Energy Resilient Manufacturing 2: Small is Beautiful Phase 2 (SIB2)

Context: Applying the concept of "small is beautiful" into a conservative relatively low technology manufacturing sector where the "economies of scale" argument has been used for the last decade to build ever more so-called efficient process lines is a major challenge. The UK is at the forefront of casting technologies with investment by EPSRC at Brunel, in the LiME CIM and new Research Hub focused on developing a novel disruptive melt treatment process especially aimed at recycled alloys, and at the MTC in the New High Temperature Alloy research laboratory part funded by Rolls-Royce and EPSRC. Manufacturing expertise, including casting, in super-alloys, titanium, copper, aluminium and new alloys, underpins advancements in design and energy-efficiency of the end product. This research is vital for the global aerospace and automotive industries but doesn't specifically address the Energy and sustainability challenges from a systems viewpoint. Thus the energy efficiency of the casting process has only been investigated in a limited fashion, for example by a previous EPSRC funded project (Jolly (PI) EP/G060096/1/2) Energy Saving in the Foundry Industry. Since that proposal was written and the research carried out the whole energy landscape has changed. New concepts of "energy harvesting" and "design for sustainability and the circular economy" have been developed and capturing low grade heat is now an important concept.
Aims & Objectives: The aim of this project is to introduce the concept of "small is beautiful" into a conservative relatively low technology manufacturing sector where the "economies of scale" argument has been used for the last decade to build ever more so-called efficient process lines. This will be a major challenge. The new philosophy, "small is beautiful", starts by encouraging the use of high quality feedstock, only melting what is required and only when it is required. Recycling of internal scrap is not necessarily acceptable but an aim for higher yields is. Applying counter gravity casting methods to improve yield and give enhanced quality is encouraged as is the recovery low grade heat from solidification.
Driven by the findings in the feasibility study the project will aim to develop a methodology and a modelling toolkit, to enable true energy resilient manufacture with the production of castings at maximum yield rates with minimal energy and material usage through process routes that maximise profit, while meeting customer needs accurately and timely. In contrast to existing approaches the methodology and toolkit will determine the optimal balance between those often conflicting objectives through integrated and through-process models of the energy, materials and manufacturing process chains.
Potential Applications and Benefits: The project will achieve this by the development of a software tool incorporating a new philosophy/methodology and metric for the handling of materials and energy throughout the process in foundries using computer numerical process simulation to support the decision making. The project will also look at the full energy chain from charge materials through to waste heat and energy in the process and identify the opportunities for scavenging waste heat and the costs associated with the whole process. This will therefore enable cost/benefit analysis to be undertaken so that companies will be able to make informed decisions about design, material and process at a very early stage.

The DECC report on UK energy published in July 2013 showed the total UK energy usage in 2012 as being 206 million tonnes oil equivalent (mtoe) or 8.7 ExaJ (8.7 x 1018 J) of which about 17% was used by industry. An estimate has been made that approximately 4% (about 60,000 TJ) of this is used by the foundry industry. By adopting the new philosophy proposed in this research for foundry manufacturing processes then this could be more than halved.

In order to get industrial engagement and develop potential pathways into manufacturing we have been initially working with the Cast Metals Federation and a core of foundry companies. These same companies will be involved in meetings to help define the research direction and support the implementation of the software code. Professor Jolly already works closely with the Cast metals Federation (CMF) and the Institute of Cast Metals Engineers (ICME) sitting on both technical and education committees. By involving both these organisations in understanding the new philosophy the concepts can be introduced into the industry's training courses which are delivered by these organisations.

This research has potential to be to be massively impactful on UKplc Manufacturing sector as a whole. The benefits of reducing energy demand in the sector will make the supply of energy within the UK more resilient and therefore have less impact on the public. Manufacturers are always the first organisations requested to reduce power use when there are shortages. By making and demonstrating that their processes are the most efficient they may be able to influence the energy providers in winning preferential prices and supply. The on-cost to the consumer should therefore be reduced.

The Major Beneficiaries from the proposed Energy Resilient Manufacturing Proposal: Small is Beautiful 2 would initially be materials and manufacturing engineers in design, materials selection and manufacturing across the breadth of the UK foundry sector. This covers aerospace, automotive, biomedical, electronics, general engineering, marine, power generation & primary metal sectors. If the concepts are adopted by the software companies supporting the industry then they would potentially benefit from enhanced product and possibly concomitant increase in sales.
Recent work considering metal losses and low material yields has shown that the through process energy efficiency in the foundry sector is between 0.1 and 1%. The UK has 50% of the European Investment Casting sector and about 400 other foundries so is a significant contributor to manufacturing UK. Estimate Al foundry sector 1% of industrial Energy (about 11 TJ pa). The foundry sector as a whole in the UK based on the 2012 world census [5] is some 5 x larger being of the order of 57,000 TJ pa or approximately 4% of the UK Industrial energy usage. Theoretical melting energy is of the order of 1GJ/t but by the end of processing between 90 to 1,000 GJ/t are used. Specifically in life cycle analysis aluminium is more energy intense and produces more CO2/t than most engineering materials [6]. Recent work on CRIMSON has shown that the energy burden/tonne of aluminium casting could be reduced to about 35 GJ. If this level could be replicated across the foundry sector the potential reduction is estimated to be about 65%. Low grade heat recovery based on the number of tonnes shipped and assuming an efficiency of about 40% to represent the whole Al foundry sector industry in the UK would equate to 320 TJ pa. Estimates of the total energy usage for casting and the wasted heat from solidification suggest that the industry is using 1,500 TJ/annum, about 0.1% of the total UK Industrial energy.