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The applied use of earthworms in soil restoration, bio-monitoring, agro-ecosystems and organic waste management has had wide-reaching impact on the commercial sector and the public. A variety of commercial groups (such as the Forestry Commission and BAE Systems) have benefitted from this research in both the UK and abroad. In addition to this, earthworm research has also reached the public domain through outreach activities and media coverage. For example, this UoA was involved in a National Open Air Laboratories campaign. Our earthworm identification guide produced in collaboration with the Natural History Museum in London has now been widely distributed and used.
New analytical methods have been used in commercial applications for the 2012 Olympic Park to measure petroleum hydrocarbons in soil. Cranfield developed techniques, in collaboration with Eurofins, to meet the needs for contaminated land risk assessment and enable the selection of remediation strategies. Decision-support tools were developed for risk management and environmental rehabilitation of contaminated sites. The tools contribute to end-user confidence in remediation technology, reduced remediation costs and minimised waste disposal to landfill with subsequent savings in CO2 emissions. Our research laid a road map to demonstrate risk reduction and provided practical and cost efficient soil quality management tools.
Cranfield's research on improved soil management planning through enhanced spatial information has influenced policy development, allowed the adoption of new approaches to soil mapping, and enhanced the management of strategically important land assets. The research has provided key input to policy development nationally, within the European Union and across the globe. It has developed new technologies which have been used to survey soils at the scale of complete countries, saving significant cost and survey time compared to conventional methods. Cranfield's modelling has also supported the management of strategic land assets such as military training areas, and soil-related geohazards related to road networks and other linear infrastructure at the regional and national levels.
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.
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.
Impact: Policy, Economic: Improved soil fertility and crop yield, reduced erosion and flood and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from waterlogged and compacted soils.
Significance: A decrease in soil structural quality as a result of compaction or erosion decreases grain yield substantially. Novel indicators that assess visual structure and biological quality allow soil samples to be easily assessed for possible improvements in quality.
Beneficiaries: Farmers, agronomists, environmental bodies e.g. Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), water companies and waterway authorities, local government, policy makers and the general public.
Attribution: Dr. Ball and Prof. Watson (SRUC)
Reach: The visual structure index uses a simple colour guide that has been widely distributed and promoted in nine countries overseas and three continents.
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.
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.
This case study outlines how research at Plymouth University in soil science has been extended to a new way of measuring and characterising porous solids and their pore fluids by generating realistic simulated three-dimensional void networks and is now being used across a wide range of industry sectors. The research has been pioneered, patented and marketed and is available to industry via the products Pore-CorTM and PoreXpertTM. The approach has impacted nationally and internationally across a range of sectors including energy companies such as EDF and paper production such as Hewlett Packard. It has improved efficiency and operations in industry such as in nuclear reactors and led to a University spin out company.
Newcastle research into improving commercial soil-based greenhouse productivity has led to an increase in profitability (due to higher yields and lower costs) and a significant reduction in the negative environmental impacts of commercial, organic and other soil-based greenhouse crop production systems in Europe (UK, Greece and Crete). Newcastle's research has led to improved profits to UK organic tomato farmers estimated to be up to £100,000/ha/year and has allowed large scale organic greenhouse production to be a viable option to meet the demands of the UK organic market. In Greece increased profits are estimated at €25,000 per ha/year and in Crete the estimated value of reduced soil disease control and pest management is €110,000 per ha/year.