricants, home & personal care, food & drink, mining, water, construction materials, oil and fuel industries, said the TSB.
“Innovation in sustainability is vital for the continued success and growth of the UK process industry and this research and development will lead to innovations in manufacturing that will improve economic performance, benefit the environment and have a positive social impact,” said Iain Gray, chief executive of the TSB.
EPSRC chief prof David Delpy added: “These projects and businesses developing sustainable processes will, in turn, deliver new opportunities for further research as well as the financial and environmental returns. Our partnership with the Technology Strategy Board is about ensuring that sustainable development is engrained from laboratory to shop floor.”
The 17 collaborative R&D projects will be led by C-Tech Innovation Ltd, Centre for Process Innovation Ltd, Dynamic Extractions Ltd, Environmental Pulp Products Ltd, GlaxoSmithKline, Imerys (UK) Ltd, Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (an AkzoNobel company), Industrial Microwave Systems Ltd, Johnson Matthey Ltd, Perceptive Engineering Ltd, PhosphonicS Ltd, Plant Integrity Ltd, Procter & Gamble Technical Centres Ltd, Scionix Ltd, Syrris Ltd, Unilever and Yorkshire Process Technology Ltd.
The R&D projects include:
- The development, by C-Tech Innovation and their partners, of a low-energy baking system based on a two-step process consisting of an accelerated conventional baking stage followed by a novel post-baking cooling step. This reduction in baking time could reduce the overall energy consumption of the sector by 20%;
- A collaborative project led by Imperial Chemical Industries involving the development of several approaches to reducing, and preferably eliminating, solvents in paints. The partnership (between ICI Paints, High Force Research, Durham University and the University of Manchester) aims to develop new solutions and products, and commercialise the results;
- Scionix, working with the University of Leicester and Rolls-Royce, who will research and develop a process for electropolishing aerospace castings using ionic liquids. Conventional electropolishing requires a cocktail of strong, toxic, inorganic acids. Ionic liquids are much easier to work with, less toxic, contain no strong acids and operate at much higher energy efficiency;
- A collaborative project led by Industrial Microwave Systems that will develop a cost-effective, continuous, conveyor-based, solid-state microwave-based system for the production of low-carbon concretes incorporating higher levels of waste products, with lower energy use. This will enable concrete manufacturers to increase the quantities of low carbon cement they use.
