Log in
Research in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells at Loughborough University (LU) has led to commercial and innovative impacts on a global scale which have included the development of the world's first purpose-built hydrogen fuel cell motorbike, the world's first manned fuel cell aircraft and a zero emission fuel cell hybrid London taxi, with major international companies, such as Suzuki, Boeing and Lotus. These developments have arisen due to the creation of the spin out company Intelligent Energy (IE). The company currently employs some 350 personnel, has a total shareholder investment over £100M and was valued at $0.5B in 2012.
Loughborough University's (LU) research collaboration with The Hardstaff Group has resulted in a commercial Oil-Ignition-Gas-Injection system (OIGI®), which substitutes natural gas for Diesel oil in heavy goods vehicles. Using optical diagnostics OIGI® was redesigned, increasing average substitution rates from 45% to 60%. The economic impact for Hardstaff was a fuel saving of £406k per annum. The research allowed Hardstaff to create new business with Mercedes-Benz in the UK and Volvo in Sweden. OIGI® reduces CO2 by up to 15%, harmful nitrogen oxides and particulate emissions by 30%. The research also demonstrated, for the first time, dual fuel technology in small, high-speed diesel engines, paving the way for its application in passenger cars.
The HOTFIRE collaborative research project (2004-2008) into advanced engine combustion systems led directly to a new, high specific power output, high fuel economy, low CO2 emissions turbocharged `down-sized' three-cylinder engine that was demonstrated in the Opel Astra car in 2008. The valuable new knowledge, understanding and techniques gained in the HOTFIRE project has directly contributed to the successful delivery of a major engine family project for an ASEAN region OEM client of Lotus Engineering.
The University of Manchester and Delphi Diesel Systems jointly developed a reverse tapered micro-hole drilling technique, which has resulted in wide commercial applications for the manufacture of fuel injection nozzles in diesel engines and is used by Volkswagen, Ford and Renault in passenger cars and trucks. The technique has resulted in 1.5% fuel saving, 35-40% reduction in particulate matter emission, 20% reduction in NOx emission, 3% reduction in CO2 emission, and allows diesel engines to satisfy the new EU emission legislation Euro 5 in 2008/2009. Delphi's diesel engine component business increased by €0.8 billion/year as a result of the new fuel injection technology.
Instrumentation technologies developed at Kent, in particular pulverised fuel flow metering, on-line particle sizing, on-line fuel tracking and burner flame imaging, have enabled combustion engineers to diagnose large-scale complex combustion processes and optimize the operation of coal, biomass and heavy-oil fired power plants. The technologies operate on novel sensing and advanced measurement principles and have produced real-time measurement and plant condition monitoring data that were previously unavailable. Instrumentation systems operating on the technologies have been applied successfully to a range of pilot plants and on full-scale power plants in countries including the UK, France, China and Saudi Arabia. Work has enabled the power industry to produce electricity safely while minimising environmental impact and employing a diverse range of fuels. The instrumentation technology informed the conversion of Drax power station from 100% coal firing to biomass/coal co-firing during 2011/2012 as it sought to halve its carbon footprint within five years. The technology sourced and informed the alleviation of significant vibration problems within a heavy-oil fired power plant in Saudi Arabia.
Professor Jostins' research has produced dual electric/hydrogen-powered vehicles to address urban pollution. The research has delivered impact by pushing the boundaries of alternative fuels design and technology, by supporting the economic prosperity of the automotive industry and its supply chain and by influencing policy makers to invest in hydrogen. From a quarter scale model in 1998, it and subsequent iterations have had significant impact. Highlights include deployment of the UK's first hydrogen vehicle fleet in 2009, nomination for the Condé Nast Award: Innovation & Design in 2012 and the invitation to join the SWARM project (a demonstration of small four- wheeled fuel cell vehicles, http://swarm-project.eu/home.html) as a pan-European hybrid vehicle demonstrator, 2012. Beneficiaries include Horizon Fuel Cell, Westfield and Lotus (new products developed), and the South African and Scottish Governments (hydrogen economy developed).
University of Huddersfield research into engine technologies has resulted in a major new partnership with the UK arm of engineering multinational BorgWarner, leading to the company increasing R&D capabilities in the UK. This collaboration, funded partly by parent company BorgWarner US and partly by the government's Regional Growth Fund, involves multi-million-pound investment, as well as significant job creation and safeguarding. It was a key factor in the company securing a substantial contract with Jaguar Land Rover, whose decision was informed by the University's capacity to help BorgWarner further its R&D activities and upskill its workforce for the benefit of the UK automotive supply chain and the local and national economy.
Research by Smales has led to IP that protects novel technologies for mammalian recombinant cell line development. Based upon mass spectrometry and in silico modelling approaches, the technology has permitted the development of highly efficient cell lines for monoclonal antibody production in the commercial environment at Lonza Biologics. This IP has three important benefits to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries:
(a) It allows key biopharmaceuticals to be made using substantially less resource and with an overall higher efficiency.
(b) It reduces the time from transfection to production of cell banks.
(c) It accelerates bioreactor evaluation and the ability to predict cell line performance at the bioreactor scale early in cell line construction.
The quantum well solar cell (QWSC) was invented, developed and patented by the Quantum Photovoltaics (QPV) research group at Imperial. QuantaSol was spun out of Imperial college in 2007 and was awarded Guardian CleanTech Top 100 awards in 2008 and 2009. In May 2009 it received £1.35m of funding from a syndicate of investors. In 2011 QuantaSol was bought by JDSU, a leading US semiconductor manufacturer, for US $3.7million. The quantum well (QW) technology developed by the QPV group enabled QuantaSol, and subsequently JDSU, to manufacture QWSCs with efficiencies above those of the then market leaders, Spectrolab and Solar Junction. Uniquely, QWs will allow JDSU to optimise cells for maximum energy harvest in different solar spectra. This will increase world-wide the beneficiaries of concentrator technology and enable other low-carbon applications in building integration and electric transport. The Imperial research has thus had (i) economic impact through the adoption of improved technology and (ii) environmental impact through the take up of QWSCs by JDSU.
Improved measurement of fuel behaviour in automotive engines has contributed to the success of the AJ133 V8 engine, which powers over [text removed for publication] vehicles sold since 2009. The research, carried out at the University of Oxford in collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), developed techniques to improve the understanding of combustion dynamics in engines and consequently enabled improvements to fuel consumption, emissions and engine reliability. Impacts include contributions to (1) JLR's improved engine design process and (2) improved fuel efficiency and thus lower emissions.