COMPACT - Continuous Microsystem Production of Catalysts Technology
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
Abstract
Currently, there is outstanding world-leading nano-material science being developed in Europe and especially the UK. The growing understanding of the physical and chemical interactions at the nanoscale is constantly revealing novel materials with a wide range of applications from catalysis, drug delivery, sensors, etc. However, the full realisation of these materials and their potential impact is hindered by the lack of a manufacturing technology capable of their production in a continuous and reproducible manner in large scale. This Fellowship project, aligned with the EPSRC Manufacturing the Future theme, will deliver a transformative technology for the large production of the next generation of nano-structured materials and catalysts. Its impact will allow the fast and effective transfer of knowledge from lab research to industrial scale which is essential to enhance global life standards while providing competitive advantages to the UK.
Planned Impact
This proposal has been designed with impact at the core, focused on a transformational approach to manufacturing of catalysts and structured materials. It is expect to benefit the UK and international academic community, industry and manufacturing sectors. It will also bring a wide-range of societal benefits including environmental sustainability, economy and education. The Case for Support contains a detailed academic impact plan. The roadmap to promote and ensure these impacts is described in the Pathways to Impact. This section identifies the main beneficiaries beyond me as an EPSRC Early Career Fellow, and the scientific community:
Lead users: The development of the proposed micro-scale manufacturing technology capable of producing metal particles with the desired shape and size in a continuous, scalable and reproducible manner will transform the range of materials and catalysts available at a commercial scale. Its implementation will directly benefit materials and catalysts manufacturing companies (e.g. Johnson Matthey, Oxford Catalysts, Evonik, etc.) providing competitive advantages especially in terms of product quality and customisation. It will also directly impact the competitiveness of technology suppliers specialised in micro-scale systems by the adoption of the innovative engineering strategies developed in the project.
Additionally, the manufacturing capabilities gained from this project will directly benefit the chemical-reliant industry (chemical; e.g. BP, Dow Chemicals, Unilever and pharmaceutical; e.g. GSK, Novartis, Pfizer) where more than 95% of their processes are carried out in the presence of a catalyst. The fast transfer of cutting edge research advances into industry will undoubtedly have a great impact in the UK and global economy in the medium and long-term, supporting an industry which counts for 21% of the UK GDP and supports over 6 million jobs.
End users: The implementation of more active and more selective catalysts and the industrial adaptation of cutting-edge discoveries in nano-science will enable the technical viability of more environmentally friendly processes while presenting attractive economic benefits associated to the decrease of the capital investment on industrial processes (smaller reactors and separation units) and operation costs (low energy consumption and waste production) enhancing the competitiveness of UK chemistry-using sector in the global market.
This progress will consequently have a wide range of benefits for end users in areas of water treatment, energy, food industry, healthcare, plastic production, etc. These new sustainable technologies will have societal benefits such as the reduction of emissions of pollutants, sustainable social development, better use of resources, reduced environmental impact, etc., leading to an enhanced quality of life and welfare.
Education: This project will have a direct impact in the training and formation of all PhD students in my research group who will benefit from the expertise and capabilities gained during the project. Indirectly, it will also benefit all PhD students associated with the Centre of Doctoral Training in the Centre of Sustainable Chemical Technologies at Bath as well as other postgraduate students in the Department.
Additionally, aspects of this cutting-edge research will be implemented in the undergraduate teaching modules providing students with knowledge beyond traditional engineering and understanding of its impact in day-to-day applications.
The university outreach events and public engagement activities will further expand the impact of this research to school students and the public in general. Science promotion, awakening scientific vocations and nurturing of current and future scientists and engineers are amongst the expected benefits via education.
Lead users: The development of the proposed micro-scale manufacturing technology capable of producing metal particles with the desired shape and size in a continuous, scalable and reproducible manner will transform the range of materials and catalysts available at a commercial scale. Its implementation will directly benefit materials and catalysts manufacturing companies (e.g. Johnson Matthey, Oxford Catalysts, Evonik, etc.) providing competitive advantages especially in terms of product quality and customisation. It will also directly impact the competitiveness of technology suppliers specialised in micro-scale systems by the adoption of the innovative engineering strategies developed in the project.
Additionally, the manufacturing capabilities gained from this project will directly benefit the chemical-reliant industry (chemical; e.g. BP, Dow Chemicals, Unilever and pharmaceutical; e.g. GSK, Novartis, Pfizer) where more than 95% of their processes are carried out in the presence of a catalyst. The fast transfer of cutting edge research advances into industry will undoubtedly have a great impact in the UK and global economy in the medium and long-term, supporting an industry which counts for 21% of the UK GDP and supports over 6 million jobs.
End users: The implementation of more active and more selective catalysts and the industrial adaptation of cutting-edge discoveries in nano-science will enable the technical viability of more environmentally friendly processes while presenting attractive economic benefits associated to the decrease of the capital investment on industrial processes (smaller reactors and separation units) and operation costs (low energy consumption and waste production) enhancing the competitiveness of UK chemistry-using sector in the global market.
This progress will consequently have a wide range of benefits for end users in areas of water treatment, energy, food industry, healthcare, plastic production, etc. These new sustainable technologies will have societal benefits such as the reduction of emissions of pollutants, sustainable social development, better use of resources, reduced environmental impact, etc., leading to an enhanced quality of life and welfare.
Education: This project will have a direct impact in the training and formation of all PhD students in my research group who will benefit from the expertise and capabilities gained during the project. Indirectly, it will also benefit all PhD students associated with the Centre of Doctoral Training in the Centre of Sustainable Chemical Technologies at Bath as well as other postgraduate students in the Department.
Additionally, aspects of this cutting-edge research will be implemented in the undergraduate teaching modules providing students with knowledge beyond traditional engineering and understanding of its impact in day-to-day applications.
The university outreach events and public engagement activities will further expand the impact of this research to school students and the public in general. Science promotion, awakening scientific vocations and nurturing of current and future scientists and engineers are amongst the expected benefits via education.
People |
ORCID iD |
Laura Torrente Murciano (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Al-Janabi N
(2015)
Mapping the Cu-BTC metal-organic framework (HKUST-1) stability envelope in the presence of water vapour for CO2 adsorption from flue gases
in Chemical Engineering Journal
Bell T
(2015)
Single-step synthesis of nanostructured ?-alumina with solvent reusability to maximise yield and morphological purity
in Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Bell T
(2020)
Hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition using Co/?-Al2O3 catalysts - Insights into the effect of synthetic method
in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Bell T
(2017)
?-Al 2 O 3 nanorods with tuneable dimensions - a mechanistic understanding of their hydrothermal synthesis
in RSC Advances
Bell T
(2018)
High Yield Manufacturing of ?-Al2O3 Nanorods
Bell T
(2016)
H2 Production via Ammonia Decomposition Using Non-Noble Metal Catalysts: A Review
in Topics in Catalysis
Bell T
(2017)
High Yield Manufacturing of ?-Al 2 O 3 Nanorods
in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
Description | Metal nanoparticles have unique chemical and physical properties with a wide range of applications from catalysis, bio-medicine, imaging, energy conversion, etc. However, their deployment in real world applications is limited by the lack of manufacturing process able to produce them in large scale with control size. This project contributed to the creation of such manufacturing technology by the development of bespoke microreactors guided by fluid dynamic simulation to understand the mixing in these reactors. As a result, we have demonstrated that the size and distribution of metal nanoparticles is directly related to the early degree of mixing during their synthesis. This finding has profound implications providing a shift in the way that nanomaterial synthetic routes are developed, demonstrating the importance of developing new chemical synthetic routes and reactors simultaneously. We have developed a new technology for the continuous manufacturing of metal nanoparticles with a high level of size control in the absence of organic capping ligands. The work has recently expanded to multi-metal systems and additional configurations such as hollow systems. During the last months of the project, we have provided feasibility data for the automation of the system. |
Exploitation Route | We have developed a robust technology for the continuous synthesis of metal nanoparticles with a wide range of sizes. This has led to a large number of collaborations within Cambridge but also externally, creating a wide impact to a number of other fields as originally predicted. We are currently in conversations with industry for its adaptation. |
Sectors | Chemicals Energy Environment Healthcare |
Description | We have used some of the outcomes of this research in a number of public engagement activities, specially in the framework of the Cambridge Science Festival where we engage with a broad audience including children and the general public about the unique properties of metal nanoparticles and their potential applications. We have demonstrated that microreactors (within micrometer sizes) can indeed be used for large-scale manufacturing of materials challenging the conventional way of using large, expensive and inflexible reactors. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Sector | Education,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | Dial-a-particle: model-driven self-optimised manufacturing platform of nanoparticles |
Amount | £727,398 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V025759/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2021 |
End | 03/2024 |
Description | Enabling industrial deployment of deep eutectic solvents through manufacturing tools |
Amount | £465,240 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/S021019/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2019 |
End | 12/2022 |
Description | KACST - Cambridge collaboration |
Amount | £346,053 (GBP) |
Organisation | King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology |
Sector | Public |
Country | Saudi Arabia |
Start | 08/2016 |
End | 04/2018 |
Description | Programme Grant |
Amount | £4,837,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/P02081X/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2017 |
End | 06/2022 |
Description | Reduction of CO2 emissions in the UK chemical industry |
Amount | £1,573,500 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/P004709/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2016 |
End | 09/2020 |
Title | Research data supporting "Deep Eutectic-Solvothermal Synthesis of Nanostructured Ceria" |
Description | Corrected Q-range liquid-phase neutron diffraction raw data |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Corrected Q-range liquid-phase neutron diffraction raw data |
URL | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/260672 |
Title | Research data supporting "Synthesis of narrow sized silver nanoparticles in the absence of capping ligands in helical microreactors" |
Description | This is a Matlab code to fit the UV-vis spectra of silver nanoparticles suspension to estimate average particle size. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | This is a Matlab code to fit the UV-vis spectra of silver nanoparticles suspension to estimate average particle size. |
URL | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/261049 |
Title | Research data supporting "The potential of Green Ammonia for Agricultural and Economic Development in Sierra Leone" |
Description | These data provides the input information to construct a spacial model for rice production and consumption in Sierra Leone and resolve the mass balances, cost equations and energy storage capacity. Information includes a table of current hydroelectric sites, the 48 population centres in which the country is divided in the model, the rice production and area of each of these centres, total rice consumption, current fertliser prices, estimation of agricultural yields, coffee cultivation and amount of fertilisers applied for rice cultivation |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | These data provides the input information to construct a spacial model for rice production and consumption in Sierra Leone and resolve the mass balances, cost equations and energy storage capacity useful for other researchers to build similar models. |
URL | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/315825 |
Title | Supporting Data Exceeding single-pass equilibrium with integrated absorption separation for ammonia synthesis using renewable energy - redefining the Haber-Bosch loop |
Description | Selected annotated data results as presented in "Exceeding single-pass equilibrium with integrated absorption separation for ammonia synthesis using renewable energy - redefining the Haber-Bosch loop." This excel workbook contains the crucial but not exhaustive data for ammonia catalysts and absorbents as presented in the associated publication. This dataset is intended to be supplementary to the associated publication rather than self-contained. Fig 1d,1e,3c: This excel sheet contains the data for testing of the catalyst Ru/Cs/CeO2 with varying N2:H2 ratios. In addition to three profiles of conversion with temperature, equilibrium lines and the best fit kinetic model are included. Details of the kinetic model can be found in the associated article. Also included are the conversion profiles with temperature for several other catalysts. All catalysts were tested at 21 barg in a flow reactor where the data measurement consisted of the change of flow through the system due to reaction. Fig2c: This sheet contains the condensed data for comparison of three ammonia absorbents. The absorbents are compared in terms of the amount of ammonia removed per gram absorbent per pressure of ammonia over time. Further details of the absorbent characteristics can be found in the associated article. Fig2d: this sheet contains the performance data for the absorbent MnCl2/SiO2 at four different temperatures over time. The absorbent performance is measurement by the amount of ammonia removed per gram of absorbent. Also included in this sheet are the best fit model for absorption kinetics. Details about the kinetic model can be found in the associated article. Fig3b 1-3 to 2-1: These sheets contain the data for a combined catalyst and absorbent system in which at time zero gas flow from a catalyst bed is diverted to an absorbent bed and second catalyst bed in series. The change in flow with time is a measurement of the amount of ammonia absorbed/produced. The three sheets are divided according to the ratio of N2:H2 (1:3, 1:1, 2:1). Also included in these sheets are the model predictions when utilizing the previously determined kinetic models for catalyst and absorbent independently. Details of the experimental/kinetic methodology can be found in the associated publication. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Provides information about catalysis and absorbents for ammonia synthesis used by other researchers in their models. |
URL | https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/318030 |
Description | Christos Markides |
Organisation | Imperial College London |
Department | Department of Chemical Engineering |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The outcomes of this project enable the start of a collaboration for the production of nanofluids and its further funding by EPSRC |
Collaborator Contribution | Exploration and simulation of nanofluids to reduce the CO2 emissions in the UK chemical industry |
Impact | Multi-disciplinary and multi-site collaboration |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Jeremy Baumberg |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Cavendish Laboratory |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This project is enabling a collaboration to provide metal nanoparticles with tuneable sizes for the development of responsive functional polymers |
Collaborator Contribution | They are opening up new applications for these nanoparticles |
Impact | This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between physics and engineering. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Johnson Matthey |
Organisation | Johnson Matthey |
Department | Johnson Matthey Catalysts |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We are providing a new technology ofr the manufacturing of taylor catalysts with control on nanoparticle size and dispersity. |
Collaborator Contribution | Advice Industrial expertise Steering direction of research |
Impact | JM has strongly supported our latest proposal for the renewal of the NanoCDT in Cambridge |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Karina Mathisen |
Organisation | Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) |
Department | Department of Chemistry |
Country | Norway |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provision of materials as well as characterisation and catalytic tests |
Collaborator Contribution | Deep understanding of the relationship between metal components in catalysts via characterisation using XAS |
Impact | Multi-disciplinary collaboration |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Michael DeVolder |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Institute for Manufacturing |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Share of characterisation equipment and skills Knowledge on material synthesis, specially nanostructured ceramic materials |
Collaborator Contribution | Share of characterisation equipment and skills Knowledge on battery testing |
Impact | Mulstidisciplinary collaboration including manufacturing, chemistry and chemical engineering |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Richard Friend's group |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Cavendish Laboratory |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We are exploring the application of the technology developed in this project for the production of perovskite materials nanocrystals |
Collaborator Contribution | Application of perovskite nanocrystals in solar cells and LEDs |
Impact | Multi-disciplinary project between the optoelectronic group and chemical engineering |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Scientific Workshop - Manufacturing of materials in flow |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | I organised a workshop entitled "Manufacturing of materials in flow" at the University of Cambridge (UK) on the 22nd-24th September 2019. The main aim was to showcase the activities of the group directly related to this Fellowship project to leading research groups in the field as well as industry. The workshop was organised as a networking activity to discuss different approaches, share research outputs and explore future avenues. The discussion was divided into 4 themes: i. Manufacturing of materials in flow ii. Understanding mechanism of formation of nanoparticles iii. Novel flow device designs iv. In-situ characterisation and automatization (including machine learning) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |