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University of Huddersfield research into the optimal design of flow-handling systems has been credited with "transforming" the development strategies and global market sales of an industrial partner. Weir Valves and Control Ltd has enjoyed a 75% saving in design lead time and a 1,800% increase in annual sales - from several thousand before its collaboration to millions in 2013 - through the structured integration of researchers' computational fluid dynamics expertise in its design process. The success of this collaboration, which has been described as an exemplar of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, has also led to further research contracts.
ERPE research led to the following impacts in the REF2014 period:
Commercialisation: Through government grants, institutional and private investors, a medical devices company (Vascular Flow Technologies) was founded.
Products: Spiral Laminar Flow™ Vascular Grafts for use in bypass for peripheral arterial disease and vascular access for haemodialysis.
Market / Sales: Spiral Laminar Flow™ Grafts are sold in 18 countries, with over 3000 grafts implanted (<1% estimated market size) and sales in excess of £1million.
Patient Outcomes: Published and presented clinical series show the grafts have increased survival rates leading to reduced re-interventions and reduced amputations.
Our flow modelling and process optimisation research has improved significantly the scientific understanding of key industrial coating, printing and droplet flow systems. We have implemented our research findings in software tools for staff training and process optimisation which have enabled: (i) the worldwide coating industry to improve the productivity and sustainability of their manufacturing processes; (ii) [text removed for publication]; (iii) a major automotive supply company to develop an award-winning droplet filtration system for diesel engines. [text removed for publication].
Multiphase flow research at Imperial has developed bespoke software code, and provided unique data for validation of commercial codes used for oil-and-gas design. This research has enabled global oil companies (e.g. Chevron) to undertake successfully the design of deep-water production systems requiring multi-billion pound capital investments. This research has also allowed SPT Group (now owned by Schlumberger), one of the largest software (OLGA) providers to the oil industry, to maintain their position as market leaders.
Research at GCU led to a novel method for backfilling pipeline tunnels providing the ability to fill tunnels three times more quickly than the traditional method resulting in a cost saving of £1.5M on a single project. This approach is now best practice at Murphy Pipelines Ltd (MPL) and features in current tenders to a value of £30M. The change in fill material lowered the carbon footprint by 5000 tonnes in a CEEQUAL award winning project, in addition, the removable fill material allows the recycling and re-use of tunnels, adding to the assets of the company and reducing costs.
Durham selective direct fluorination methodology using fluorine gas has been scaled up by F2 Chemicals Ltd to supply the Pfizer company with multi-tonne quantities of a key pharmaceutical intermediate used in the synthesis of V-Fend (voriconazole). This antifungal agent has achieved global sales of $4.65bn from 2008-present and is used extensively for the treatment of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Multi-channel continuous flow gas/liquid microreactor technology for direct fluorination was licensed to the Asahi Glass Co (Japan) and other transformations enabled by fluorine gas are being exploited by a DU spin-out company, Brock Fine Chemicals Ltd.
Coal fired power stations will be a major element of global power generation for the foreseeable future. Measurement, and hence control, of pulverised fuel flow is a vital technology for the efficient and green operation of coal fired power stations. Balancing fuel delivery and combustion stoichiometry increases boiler efficiency and reduces emissions. Research in this area carried out at Teesside University was adopted by ABB Ltd and led to the commercial development of new powder flow measurement systems (PfMaster technology) installed in power stations around the world. Quantifiable economic benefits of the installations to date amount to >£3.4 M with concomitant environmental benefits of significant reduction in CO2 and NOxemissions and solid waste disposal burdens.
Research carried out in the School of Mathematics at the University of Bristol between 1998 and 2005 has been instrumental in the development of structures that arrest or deflect the rapid flow of snow that characterises avalanches in mountainous regions of the world. The research has been embodied in a series of guidance documents for engineers on the design of such structures and many defence dams and barriers have been built across Europe since 2008. The guidance is now adopted as standard practice in many of the countries that experience avalanches. Investment in avalanche defence projects based on the design principles set out in the guidance runs into tens of millions of pounds. The Bristol research is also used internationally in the training of engineers who specialise in avalanche protection schemes. Given the scale of the threat to life and property from these potent natural hazards, the impact of the research is considerable in terms of the societal and economic benefits derived from the reduction of the risk posed by snow avalanches.
Research at the Department of Engineering Science has led to step changes in the way industrial membrane filtration plants are designed and operated . Based on some key research results that have successfully tackled membrane fouling problems, the work has triggered rapid uptake of membrane-based technologies that are more energy-efficient than traditional processes. Water companies are among those achieving both economic and the environmental benefits, and the research has played a key role in the membrane bioreactor (MBR) market, which is now growing at over 10% a year, and in the global desalination market which exceeds US$19 billion, according to GMR Data (2012) [13].