Log in
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.
The research of Prof Jim Frederickson and the Integrated Waste Systems Research group at The Open University (OU) has impacted industrial partners and government agencies in developing a sustainable approach to waste processes and treated products. In particular they have developed the biodegradability tests (DR4 and BM100/BMc) used extensively for the evaluation of Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) waste plants, and also the Residual Biogas Potential (RBP) test for determining the stability of anaerobic digestates, which forms part of the BSI PAS110: 2010 specification. This work is a significant contribution to the development of sustainable waste management practices in the UK.
Research carried out by the University of Southampton has directly influenced the practice and behaviour of households, business, industry and government agencies. It has:
Wastes management represents a major global environmental challenge. In the early 2000s Defra recognised that the UK's emphasis needed to change from managing waste to preventing it arising, and that Local Authorities must be equipped to produce cost-effective waste reduction plans. To this end, WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) financed a major Local Authority training programme involving the Centre for Sustainable Wastes Management (CSWM) due to its track record of research expertise. Evaluation of this training demonstrated that over 90% of 204 delegates (from 33% of Local Authorities) developed a deeper understanding of waste prevention and 41% consequently upgraded their plans, embedding sustainable practice into their organisations and reducing arisings. The ultimate impact of this has been to save Local Authorities money and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
Research conducted at the University of Cambridge under an EPSRC grant between 1999 and 2002 established the viability of using microwave induced pyrolysis as a process for recovering clean, elemental aluminium and hydrocarbon liquids and gases from waste laminate packaging, thus preventing the need to send this material to landfill. The research has been commercialised by Enval Limited — a multi-award-winning University spin-off founded in 2006 that has attracted approximately £2M funding during the REF period and employs 7 people. A pilot scale unit has been operational since 2011, and the first commercial-scale unit has been constructed and has operated since April 2013.
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.
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.
Research into a new waste treatment process model at Loughborough University (1993 to date) has resulted in the following benefits for Unilever:
Research at Brunel University demonstrated how the Powder Impression Moulding (PIM) process can be adapted to form a solid-skinned and foamed core polymer lightweight sandwich panel from 100% mixed post-consumer polymers. The research showed that unlike conventional plastic recycling technologies, this process was tolerant to high concentrations of impurities. It was also shown that coarse flakes could be used as feedstock, removing the need to grind the feedstock to a fine powder. This, for the first time, established the PIM process as a recyling method and provides a source of income for industries collecting post-consumer plastics. In 2009, ERT Plc, who own the IP associated with PIM, signed a licence agreement with 2K Manufacturing Ltd to manufacture and sell a range of flat-board products made from 100% mixed post-consumer plastics. These boards are sold as EcoSheets and are 2K Manufacturing's only product. 2K buy post-consumer recycled plastics from recycling firms who run Municipal Recycling Facilities, (MRF), providing them with increased income from waste collected from consumers, and sell EcoSheets to a variety of industries and distributors for applications in construction, agriculture, flood control facilities and military uses. For commercial reasons, exact production and sales figures are not available, but we estimate that at least 1 million boards have been produced and sold since 2009. The impact on the end user is that, although the price of an EcoSheet is comparable to the plywood board it replaces, EcoSheet does not rot, is more workable, and can be recycled several times.
ERT Plc have licensed the technology enhanced by the Brunel research to a number of other businesses.Thus the research at Brunel has assisted the creation of a new industrial sector, and a new product with many advantages, including reduced reliance on virgin polymers and reduced environmental burdens (such as landfill costs), over the product it replaces. This has created economic and environmental benefits at all stages of the consumer plastic cycle, creating new industries and jobs.
Research at Loughborough University during the REF period (and extending back at least three decades beyond that) has had a significant impact on national and international policy decisions governing the management of radioactive waste, one of the Grand Challenges facing society. The Unit's research ranges from deep geological disposal to abatement of marine discharges and remediation strategies for industrial radioactive waste, the latter safeguarding the competitiveness of the oil & gas and mineral processing sectors. This input has been crucial for revising the new Environmental Permitting Regulations and International Basic Safety Standards. Many of the Unit's doctoral graduates occupy important decision-making roles at key organisations such as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Sellafield, Environment Agency, CEA (France) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).