Log in
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.
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.
A manufacturing process developed by Bradford researchers has revolutionised the way endodontists perform root canal treatments. When coated with a hydrophilic polymer, the highly-filled hygroscopic material has enabled UK company DRFP to develop SmartPoint — a new endodontic technique that dramatically reduces failure rates of root canal treatments from 11-30% over five years to approximately 1%, and gives lower levels of post-operative pain when compared with conventional techniques. The technology has won three awards for innovation and DRFP has expanded significantly, with a dedicated production facility and sales team offering visits to dentists to demonstrate the benefits of the technology.
The impact presented is the use of research carried out in the School of Chemical Engineering by a range of multinational food industries (inc. Unilever, Cargill, PepsiCo) to engineer a series of fat-reduced foods such as low fat spreads (LFS), dressings, margarine, sauces and mayonnaise. This has allowed them to build up a portfolio of novel low fat products; this portfolio would be much reduced or in some cases non-existent without the research contribution and capability generated by the Birmingham group as stated by Peter Lillford5.1 (former Chief Scientist, Unilever) and John Casey, (Vice President Biological Sciences, Unilever)5.2. These products are a significant and growing market segment e.g. LFS now outsell margarine/butter in a number of countries and are estimated to be worth globally 10 Billion Euros per year between 2008-13. Thus these products are having a significant impact on the industries' profitability. In addition, consumption of low fat foods act to tackle obesity with knock on effects for government (health service, lost GDP etc.) and the community as a whole.
The University of Nottingham's School of Chemistry has developed a novel method of incorporating thermally or chemically labile biologically active substances into polymers. This has been achieved by using supercritical carbon dioxide as a medium for the synthesis and modification of polymeric materials. The method has been employed as the basis for new drug-delivery devices whose viability in the healthcare sphere has been confirmed by patient trials. The spin-out company, Critical Pharmaceuticals Ltd, has delivered a range of economic benefits, including job creation, the securing of millions of pounds' worth of investment and a number of revenue-generating research collaborations.
University of Huddersfield research in physical organic chemistry has delivered economic, industrial and societal benefits. It has led to process improvements in chemical manufacturing, most notably in the optimisation of the synthesis of antisense oligonucleotides and in the use of liquid ammonia as a solvent. It has also led to the development of new inhibitors of bacterial β-lactamases for use as antibacterials. The research team's expertise has been reflected in the success of IPOS (Innovative Physical Organic Solutions), a unit established in 2006 to carry out research in process and other areas of chemistry for the chemical industry. IPOS expanded significantly from 2009 to 2013 and has now collaborated with more than 150 companies, many of them based in Yorkshire/Humberside where regeneration is critically dependent on the success of new, non-traditional, high-technology firms and industries. Through these collaborative projects, IPOS has contributed to the growth and prosperity of both regional and national industry.
Researchers in QUB developed the first commercial process control system (Rotolog) and simulation software (RotoSim) for the Rotomoulding Plastics Industry. There has also been recent commercialisation of a new energy-saving system, the Rotocooler.
The fundamental understanding of the process that was developed also enabled the moulding of new materials for new application areas, notably motorcycle fuel tanks (now used by BMW, Ducati, Harley Davidson and Honda) and the world's first concept car made from sustainable polymers.
Global economic and environmental impact arises from a significantly more efficient process, better product quality, a greater selection of processable materials and thus increased sales.
Diffusion bonding (DB) is well-known for producing structured materials with fine scale features and is a critical technology for high efficiency reactors, e.g. heat exchangers and fuel cells, but currently equipment is slow and expensive (and there are size limitations to the `assemblies' that can be built). The University has researched and developed, with industry partners, a rapid affordable diffusion bonding (ADB) process involving direct heating to provide appropriate temperature and stress states and utilising flexible ultra-insulation (vacuum) for pressing titanium (and now aluminium) sheets together. The process operates at low stresses thus avoiding `channel' collapse. Investment is taking place in the partner companies to exploit the technology. A breakthrough has been achieved in the chemical machining of three dimensional structures for laminar flow technology assemblies in aluminium and titanium, that can be built by ADB.
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.
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.