Summary of the impact

Organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) is a membrane separation technology used for separating molecules present in organic solvents. Research in the Livingston group has resulted in the creation of membranes with exceptional stability in organic solvents, coupled to high flux and excellent rejection performance. These membranes have been developed through to commercial products, and are manufactured by Evonik MET Ltd in the UK in a purpose-built facility in West London.

For many separations OSN uses ten times less energy than thermal methods, and can process molecules at low temperature. Through Evonik MET, OSN membranes and test equipment derived from the Imperial research have been supplied to over 100 customers including many of the major global chemical and pharmaceutical companies. For his work on OSN, Andrew Livingston received the 2009 Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering awarded "...to recognize an outstanding and demonstrated personal contribution to British engineering, which has resulted in successful market exploitation..." [7]

Summary of the impact

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].

Summary of the impact

ERPE research led to the following impacts in the REF2014 period:

• Extending the life of the NUGGETS field (operated by Total) by three years with an increase in cumulative production of 2% (2.8 Million Barrels of Oil Equivalent, value $150M).
• Saving $3-7M in costs associated with methanol removal from liquid hydrocarbon phase by demonstrating methanol could be removed from Natural Gas Liquids directly by molecular sieve, which played a major role in Total's decision in eliminating a de-propaniser from "methanol removal facilities", saving around £50M.
• Hydrafact: a start-up company with a turnover of £1M in 2012 and employing 8 full-time and 15 part-time staff.

Summary of the impact

This research enables longer component lives for industrial gas turbines and jet engines, and development of new protective coating systems. Siemens and Rolls Royce have improved their selection of materials systems used in components in the hot gas paths e.g. blades, vanes, discs, and seals. Degradation mechanisms in operating turbines, or anticipated in future materials systems, limit the lives of these components and the efficiencies of systems. New functionally graded coatings were created that are highly resistant to hot corrosion and oxidation. Methodology has been adopted in ISO standards BS ISO 26146:2012, BS ISO 14802:2012 and ISO/CD 17224.

Summary of the impact

A small, battery-powered device for oxygen generation and distribution (Natrox™), has been developed that, with air as input, can supply humidified oxygen evenly to wounds, such as ulcers, surgical wounds and burns, allowing the patient to be treated in a discrete efficient way without interfering with their lifestyle. With conventional approaches, oxygen can be supplied to hospital patients with ulcers only via gas bottles or piped oxygen, with the limb or body being enclosed in a plastic bag. Many successful trials of the Natrox™ device have been performed, initiating considerable interest, leading to the manufacturing and distribution of the device by InotecAMD Ltd, a University of Cambridge spin-out.

Summary of the impact

Queen's University's Ionic Liquids Laboratory (QUILL) has developed an ionic liquid technology for removing mercury, a toxic, corrosive contaminant naturally present in hydrocarbon reserves, with the national oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS).The technology has been successfully installed in 1-and 15-ton units in two PETRONAS gas processing plants in Malaysia. The process, marketed as HycaPure Hg™, captures all mercury species present in natural gas and has up to 3 times higher capacity than competing state-of-the-art commercial alternatives. This technology represents a significant improvement towards ensuring the health and safety of workers, process plant and the environment.

Summary of the impact

Researchers at Swansea University were the first in the world to apply Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to membrane separation in the field of process engineering. Membrane optimisation processes have emerged as one of the most significant recent developments in chemical engineering, with a range of applications in, for example, the food industry and medicine/therapeutics. Research undertaken by the University has led to significant commercial and health benefits, including

• improved food processing techniques, with induced investment of £11m and operational savings of over £2m.
• novel antibacterial alginate therapeutics, now in clinical trials, that have been proven in the treatment of cystic fibrosis, inducing investment of £7m.
• exploitation of proprietary membrane modification techniques, with $2m impact.
• development of two novel membranes used worldwide in the process industries, generating sales of £500k for each..

Summary of the impact

The first commercial electronic nose (aka e-nose) instruments were designed, developed and built by researchers in Warwick's School of Engineering in the 1990s, and commercialized by [text removed for publication]

Warwick's patents in chemical sensing also led in 2008 to the creation of a spin-out company, Cambridge CMOS Sensors Ltd (CCS), which provides low-cost low-power gas-sensing technology and is already established in the gas-sensing market.

The smart sensors and instrumentation developed as a result of the pioneering research in artificial olfaction and chemical sensing have had economic impacts across a wide range of sectors, in particular in food quality, healthcare and consumer electronics. The two companies employ around 100 people and the thousands of e-nose instruments sold help quality assurance of foods, beverages and are now being deployed in hospitals for bacterial detection.

Summary of the impact

Research at the University of Manchester has led to the provision of cost effective instruments for monitoring water, industrial and environmental pollution. The underpinning research on chemical sensors conducted in the unit was protected by patent, and in 2007 Multisensor Systems Ltd was spun-out in-order to meet the needs of the water industry and has grown to employ 6 people in 2013. Currently this is the only commercially available instrument sensitive enough to monitor low concentrations of hydrocarbon pollution and is used by major UK water companies to prevent risk of environmental pollution hazards with mitigated losses valued at more than £100m.

Summary of the impact

Research at the University of Salford directed at the development of a new consumer aerosol without liquefied gas propellant; the Salford Eco-valve, demonstrates the following impact:

• Developing new, commercially viable, environmentally friendly spray and aerosol products in the healthcare, personal care, air-freshener, insecticide, cleaning, polish, cooking and painting fields, with acceptable product spraying properties but eliminating the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Greenhouse Gas propellants currently used in the vast majority of aerosols;
• Successfully submitting a range of five inter-related international patent applications, all granted in the UK in 2011/12 under the Green Channel fast-track scheme for environmental innovations;
• Introducing the technology to consumer aerosol companies and influencing their change in focus towards aerosol technology which meets the requirements of potential EU directives on the reduction of VOCs in aerosols;
• Pursuing exploitation and licensing agreements with multinational companies to use the new technology, resulting in advanced stage negotiation with a preferred partner to acquire the global exclusive manufacturing and distribution rights for commercialisation.