Chemicals and pharma research funding boost
9 Jan 2014
The Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council has announced £3.6m funding for manufacturing processes research.
Research projects conducted across 14 UK universities will explore how light can be used in new ways in innovative manufacturing processes and technologies.
The 18-month feasibility studies will aim to advance core science towards manufacturing in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and chemicals.
The projects are designed to bolster investigations in pharmaceutical testing and photochemistry in order to scale-up laboratory testing for use within larger plants.
The key is to work with industry and understand the opportunity to improve existing manufacturing methods
Dr David Payne
The universities will be working alongside a variety of industry partners to develop these technologies.
Researchers from the University of Nottingham will be working with pharmaceutical firms such as GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis Pharmaceuticals and AstraZeneca to develop techniques for continuous chemical manufacture with light – a project that is set to receive almost £300,000 of the total funding available.
Meanwhile, researchers from Swansea University will be working alongside experts from marine aquaculture firm Viking Fish Farms to develop high-value chemical products via the study of energy transformation using internally lit photobioreactors for enhanced product formation from algae using LED systems.
Director of the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton David Payne said: “Photonics – where light meets electronics – is a key UK strength and these new projects demonstrate the astonishing range of innovative ideas that emerge when scientists and engineers think about manufacturing.
“The key is to work with industry and understand the opportunity not only to improve existing manufacturing methods, but to develop entirely new ways to make things.”
