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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.
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.
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.
The impact of the research by the Caledonian Environment Centre can be demonstrated by the shift in Scotland's recycling rates from 4% in 1998 when the Centre was established, to 40% in 2011. The Centre's research methods were embedded in assessment tools which led to Scottish Councils being provided with £64m of additional annual funding. The Remade Scotland programme, hosted and developed by the Centre, between 2000 and 2010, delivered change as the first recyclate UK market development programme, and was further developed across the UK: two years later leading to the establishment of Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
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.
Through strategic national roles Grimes and Lee have had a major impact on the expansion of the UKs nuclear R&D programme since 2000 and on directing Government policy in the nuclear sector. Their research led directly to appointments to influential positions including (Grimes) as Specialist Advisor Nuclear to the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee (HoLSTC) for their report on Nuclear R&D Capabilities and (Lee) as Deputy Chair of the Government Advisory Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), which has a major scrutiny and advice role to Government's £multi-billion Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) programme reporting directly to the Energy Minister. Due to his unique insight in nuclear engineering Grimes is now Chief Scientific Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
University of Huddersfield research into the microbial production and metabolism of polysaccharides has had a significant impact in two distinct areas. In the food and health care industry it has driven developments in the use of bacterial starter cultures, leading to the adoption of new techniques to produce fermented products with proven functionality. In the policy arena, in modelling gas production by microorganisms, it has made a major contribution to the safety case for the disposal of nuclear waste, highlighting the economic and environmental benefits of underground storage. In each instance the reach of the research's impact has been international with the biggest beneficiaries residing in Europe and North America.
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.