Summary of the impact

Carbon8 Systems (C8S) was founded on joint research between UCL and the University of Greenwich. The company has since developed a technology known as Accelerated Carbonation, which helps to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions by using carbon dioxide gas to treat waste materials and form artificial aggregate. In January 2013, C8S completed the first commercial plant for treating municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) fly ashes, designed to produce 1,000 tonnes per day of aggregate. Masonry products company Lignacite has also benefited commercially. It has used C8S's aggregate to develop an award-winning building block that captures more carbon dioxide than is emitted during its manufacture. Carbon8 Systems and its offshoot company Carbon8 Aggregates currently employ 11 people.

Summary of the impact

Research at Heriot-Watt University (HWU) has led to the development of a new continuous oscillatory baffled reactor and crystalliser technology. This has direct economic and environmental impact in the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries. Waste is substantially reduced, while the scale of the equipment and plant is dramatically decreased, reducing time to market, start-up and maintenance costs and on-going energy usage. The reactor/crystalliser was taken to market through a spinout, NiTech Solutions Ltd, with a peak of 16 employees in the REF period. Genzyme (now Sanofi) has implemented NiTech's technology for biopharmaceutical manufacture since 2007, with multi-100 ton production and sales of multi-£100M pa. The technology now underpins the larger-scale joint venture, the Continuous Manufacture and Crystallisation (CMAC) consortium, launched in 2010. CMAC has attracted over £60M investment, much of it from three major industrial partners, GSK, AstraZeneca and Novartis, with additional second-tier investors. CMAC is accelerating the introduction of new process-intensification technologies in the process industries.

Summary of the impact

Research by Dr Switzer since 2009 has led to scale-up and commercialisation of a new smouldering combustion-based remediation technology: Self-sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation (STAR). STAR is sold commercially by SiREM, a division of Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. that has an exclusive worldwide licence. Since its commercial launch in 2010, STAR has [text removed for publication] and now employs 5 staff. Clean-up rates for STAR far exceed those of other methods, achieving 99.9+% destruction of contaminants in the soil and delivering cleaned soil suitable for reuse.

Summary of the impact

The demand for biofuels and alternative energies is increasing globally as a sustainable source of energy is sought for the future. Energy from crops is no longer a viable option due to the increase in wheat prices. Scientists at the BEST Research Institute have managed to bridge the gap by using novel and unique microwave systems for converting waste (biomass, food, animal) into energy. Our advances in this area have generated considerable interest from both national (e.g., United Utilities PLC, Balfour Beatty PLC, Biofuels Wales Ltd, Stopford Projects Ltd, Longma Clean Energy Ltd) and international (e.g., RIKEN-Japan, Fraunhofer-Germany, Sairem-France, Acondaqua-Spain, Ashleigh Farms-Ireland) companies. This has resulted in several collaborative, funded projects leading to industrial adoption of our microwave technologies.

Summary of the impact

BRITEST is a global leader in the development of innovative process solutions for the chemical processing sector with > £500m of value being realized since 2008. Research in Manchester (1997-2000) generated a set of novel tools and methodologies which analyse chemical processes to identify where and how process improvements could be made. BRITEST was established in 2001 as a not-for-profit company to manage the technology transfer and effective deployment of these tools and methodologies into industry. Manchester holds the IP arising from the underpinning research and has granted an exclusive license to BRITEST for use and exploitation of the toolkit.

Summary of the impact

Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) is an innovative solution to several key environmental issues - CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere, sustainable use of resources and the reliance on use of virgin stone for construction. ACT rapidly stabilises industrial waste recycling it into valuable aggregate, thereby reducing the amount going to landfill. ACT simultaneously captures the greenhouse gas CO₂, via the rapid production of carbonate, which solidifies the waste into a hardened product. ACT has been commercialised through two spin-out companies leading to the first commercial production of carbon negative concrete blocks, taking hazardous waste from the bottom to the top of the waste hierarchy.

Summary of the impact

Initial research into polymer nanocomposites and their formation took place at Strathclyde from 2000 - 2010. This was followed by a collaboration with the world's largest manufacturer of composite kitchen sinks, Carron Phoenix Limited, through a 6-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) which resulted in a successful new production process of its high-end synthetic granite kitchen sinks. This led to £4 million of capital investment in new production facilities at their Falkirk site, enabling the company to sustain its leading position in the designer kitchen sink market and retain its workforce of over 400 employees in central Scotland, including the 170 workers in the composite sink division in Falkirk. Within the REF period, the research has led to the manufacture and sale of in excess of one million kitchen sinks, generating sales revenue in excess of over £50M and supporting the UK economy.

Summary of the impact

Research at the University of Bath on highly structured materials for adsorbing and separating gases has created business and economic impact via:

• Inward investment of £2.5 million in a University spin-out small and medium enterprise (SME), n-psl (Nano-Porous Solutions Ltd), whose business is developing new products for energy efficient gas separation for environmental and medical applications. Turnover of the new company is now > £1 million pa and growing, and has created significant inward investment opportunities from the USA for two of n-psl's customers, Parker Hannifin Manufacturing and Ultra Electronics, in military and personnel protection applications.
• Improvement to existing products of an established SME (MAST Carbon International Ltd). Industrial testing of a new process, co-invented by MAST and the University, which contains the improved products; the new process is for specific gas separation aimed at meeting legislative emission limits, creating healthier workplaces, and recovery and reuse of valuable resources.
• Creation of 28 new jobs, 24 within n-psl and four within MAST, together with the enhanced security of three within Parker Hannifin Manufacturing in the UK and several others at MAST.

[Comment: Although beyond the cut-off date for impact achievement, as at 31 October 2013 n-psl had been acquired by the FTSE 100 listed international engineering group, IMI plc.]

Summary of the impact

UCL research has been instrumental in creating critically needed new biocatalysts and bioprocess technologies for industrial biocatalytic process development. These have impact across the UK chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. BiCE enzyme technologies have been exploited through the formation of a spin-out company, Synthace, generating investment of £1.8m and creation of 7 new jobs. Commercial utilisation of BiCE enzymes by company partners has led to environmental benefits through sustainable syntheses and reduced waste generation. BiCE high-throughput bioprocess technologies have also been adopted to speed biocatalytic process development. UCL established a parallel miniature stirred bioreactor system as a new product line for HEL Ltd. [text removed for publication]. Related knowledge transfer activities have also benefited some 157 industrial employees from over 50 companies since 2008.

Summary of the impact

This case study describes the impact of the research work relating to anaerobic process technology undertaken within the Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC) and its industrial interfacing arm, the Wales Centre of Excellence for Anaerobic Digestion (AD). Anaerobic process technology is used globally to produce renewable energy, and other resources from wastes and low value biomasses. These impacts can be grouped into the following areas:

• Informing Government Policy
• Development of industry guidance, best practice, protocols and regulation
• Driving innovation and the implementation for more efficient anaerobic digestion and biohydrogen production technologies, nationally and internationally.