Transforming the Foundation Industries: a Network+ Towards Value by Innovation

Lead Research Organisation: University of Sheffield
Department Name: Materials Science and Engineering

Abstract

The UK Foundation Industries (Glass, Metals, Cement, Ceramics, Bulk Chemicals and Paper), are worth £52B to the UK economy, produce 28 million tonnes of materials per year and account for 10% of the UK total CO2 emissions. These industries face major challenges in meeting the UK Government's legal commitment for 2050 to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 100% relative to 1990, as they are characterised by highly intensive use of both resources and energy.

While all sectors are implementing steps to increase recycling and reuse of materials, they are at varying stages of creating road maps to zero carbon. These roadmaps depend on the switching of the national grid to low carbon energy supply based on green electricity and sustainable sources of hydrogen and biofuels along with carbon capture and storage solutions. Achievement of net zero carbon will also require innovations in product and process design and the adoption of circular economy and industrial symbiosis approaches via new business models, enabled as necessary by changes in national and global policies. Additionally, the Governments £4.7B National Productivity Investment Fund recognises the need for raising UK productivity across all industrial sectors to match best international standards. High levels of productivity coupled with low carbon strategies will contribute to creating a transformation of the foundation industry landscape, encouraging strategic retention of the industries in the UK, resilience against global supply chain shocks such as Covid-19 and providing quality jobs and a clean environment.

The strategic importance of these industries to UK productivity and environmental targets has been acknowledged by the provision of £66M from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to support a Transforming Foundation Industries cluster. Recognising that the individual sectors will face many common problems and opportunities, the TFI cluster will serve to encourage and facilitate a cross sectoral approach to the major challenges faced. As part of this funding an Academic Network Plus will be formed, to ensure the establishment of a vibrant community of academics and industry that can organise and collaborate to build disciplinary and interdisciplinary solutions to the major challenges. The Network Plus will serve as a basis to ensure that the ongoing £66M TFI programme is rolled out, underpinned by a portfolio of the best available UK interdisciplinary science, and informed by cross sectoral industry participation.

Our network, initially drawn from eight UK universities, and over 30 industrial organisations will support the UK foundation industries by engaging with academia, industry, policy makers and non-governmental organisations to identify and address challenges and opportunities to co-develop and adopt transformative technologies, business models and working practices. Our expertise covers all six foundation industries, with relevant knowledge of materials, engineering, bulk chemicals, manufacturing, physical sciences, informatics, economics, circular economy and the arts & humanities. Through our programme of mini-projects, workshops, knowledge transfer, outreach and dissemination, the Network will test concepts and guide the development of innovative outcomes to help transform UK foundation industries. The Network will be inclusive across disciplines, embracing best practice in Knowledge Exchange from the Arts and Humanities, and inclusive of the whole UK academic and industrial communities, enabling access for all to the activity programme and project fund opportunities.

Organisations

Publications

10 25 50
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Hurst G (2023) Anaerobic digestion of recycled paper crumb and effects of digestate on concrete performance in Renewable Energy

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Liu X (2023) Characterisations of self-excited nonlinear oscillations at varied system parameters in a Rijke tube with a premixed laminar flame in Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

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Shah Z (2023) Effect of Sulfur on Wood Tar Biopitch as a Sustainable Replacement for Coal Tar Pitch Binders in ACS Applied Engineering Materials

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Yang H (2023) Experimental and Simulated Study of the Relationship Between Color Camera Imaging and Color-Modeled Equivalence Ratio Measurement in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement

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Liu X (2024) Experimental investigation on the effects of a mesh in the downstream region of a combustion-driven Rijke tube on self-excited thermoacoustic oscillations in Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

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Janani R (2023) From acrylates to silicones: A review of common optical fibre coatings used for normal to harsh environments in Progress in Organic Coatings

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Ke X (2023) Mechanochemical activation for improving the direct mineral carbonation efficiency and capacity of a timber biomass ash in Journal of CO2 Utilization

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Khalili MH (2023) Nanoindentation Response of 3D Printed PEGDA Hydrogels in a Hydrated Environment. in ACS applied polymer materials

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Echeverria-Rios D (2024) Predicting product quality in continuous manufacturing processes using a scalable robust Gaussian Process approach in Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence

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Reaney I (2023) Resource efficiency and energy efficiency (REEE) in the Portuguese ceramic industry: Towards net zero carbon production in Open Ceramics

 
Description This is a Network plus grant and we have interacted with industry extensively in the past year. Examples of industrial impact include: Peter Green's (Liverpool University) mini project has led to AI being used to control glass melting at Pilkington's. Stephen Spooner's SIAM (Swansea University) programme is used by several govt. and industrial organisation to stress test CAPEX in sustainability and Hussam Jouhara (Brunel Uiversity) underwent trials for his heat pipe technology in an Al smelting plant. These impacts have formed the narrative of a forthcoming Materials World article. All 34 small projects have industrial impact that is described elsewhere in the R.Fish submission. We also participated in an EDI symposium in May led by Sue Black OBE of the Transfire Hub and produced a brochure describing the outputs from a workshop in March 22.
First Year Of Impact 2022
Sector Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology
Impact Types Societal,Economic
 
Description KTP with Johnson Tiles
Amount £244,046 (GBP)
Funding ID 10030098 
Organisation Innovate UK 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 08/2022 
End 12/2024
 
Description Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Sika Limited (13081)
Amount £135,384 (GBP)
Funding ID 13081 
Organisation University of Leeds 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 01/2022 
End 08/2025
 
Description Top up from the Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge
Amount £200,000 (GBP)
Organisation University of Sheffield 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 09/2022 
End 03/2023
 
Description Top up from the Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge
Amount £57,000 (GBP)
Organisation University of Sheffield 
Sector Academic/University
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2023 
End 10/2023
 
Title Data supporting: 'Nanoindentation Response of 3D Printed PEGDA Hydrogels in a Hydrated Environment' 
Description Raw and processed data sets from nanoidentation response of 3D printed hydrogels. 1. Raw data of nanoindentation response. 2. Representative load-displacement curves for each type of hydrogel. 3. Representative data for creep for different types of hydrogels. 4. Representative data for NMR spectras of different types of hydrogels. 5. Representative data for glass transition of different types of hydrogels. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cord.cranfield.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Nanoindentation_Response_of_3D_Printed_PEGDA_Hydrogels...
 
Title Data supporting: 'Nanoindentation Response of 3D Printed PEGDA Hydrogels in a Hydrated Environment' 
Description Raw and processed data sets from nanoidentation response of 3D printed hydrogels. 1. Raw data of nanoindentation response. 2. Representative load-displacement curves for each type of hydrogel. 3. Representative data for creep for different types of hydrogels. 4. Representative data for NMR spectras of different types of hydrogels. 5. Representative data for glass transition of different types of hydrogels. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cord.cranfield.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Nanoindentation_Response_of_3D_Printed_PEGDA_Hydrogels...
 
Title Nanoindentation Response of 3D Printed PEGDA Hydrogels in a Hydrated Environment 
Description Raw and processed data sets from nanoidentation response of 3D printed hydrogels. 1. Raw data of nanoindentation response. 2. Representative load-displacement curves for each type of hydrogel. 3. Representative data for creep for different types of hydrogels. 4. Representative data for NMR spectras of different types of hydrogels. 5. Representative data for glass transition of different types of hydrogels. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2023 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cord.cranfield.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Nanoindentation_Response_of_3D_Printed_PEGDA_Hydrogels...
 
Title Thermal response of multi-layer UV crosslinked PEGDA hydrogels 
Description All data sets are raw data from thermoresponse behaviour of hydrogels. 1. Swelling test for multi-150 um hydrogels with 1.8 mg/ml of photoabsorber.2. Swelling test for mono-5 mm hydrogels with 0 mg/ml of photoabsorber.3. Swelling test for multi-20 um hydrogels with 9 mg/ml of photoabsorber.4. Swelling test for mono-3 mm and mono-1.5 mm hydrogels with 0 mg/ml of photoabsorber.5. Cyclic test for multi-150 um hydrogels.6. Dried weight and solid residue weight of all hydrogels samples7. EWC, NWF, NVF-summary for all hydrogel samples8. DSC-TG-Thermogram-All sample types 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cord.cranfield.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Thermal_response_of_multi-layer_UV_crosslinked_PEGDA_h...
 
Title Thermal response of multi-layer UV crosslinked PEGDA hydrogels 
Description All data sets are raw data from thermoresponse behaviour of hydrogels. 1. Swelling test for multi-150 um hydrogels with 1.8 mg/ml of photoabsorber.2. Swelling test for mono-5 mm hydrogels with 0 mg/ml of photoabsorber.3. Swelling test for multi-20 um hydrogels with 9 mg/ml of photoabsorber.4. Swelling test for mono-3 mm and mono-1.5 mm hydrogels with 0 mg/ml of photoabsorber.5. Cyclic test for multi-150 um hydrogels.6. Dried weight and solid residue weight of all hydrogels samples7. EWC, NWF, NVF-summary for all hydrogel samples8. DSC-TG-Thermogram-All sample types 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cord.cranfield.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Thermal_response_of_multi-layer_UV_crosslinked_PEGDA_h...
 
Title Thermal response of multi-layer UV crosslinked PEGDA hydrogels 
Description All data sets are raw data from thermoresponse behaviour of hydrogels. 1. Swelling test for multi-150 um hydrogels with 1.8 mg/ml of photoabsorber.2. Swelling test for mono-5 mm hydrogels with 0 mg/ml of photoabsorber.3. Swelling test for multi-20 um hydrogels with 9 mg/ml of photoabsorber.4. Swelling test for mono-3 mm and mono-1.5 mm hydrogels with 0 mg/ml of photoabsorber.5. Cyclic test for multi-150 um hydrogels.6. Dried weight and solid residue weight of all hydrogels samples7. EWC, NWF, NVF-summary for all hydrogel samples8. DSC-TG-Thermogram-All sample types 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://cord.cranfield.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Thermal_response_of_multi-layer_UV_crosslinked_PEGDA_h...
 
Description Brunel University London- Investigation of a Flat Heat Pipe for high temperature waste heat recovery from metal slabs 
Organisation Brunel University London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Prof. Hussam Jouhara from Brunel University London was awarded £52, 647 for the project: Investigation of a Flat Heat Pipe for high temperature waste heat recovery from metal slabs'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from Econotherm Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Prof. Hussam Jouhara from Brunel University London is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the Brunel University London. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Econotherm Ltd. manufactured the Flat Heat Pipe which is being investigated in this research and contributed to the design of the unit.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: mechanical engineering and engineering design. Energy efficiency is among the most important keys to unlock a green and more sustainable economy and a substantial amount of energy can be saved via the reuse of the waste heat. Exploitation of waste heat streams has already been investigated mainly relying on forced or natural convection as a heat transfer method. However, waste heat is also available as a radiative source. Radiative heat sources pose real challenges due to the complexity of modelling, its intensity and the status of current technology. Indeed, no technology can currently effectively recover radiative waste heat sources. Brunel has developed a novel radiative Flat Heat Pipe (FHP) heat recovery system to capture high temperature waste heat such as form slags, and slabs. The FHP relies on two phase transfer to move passively heat from the hot to the condenser section. The heat is then transferred safely to the heat sink such as air, water and water-glycol. The FHP system was designed according to a thermal electrical analogy, was constructed with the support of Econotherm Limited and prepared for testing. Testing was carried out in an industrial environment and for a heat source of 450 °C, the FHP was able to recover up to 800 W/m2 with an average evaporator surface temperature of 45 °C, highlighting its potential for even higher temperatures. The results of this industrial test, along with validation of the FHP model, allowed Brunel to assess further potential utilisation. It was concluded that the FHP technology could be easily implemented in the steel industry, for example, in the manufacture of wire which is extruded and cooled down by forced convection and radiation on long conveyors. If applied to the entirety of the conveyor, the expected output from the FHP system is predicted to be 12.5kW/m2. The aim is to further develop the technology to full demonstration scale, initially in the metals sector which presents strong potential for FHPs due to the high temperature and available heat sinks but also in cements. The built environment relies upon the metal and cement sectors for much of its materials and heat recovery in these energy intensive industries is of vital importance if we are to continue to manufacture in the UK. This is true irrespective of the introduction of low carbon or carbon neutral energy production in the future. Other outputs include: 1. "Experimental and theoretical Investigation of a Flat Heat Pipe for high temperature radiative waste heat recovery from aluminium slabs" Hussam Jouhara, Bertrand Delpech, 8th international conference on materials science and smart materials MSSM 2022, 11th July 2022 2. House of lords Invited Speaker 24 June 2022, "Heat Pipe technology for waste heat recovery in the steel industry"
Start Year 2021
 
Description Brunel University London- Investigation of a Flat Heat Pipe for high temperature waste heat recovery from metal slabs 
Organisation Econotherm Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Prof. Hussam Jouhara from Brunel University London was awarded £52, 647 for the project: Investigation of a Flat Heat Pipe for high temperature waste heat recovery from metal slabs'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from Econotherm Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Prof. Hussam Jouhara from Brunel University London is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the Brunel University London. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Econotherm Ltd. manufactured the Flat Heat Pipe which is being investigated in this research and contributed to the design of the unit.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: mechanical engineering and engineering design. Energy efficiency is among the most important keys to unlock a green and more sustainable economy and a substantial amount of energy can be saved via the reuse of the waste heat. Exploitation of waste heat streams has already been investigated mainly relying on forced or natural convection as a heat transfer method. However, waste heat is also available as a radiative source. Radiative heat sources pose real challenges due to the complexity of modelling, its intensity and the status of current technology. Indeed, no technology can currently effectively recover radiative waste heat sources. Brunel has developed a novel radiative Flat Heat Pipe (FHP) heat recovery system to capture high temperature waste heat such as form slags, and slabs. The FHP relies on two phase transfer to move passively heat from the hot to the condenser section. The heat is then transferred safely to the heat sink such as air, water and water-glycol. The FHP system was designed according to a thermal electrical analogy, was constructed with the support of Econotherm Limited and prepared for testing. Testing was carried out in an industrial environment and for a heat source of 450 °C, the FHP was able to recover up to 800 W/m2 with an average evaporator surface temperature of 45 °C, highlighting its potential for even higher temperatures. The results of this industrial test, along with validation of the FHP model, allowed Brunel to assess further potential utilisation. It was concluded that the FHP technology could be easily implemented in the steel industry, for example, in the manufacture of wire which is extruded and cooled down by forced convection and radiation on long conveyors. If applied to the entirety of the conveyor, the expected output from the FHP system is predicted to be 12.5kW/m2. The aim is to further develop the technology to full demonstration scale, initially in the metals sector which presents strong potential for FHPs due to the high temperature and available heat sinks but also in cements. The built environment relies upon the metal and cement sectors for much of its materials and heat recovery in these energy intensive industries is of vital importance if we are to continue to manufacture in the UK. This is true irrespective of the introduction of low carbon or carbon neutral energy production in the future. Other outputs include: 1. "Experimental and theoretical Investigation of a Flat Heat Pipe for high temperature radiative waste heat recovery from aluminium slabs" Hussam Jouhara, Bertrand Delpech, 8th international conference on materials science and smart materials MSSM 2022, 11th July 2022 2. House of lords Invited Speaker 24 June 2022, "Heat Pipe technology for waste heat recovery in the steel industry"
Start Year 2021
 
Description Brunel University- Ensuring a sustainable future for recycling in the paper value chain 
Organisation Brunel University London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Hassan Ahmad is a post-doctoral researcher from Brunel University. He was awarded £24,713 for the project 'Ensuring a sustainable future for recycling in the paper value chain'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Hassan Ahmad is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Industrial participants: Aquapak, Benders, DS Smith, CPI, Costa Coffee, and James Cropper. The following are the industrial contributions to this project: - The project process meeting with input from industry experts; the supply of raw or partially processed materials; and the examination of technical results. They will offer assistance throughout the project, reviewing both the preliminary and ongoing findings. - Received a total amount of £5,250 contribution which go towards the cost of the project - breakdown: £5,000 from Aquapak; £250 from Benders. - Other contributions include leveraging CPI's network capabilities to disseminate the project findings for future potential investment/impact in a larger-scale R&D project.
Impact Disciplines involved: chemistry, techno-economic assessment Paper based products across lots of applications including paper cups require thin films of plastic to serve as a waterproof barrier. In an effort to make products more recyclable, there has been a push towards to a) reduction in the use of 'Single Use Plastics' and b) ensuring that future products are 'recyclable' by allowing the reuse of the valuable high-quality fibre resources. As a result, a range of solutions have been developed to offer similar barrier properties as these thin plastic films whilst reducing/eliminating the use of conventional plastics and not interfering with the release of fibres, such as nanocellulose, sustainably Sourced Plant Polymers (Waxes), custom polymer products and dispersion coatings that can be applied to the surface of fibre sheet. Many of these possess unique chemical characteristics not previously encountered in modern papermaking and these new materials could affect the complex chemical balance found at the wet end of the Paper Machine or present new, as yet unidentified challenges, as the chemicals pass through the paper mill system and are (potentially) discharged with the effluent waters. In short, these products could either pass through the papermaking process or/and be retained by the fibre. This project involves examining the implications of a barrier coating material entrained in the structure of the fibrous sheet, or left the paper mill system with the wastewater, in which case we need to consider whether or not these products are likely to degrade during effluent treatment and the potential impact on the receiving waters (typically rivers and lakes). The partners in this proposal are seeking to gather basic information regarding the key chemical types found in these emerging products and potentially in the future following this scoping project, characterise their impact and final fate in a typical papermaking process and other related sectors in the supply chain, to allow informed decisions to be made at an early stage
Start Year 2022
 
Description London South Bank University- Digital tools for agile waste segregation 
Organisation Centre for Process Innovation (CPI)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Dinh Nguyen is a post-doctoral researcher from London South Bank University. She was awarded £23,935 for the project 'Digital tools for agile waste segregation'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Dinh Nguyen is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. The project partner CPI is a Catapult. They come on board to extend the use of R2R system (conveyor belt) and thereby to extend the use of such systems by instrumenting them with the required sensors
Impact Waste generation in the TFI sector is a common problem, however, an even larger problem is identifying, screening and segregating the waste. At times, the waste can involve complex chemical compositions or can also have handling difficulties (high temperature, sharp edges, unknown material). The problem in itself has larger implications spanning from the nuclear sector to the Municipal solid waste sector. For example, according to the World Bank's What a Waste 2.0 report, the world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of Solid Waste (MSW) annually, with at least 33% of that not managed in an environmentally safe manner. This project explored a method for non-destructively determining various hazardous wastes at an industrial level by integrating a fast optical sensing with an innovative roll-to-roll system and advanced data analysis methods. Within the scope of this project, we demonstrated an example of the possibility to use advanced technology to successfully separate, in a continuous manner, multiple types of plastic wastes. The feasibility can be extended further in the same manner to other material wastes generated by the Foundation Industries, including metals, ceramics, glass, chemicals, paper and cement. This helps the recycling industry and can protect environment, from pollution or contamination. We anticipate that the greatest impact of our findings are the agility that the THz method offers in the "response time" compared to the other sensing methods. We can use the recycled plastic to replace those materials in many cases. Integrating more recycled plastic content into products and packaging can be an effective way to reduce carbon emissions. Finally, this study adds value by creating possible employment opportunities in waste management sector. This research opens up an opportunity to apply in real plastic recycling industry and to further study other types of materials using a similar method, especially those that come from Foundation Industries.
Start Year 2022
 
Description London South Bank University- Feasibility study on valorisation of paper mill sludge (PMS) to manufacture Eco-bricks 
Organisation London South Bank University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Saurav Goel from London South Bank University awarded £55,999 for the project 'Feasibility study on valorisation of paper mill sludge (PMS) to manufacture Eco-bricks'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from StanRocc Ltd. and Hindustan Nagoan Paper Mill (NPM)
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Saurav Goel from London South Bank University (LBSU) is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the LBSU. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. StanRocc Ltd. is supplying materials samples for the project and NPM is also providing materials and samples.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: material science, construction and environmental management. The processing of pulp and paper products yields a significant amount of waste in the form of sludge, collectively referred to as pulp and paper mill sludge (PMS) which is one of the most significant waste produced by the foundation industry that needs tackling. The study carried out at LSBU was carried out to understand if redirecting this waste as an active ingredient in construction sector to produce fired clay bricks was feasible. In this feasibility study, we have carried out material characterisation of PMS and corresponding use in value-added eco-bricks, wherein brick properties such as water absorption, apparent porosity and compressive strength of the bricks were determined. Additionally, based on the percentage PMS added, corresponding embodied energy and CO2 released were calculated. Results obtained revealed that presence of silica, calcium carbonate and other important minerals displayed the potential of PMS in fabricating bricks. As the PMS content increased, apparent porosity increased which in turn decreased the compressive strength of the bricks. Also, with the increase in PMS content, CO2 released was reduced which highlights the effectiveness in using waste PMS materials. On the whole, the feasibility study was found to effective in indicating the circular economical use of PMS through redirecting the waste into the construction sector.
Start Year 2021
 
Description Loughborough University: Micromachined based Multi-Sensing Solution toward Digitalisation of Foundation Industries 
Organisation Loughborough University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Amal Hajjaj is a junio lecturer from Loughborogh University. She was awarded £55,802 for the project 'Micromachined based Multi-Sensing Solution toward Digitalisation of Foundation Industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, by introducing Dr. Hajaj to the industry partners at our workshop in 2021
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Amal Hajjaj is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. Weir Group provided information on the operation system and feedback on sensor implementation, and hosted the project's Postdoctoral Researcher for two weeks The Materials Processing Institute-UK (MPIUK) participated in regular meetings with the Academic Team; provided information data on the steel industry environment and feedback on the design feasibility; and hosted the project's Postdoctoral Researcher for two weeks to test the developed sensor on site.
Impact Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in the Foundation industries are driven by the expanding development of smart sensors offering new approaches to collect and post-process data to improve many areas of factory operation and lead to the digitalisation of the production process. Substantial technological investment is required to realise digitalisation in the current and coming era, leading to the expansion of the global industrial sensors market, which is expected to reach USD 53.2 Billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 9.06%. The fundamental revolution in the UK Foundation industries lies in the broad integration of sensor technology. The above aims mainly towards cost-saving through production process optimisation, reduction of equipment downtime through predictive maintenance by enabling machines to be self-monitored, and improving their reliability and maintenance cost. Such aims will likely be achieved by developing multifunctional smart sensors (i.e., sensors performing predefined actions according to collected data) with high precision, reliability, and fast response time. Particularly, it is vital to collect real-time data for workplace monitoring or predictive equipment maintenance, such as motion, temperature, gas concentration and humidity. The project has a developed MEMS sensor concept that is accurate, fast, tunable to various scenarios and proven at the component level in the Lab. Additional funds have been sourced to calibrate and integrate the sensor into the testbeds offered by the industry partners (WARC and MPIUK) with real operating conditions. Follow-on activities: Dr Hajjaj submitted recently (beginning of January 2023) her EPSRC new investigator award which is based on an expansion of the MEMS sensing idea of this project to multi-sensing detection for other industrial sectors. Dr Hajjaj and Prof Theodossiades submitted (as academic partners) a Smart Grant application on January 2023 to Innovate UK on a similar topic for a different industry sector. We are planning to have a small workshop at Loughborough University to show the sensing capability proved at our labs for our industrial collaborators (WEIR and MPIUK). Dr Hajjaj was award recently of small NERC discipline hopping grant (as CoI) to develop a MEMS sensor for smart environmental monitoring
Start Year 2022
 
Description Loughborough University: Micromachined based Multi-Sensing Solution toward Digitalisation of Foundation Industries 
Organisation Materials Processing Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Amal Hajjaj is a junio lecturer from Loughborogh University. She was awarded £55,802 for the project 'Micromachined based Multi-Sensing Solution toward Digitalisation of Foundation Industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, by introducing Dr. Hajaj to the industry partners at our workshop in 2021
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Amal Hajjaj is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. Weir Group provided information on the operation system and feedback on sensor implementation, and hosted the project's Postdoctoral Researcher for two weeks The Materials Processing Institute-UK (MPIUK) participated in regular meetings with the Academic Team; provided information data on the steel industry environment and feedback on the design feasibility; and hosted the project's Postdoctoral Researcher for two weeks to test the developed sensor on site.
Impact Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in the Foundation industries are driven by the expanding development of smart sensors offering new approaches to collect and post-process data to improve many areas of factory operation and lead to the digitalisation of the production process. Substantial technological investment is required to realise digitalisation in the current and coming era, leading to the expansion of the global industrial sensors market, which is expected to reach USD 53.2 Billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 9.06%. The fundamental revolution in the UK Foundation industries lies in the broad integration of sensor technology. The above aims mainly towards cost-saving through production process optimisation, reduction of equipment downtime through predictive maintenance by enabling machines to be self-monitored, and improving their reliability and maintenance cost. Such aims will likely be achieved by developing multifunctional smart sensors (i.e., sensors performing predefined actions according to collected data) with high precision, reliability, and fast response time. Particularly, it is vital to collect real-time data for workplace monitoring or predictive equipment maintenance, such as motion, temperature, gas concentration and humidity. The project has a developed MEMS sensor concept that is accurate, fast, tunable to various scenarios and proven at the component level in the Lab. Additional funds have been sourced to calibrate and integrate the sensor into the testbeds offered by the industry partners (WARC and MPIUK) with real operating conditions. Follow-on activities: Dr Hajjaj submitted recently (beginning of January 2023) her EPSRC new investigator award which is based on an expansion of the MEMS sensing idea of this project to multi-sensing detection for other industrial sectors. Dr Hajjaj and Prof Theodossiades submitted (as academic partners) a Smart Grant application on January 2023 to Innovate UK on a similar topic for a different industry sector. We are planning to have a small workshop at Loughborough University to show the sensing capability proved at our labs for our industrial collaborators (WEIR and MPIUK). Dr Hajjaj was award recently of small NERC discipline hopping grant (as CoI) to develop a MEMS sensor for smart environmental monitoring
Start Year 2022
 
Description Loughborough University: Micromachined based Multi-Sensing Solution toward Digitalisation of Foundation Industries 
Organisation Weir Group plc
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Amal Hajjaj is a junio lecturer from Loughborogh University. She was awarded £55,802 for the project 'Micromachined based Multi-Sensing Solution toward Digitalisation of Foundation Industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, by introducing Dr. Hajaj to the industry partners at our workshop in 2021
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Amal Hajjaj is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. Weir Group provided information on the operation system and feedback on sensor implementation, and hosted the project's Postdoctoral Researcher for two weeks The Materials Processing Institute-UK (MPIUK) participated in regular meetings with the Academic Team; provided information data on the steel industry environment and feedback on the design feasibility; and hosted the project's Postdoctoral Researcher for two weeks to test the developed sensor on site.
Impact Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in the Foundation industries are driven by the expanding development of smart sensors offering new approaches to collect and post-process data to improve many areas of factory operation and lead to the digitalisation of the production process. Substantial technological investment is required to realise digitalisation in the current and coming era, leading to the expansion of the global industrial sensors market, which is expected to reach USD 53.2 Billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 9.06%. The fundamental revolution in the UK Foundation industries lies in the broad integration of sensor technology. The above aims mainly towards cost-saving through production process optimisation, reduction of equipment downtime through predictive maintenance by enabling machines to be self-monitored, and improving their reliability and maintenance cost. Such aims will likely be achieved by developing multifunctional smart sensors (i.e., sensors performing predefined actions according to collected data) with high precision, reliability, and fast response time. Particularly, it is vital to collect real-time data for workplace monitoring or predictive equipment maintenance, such as motion, temperature, gas concentration and humidity. The project has a developed MEMS sensor concept that is accurate, fast, tunable to various scenarios and proven at the component level in the Lab. Additional funds have been sourced to calibrate and integrate the sensor into the testbeds offered by the industry partners (WARC and MPIUK) with real operating conditions. Follow-on activities: Dr Hajjaj submitted recently (beginning of January 2023) her EPSRC new investigator award which is based on an expansion of the MEMS sensing idea of this project to multi-sensing detection for other industrial sectors. Dr Hajjaj and Prof Theodossiades submitted (as academic partners) a Smart Grant application on January 2023 to Innovate UK on a similar topic for a different industry sector. We are planning to have a small workshop at Loughborough University to show the sensing capability proved at our labs for our industrial collaborators (WEIR and MPIUK). Dr Hajjaj was award recently of small NERC discipline hopping grant (as CoI) to develop a MEMS sensor for smart environmental monitoring
Start Year 2022
 
Description Manchester Metropolitan University- Paper & Construction industry symbiosis via AD for resource efficiency and a low carbon future 
Organisation Manchester Metropolitan University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Sylvia Tedesco is a junior lecturer from Manchester Metropolitan University. She was awarded £55,995 for the project 'Paper & Construction industry symbiosis via AD for resource efficiency and a low carbon future'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from SAICA Paper.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Sylvia Tedesco from the Manchester Metropolitan University is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the Manchester Metropolitan University. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. SAICA Paper will provide paper sludge samples and participate in steering committee meetings. They will also help in mapping materials flow in a typical paper mill.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: Chemical and Industrial Engineering, Microbiology, Environmental Science, Mechanical and Civil Engineering The UK is home to ~ 50 Pulp and Paper Mill companies with over 80 associated businesses. The pulp industry is one of the UK's most energy intensive industries and requires novel decarbonisation processes to maximise energy and mass efficiency. As part of the paper recycling process, over 10% of input materials becomes paper sludge, a non-hazardous biowaste. In this project, we proposed a more resource efficient circular approach, that consisted of two stages. The first stage redirected paper sludge away from incineration towards biogas using anaerobic digestion, as a form of low-carbon energy for cogeneration (CHP). The research results indicate that paper sludge had a methane potential of 163 ml CH4 per gram of volatile solids and a 48% biodegradability. This showed that paper sludge has remarkable anaerobic digestion potential that could be potentially applied across the paper industry as a standalone process. The second stage of the project utilised the remaining slurry fraction after anaerobic digestion, called digestate, as a water replacement in concrete manufacture. This study found that the concrete formed using up to 50% substitution resulted in increased concrete compressive strengths up to 46 and 35 MPa at 90 days, respectively with and without the use of plasticiser. The combination of suspended solids and dissolved ions greatly improved the structural rigidity of the concrete and could potentially be used not only as a waste disposal method, but also a beneficial concrete additive. Overall, the combined anaerobic digestion and concrete application better valorised the paper sludge waste fraction as demonstration of the circular economy vision. Further outputs: The PI has successfully engaged CARDON Construction Ltd. to match-fund a PhD Scholarship (2022-2025) to continue the work (total value £69,286.00, Internal Project ID 717037, titled 'Exploring the decarbonisation potential of the concrete sector via use of digestate wastewaters for the hydration of cement in an industrial symbiosis scenario') on concrete decarbonisation using digestate wastewaters (also other than paper sludge) and waste materials (e.g. ashes from incineration as aggregate/binders for partial substitution with Portland cement). A further element of novelty has been introduced in the PhD research project, which entails static & dynamic deformation studies of concrete beams, first in a simulation environment (via ANSYS Mechanical - Structural package), then de vivo at the construction company's premises. The company is interested in developing and commercialising sustainable prefabricated concrete panels as well as increasing their visibility in this area (REA's Business Innovation of the Year Award, or similar, is something the company is keen to pursue, if results allow it in the near future). Finally, the project was used to impact younger and mature students by using Man Mat's RISE Programme (competitive scheme for Summer Internship of 6 weeks in research laboratories or industry), which recruited two students - 1 BAME male and 1 female - to train them for developing and pilot testing concrete cubes with incinerated paper sludge (fly/bottom ash) which have been presented earlier, this work will be continued for the academic year 2022-23 hopefully through the same scheme as well as the PhD student. G. Hurst, A. Ahmed, S. Taylor and S. Tedesco, 'AN ASSESSMENT OF PAPER SLUDGE VALORISATION TO ENERGY AND A WATER SUBSTITUTE IN CONCRETE VIA ANAEROBIC DIGESTION', Proceedings of SEEP2022, 12-15th September 2022, Brunel University London-UK. https://seepconference.com/speakers/prof-silvia-tedesco/
Start Year 2022
 
Description Northumbria University- Improving surface interactions of waste plastics as grain substitutes within concrete 
Organisation Northumbria University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. James Railton is a post-doctoral researcher from the Northumbria University. He was awarded £22,657 for the project 'Improving surface interactions of waste plastics as grain substitutes within concrete'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. James Railton is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Industrial participation will be provided by Amcrete. The partner will provide expertise specifically in concrete formulation, systematic testing and control measures. Furthermore, the partner will provide materials for concrete production (cement and aggregates).
Impact Disciplines involved: bulk chemicals, polymeric materials and metal-oxide interaction The cement industry is one of the biggest of CO2 emitters on the planet,1 and at the same time we are facing a global crisis in plastic waste and how to repurpose, reuse or recycle it rather than disposing of it in landfill/incineration. This multi-sector project aims to tackle both issues through the use and optimisation of polymeric waste stream as organic binders for high performance concrete composites. One of the first patents for this technology in 1923, and since then the inclusion of waste polymers in concrete has also been utilised and extensively studied. However, inclusion of waste polymers in concrete has been found to have major drawbacks in negatively effecting the mechanical properties of concrete compared to standard concrete without polymer. We therefore seek to address these limitations in the field of polymer-concrete composites by applying a 'bottom-up' approach to aggregate-inorganic oxide surface interactions and material performance. Specifically, this research will study the chemistry of interactions between calcium oxide and chemical functional groups present in waste polymeric materials (through FTIR-ATR and other techniques) to allow correlation and insight on these interactions and to exploit this in optimisation of the macro properties and interactions within the final polymer-concrete composite. The project will develop improvements in the strength of these polymer-metal oxide interactions through modification of the surface functionality of the polymer waste using industrial high-volume/low cost/low energy processes, specification and reactive extrusion. We will (for the first time) utilise proprietary in-house knowledge of low-cost polymer modifications process, using a range of functional molecules (based on the above aggregate-inorganic-oxide interaction study), to functionalise waste polymer streams, including utilization of a novel reactive melt extrusion process. The success of this project will allow concrete to be 'dematerialised' by using less raw material, reduce costs through the use of 'zero/negative-value' polymer waste streams in concrete whilst also improving mechanical properties of the final polymer-concrete composite
Start Year 2022
 
Description Sheffield Hallam University- High Temperature Optical Fibre Coatings for Next Generation Gas Emission Monitoring 
Organisation Glass Technology Services
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Ronak Janani is a post-doctoral researcher from the Sheffield Hallam University. She was awarded £28,986 for the project 'High Temperature Optical Fibre Coatings for Next Generation Gas Emission Monitoring '. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Ronak Janani is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. IS-Instruments is a micro-SME specialising in producing new instrumentation, including world-class spectroscopic techniques for challenging situations in the industrial sectors. IS-Instruments has developed a gas Raman instrument incorporating the ORC hollow core micro-structured fibres as the sensing medium and thus, has interest in the development of fibres for use in high temperature (>85°C) environments. IS-Instruments will provide their expertise and input, with up to £2,000 of in-kind support. Glass Technology Services (GTS) is an SME whose business is the provision of technical support and research and development to the glass supply chain. GTS will provide up to £4,000 of in-kind support in attending steering meetings, reviewing and providing data and access to facilities where appropriate. Breedon Group is a large multinational company that leads construction materials group including cement in Great Britain and Ireland. Breedon has great interest in taking part and supporting projects exploring different avenues enabling reduction in emissions and energy consumption and in this regard, they are prepared to provide up to £1,200 of in-kind support to the HiT OFCs project. Wienerberger is the world's largest producer of heavy clay bricks and clay blocks. This multinational company will provide their insights from a ceramics manufacturing point of view in the form of (up to £4,000) in-kind support in this project
Impact Real-time gas emissionmonitoring with high sensitivity (ppm) is prerequisite to the step-changes necessary in UK Foundation Industries (FIs) processes for reductions in environmental emissions and energy consumptionto achieve net zero. Current emissions monitoring techniques impose limitations to efficiency, detection limits and detectable gaseous species. We have been developing a new gas-Raman instrument capable of near-to-real-time, reliable detection of a wide range of gaseous species of key interest to FIs (H2O, CO, CO2, NOx, SO2, HCl, HF, NH3, VOCs). This device can be implemented across all FIs and other sectors requiring realtime emission monitoring. By enabling real-time monitoring, the collected data can be fed back into process control, to continuously optimise process parameters, optimising fuel use and minimising CO2 emissions. Efficient environmental sensors could save ˜0.26 million TJ/year of energy across all energy-consuming sectors which is equivalent to ˜15 Mt of CO2 globally
Start Year 2022
 
Description Sheffield Hallam University- High Temperature Optical Fibre Coatings for Next Generation Gas Emission Monitoring 
Organisation IS Instruments
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Ronak Janani is a post-doctoral researcher from the Sheffield Hallam University. She was awarded £28,986 for the project 'High Temperature Optical Fibre Coatings for Next Generation Gas Emission Monitoring '. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Ronak Janani is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. IS-Instruments is a micro-SME specialising in producing new instrumentation, including world-class spectroscopic techniques for challenging situations in the industrial sectors. IS-Instruments has developed a gas Raman instrument incorporating the ORC hollow core micro-structured fibres as the sensing medium and thus, has interest in the development of fibres for use in high temperature (>85°C) environments. IS-Instruments will provide their expertise and input, with up to £2,000 of in-kind support. Glass Technology Services (GTS) is an SME whose business is the provision of technical support and research and development to the glass supply chain. GTS will provide up to £4,000 of in-kind support in attending steering meetings, reviewing and providing data and access to facilities where appropriate. Breedon Group is a large multinational company that leads construction materials group including cement in Great Britain and Ireland. Breedon has great interest in taking part and supporting projects exploring different avenues enabling reduction in emissions and energy consumption and in this regard, they are prepared to provide up to £1,200 of in-kind support to the HiT OFCs project. Wienerberger is the world's largest producer of heavy clay bricks and clay blocks. This multinational company will provide their insights from a ceramics manufacturing point of view in the form of (up to £4,000) in-kind support in this project
Impact Real-time gas emissionmonitoring with high sensitivity (ppm) is prerequisite to the step-changes necessary in UK Foundation Industries (FIs) processes for reductions in environmental emissions and energy consumptionto achieve net zero. Current emissions monitoring techniques impose limitations to efficiency, detection limits and detectable gaseous species. We have been developing a new gas-Raman instrument capable of near-to-real-time, reliable detection of a wide range of gaseous species of key interest to FIs (H2O, CO, CO2, NOx, SO2, HCl, HF, NH3, VOCs). This device can be implemented across all FIs and other sectors requiring realtime emission monitoring. By enabling real-time monitoring, the collected data can be fed back into process control, to continuously optimise process parameters, optimising fuel use and minimising CO2 emissions. Efficient environmental sensors could save ˜0.26 million TJ/year of energy across all energy-consuming sectors which is equivalent to ˜15 Mt of CO2 globally
Start Year 2022
 
Description Sheffield Hallam University- High Temperature Optical Fibre Coatings for Next Generation Gas Emission Monitoring 
Organisation Wienerberger
Country Austria 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Ronak Janani is a post-doctoral researcher from the Sheffield Hallam University. She was awarded £28,986 for the project 'High Temperature Optical Fibre Coatings for Next Generation Gas Emission Monitoring '. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Ronak Janani is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. IS-Instruments is a micro-SME specialising in producing new instrumentation, including world-class spectroscopic techniques for challenging situations in the industrial sectors. IS-Instruments has developed a gas Raman instrument incorporating the ORC hollow core micro-structured fibres as the sensing medium and thus, has interest in the development of fibres for use in high temperature (>85°C) environments. IS-Instruments will provide their expertise and input, with up to £2,000 of in-kind support. Glass Technology Services (GTS) is an SME whose business is the provision of technical support and research and development to the glass supply chain. GTS will provide up to £4,000 of in-kind support in attending steering meetings, reviewing and providing data and access to facilities where appropriate. Breedon Group is a large multinational company that leads construction materials group including cement in Great Britain and Ireland. Breedon has great interest in taking part and supporting projects exploring different avenues enabling reduction in emissions and energy consumption and in this regard, they are prepared to provide up to £1,200 of in-kind support to the HiT OFCs project. Wienerberger is the world's largest producer of heavy clay bricks and clay blocks. This multinational company will provide their insights from a ceramics manufacturing point of view in the form of (up to £4,000) in-kind support in this project
Impact Real-time gas emissionmonitoring with high sensitivity (ppm) is prerequisite to the step-changes necessary in UK Foundation Industries (FIs) processes for reductions in environmental emissions and energy consumptionto achieve net zero. Current emissions monitoring techniques impose limitations to efficiency, detection limits and detectable gaseous species. We have been developing a new gas-Raman instrument capable of near-to-real-time, reliable detection of a wide range of gaseous species of key interest to FIs (H2O, CO, CO2, NOx, SO2, HCl, HF, NH3, VOCs). This device can be implemented across all FIs and other sectors requiring realtime emission monitoring. By enabling real-time monitoring, the collected data can be fed back into process control, to continuously optimise process parameters, optimising fuel use and minimising CO2 emissions. Efficient environmental sensors could save ˜0.26 million TJ/year of energy across all energy-consuming sectors which is equivalent to ˜15 Mt of CO2 globally
Start Year 2022
 
Description Swansea University- Sustainable Investment Assurance Model: SIAM 
Organisation British Standards Institute (BSI Group)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Stephen Spooner is an early career researcher from Swansea University. He was awarded £51,608 for the project 'Sustainable Investment Assurance Model: SIAM'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from the CR Plus Ltd and the British Standards Institute.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Stephen Spooner from Swansea University is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the Swansea University. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. CR Plus Ltd are providing staff to support the project and will act as a facilitator during the exploration of different work packages. The British Standards Institute is providing staff time and helping with widening the network of stakeholders.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: Life-cycle Assessment, Socio-Economic Assessment, Community Education, Policy Engagement, Holist Sustainability The project extends the multifaceted sustainability modelling from the steel to other foundation industries. Engaged parties include Unilever and P&G (Bulk Chemicals), Aggregate Industries (Cement), Glass technologies (Glass), Alfed, Innoval and the Non-Ferrous Alliance (Metals). Consultation with each sector was conducted to review the existing SIAM framework and adapt measurements concerning circularity, direct/indirect energy consumption maps, economic drivers versus policy constraints and proportional representation of workers, working conditions and wealth disparity. The primary outcomes are summarised: i) Decarbonisation/sustainability improvements from environmental perspectives are significantly skewed to the use of additional energy requirements for either heat, transport, or reduction of material. The UK has a relatively well-developed renewables portfolio on the grid, however over short time scales an increase in energy demand can only be met through the use of non-renewable energy production methods. Consequently, until further development of a renewable energy grid with overcapacity is achieved there is minimal gain to be made from altering production methodologies. ii) Volatility in supply chains is a major factor which can affect every aspect of sustainability. Without control and consistent supply of materials, validation and representation of sustainability credentials is not only meaningless but potentially unethical to provide to consumers as a purchasing motive. Supply chain volatility is a big risk factor under current global influences such as COVID pandemic recovery, BREXIT, war in developed nations and the forecast recession. These factors create an economic reluctance to both invest from an initial financial basis, but also from a point to minimise further disruption from current manufacturing methodologies. De-risking supply is another overarching theme which must be tackled to shift to sustainable practices. iii) Data quality continues to be an issue. SIAM developed databases for each case study, mined from the literature which required significant time and expertise. Known data was inputted into databases when available but over 75% was obtained from open-source unverified literature. Such data collection is time consuming and expensive but with investment in capex across multiple industries a necessity to meet sustainability targets, it is essential and if integrated from the outset, significant improvements could be made and realised with minimal cost and impact. Current discussions are ongoing with several companies on how SIAM can be used to quantify sustainability improvements of future capex investments. A limited version of the framework has been supplied to members of government organisation for internal use on investment decision making. The tool is being openly used within several large companies to validate sustainability investment plans both in the UK and international operations. The benefit of SIAM to the built environment is to facilitate informed decision making amongst stakeholders such as the Foundation Industries, national and local government and construction companies in the drive to reduce the carbon footprint in construction materials. Other outputs: The PI recently obtained a new position as Associate Professor at Coventry University. The ECR funding he received through the TFIN+ was a strong contributor to this as it allowed him to develop new areas of expertise/research, prove funding capability and demonstrate impact.
Start Year 2022
 
Description Swansea University- Sustainable Investment Assurance Model: SIAM 
Organisation Swansea University
Department College of Engineering
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Stephen Spooner is an early career researcher from Swansea University. He was awarded £51,608 for the project 'Sustainable Investment Assurance Model: SIAM'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from the CR Plus Ltd and the British Standards Institute.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Stephen Spooner from Swansea University is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the Swansea University. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. CR Plus Ltd are providing staff to support the project and will act as a facilitator during the exploration of different work packages. The British Standards Institute is providing staff time and helping with widening the network of stakeholders.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: Life-cycle Assessment, Socio-Economic Assessment, Community Education, Policy Engagement, Holist Sustainability The project extends the multifaceted sustainability modelling from the steel to other foundation industries. Engaged parties include Unilever and P&G (Bulk Chemicals), Aggregate Industries (Cement), Glass technologies (Glass), Alfed, Innoval and the Non-Ferrous Alliance (Metals). Consultation with each sector was conducted to review the existing SIAM framework and adapt measurements concerning circularity, direct/indirect energy consumption maps, economic drivers versus policy constraints and proportional representation of workers, working conditions and wealth disparity. The primary outcomes are summarised: i) Decarbonisation/sustainability improvements from environmental perspectives are significantly skewed to the use of additional energy requirements for either heat, transport, or reduction of material. The UK has a relatively well-developed renewables portfolio on the grid, however over short time scales an increase in energy demand can only be met through the use of non-renewable energy production methods. Consequently, until further development of a renewable energy grid with overcapacity is achieved there is minimal gain to be made from altering production methodologies. ii) Volatility in supply chains is a major factor which can affect every aspect of sustainability. Without control and consistent supply of materials, validation and representation of sustainability credentials is not only meaningless but potentially unethical to provide to consumers as a purchasing motive. Supply chain volatility is a big risk factor under current global influences such as COVID pandemic recovery, BREXIT, war in developed nations and the forecast recession. These factors create an economic reluctance to both invest from an initial financial basis, but also from a point to minimise further disruption from current manufacturing methodologies. De-risking supply is another overarching theme which must be tackled to shift to sustainable practices. iii) Data quality continues to be an issue. SIAM developed databases for each case study, mined from the literature which required significant time and expertise. Known data was inputted into databases when available but over 75% was obtained from open-source unverified literature. Such data collection is time consuming and expensive but with investment in capex across multiple industries a necessity to meet sustainability targets, it is essential and if integrated from the outset, significant improvements could be made and realised with minimal cost and impact. Current discussions are ongoing with several companies on how SIAM can be used to quantify sustainability improvements of future capex investments. A limited version of the framework has been supplied to members of government organisation for internal use on investment decision making. The tool is being openly used within several large companies to validate sustainability investment plans both in the UK and international operations. The benefit of SIAM to the built environment is to facilitate informed decision making amongst stakeholders such as the Foundation Industries, national and local government and construction companies in the drive to reduce the carbon footprint in construction materials. Other outputs: The PI recently obtained a new position as Associate Professor at Coventry University. The ECR funding he received through the TFIN+ was a strong contributor to this as it allowed him to develop new areas of expertise/research, prove funding capability and demonstrate impact.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University College London: Physics-informed digital twins for industrial heating processes (twin4heat) 
Organisation Research Institutes of Sweden
Department Swerim
Country Sweden 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Yukun Hu from University College London was awarded £55,615 for the project 'Physics-informed digital twins for industrial heating processes'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application by introducing Dr. Hu to Vesuvius Plc at a workshop run by the TFIN+
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Yukun Hu is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Vesuvius provided performace data on their gas fired continious kiln and technical support Swerim provided data and technical advice
Impact Disciplines involved: Thermal Engineering, Computer Science The project is ongoing twin4heat's ambition is to accelerate the UK's Net-Zero trajectory through next generation industrial heating processes using artificial intelligence to break through the predictive capability bottleneck of most surrogate model due to time consuming data acquisition in thermal analysis, design and optimisation. It aims to tackle the challenge on automatically, fast, and frequently temperature prediction and setpoint estimation tasks, the most wide-spread tasks in the intelligent industrial heating process, by embedding physics modelling of heating processes into Artificial Neural Networks. Thus it could empower process operators with a reliable and explainable real-time prediction, which can then be used to control the critical factor.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University College London: Physics-informed digital twins for industrial heating processes (twin4heat) 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Yukun Hu from University College London was awarded £55,615 for the project 'Physics-informed digital twins for industrial heating processes'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application by introducing Dr. Hu to Vesuvius Plc at a workshop run by the TFIN+
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Yukun Hu is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Vesuvius provided performace data on their gas fired continious kiln and technical support Swerim provided data and technical advice
Impact Disciplines involved: Thermal Engineering, Computer Science The project is ongoing twin4heat's ambition is to accelerate the UK's Net-Zero trajectory through next generation industrial heating processes using artificial intelligence to break through the predictive capability bottleneck of most surrogate model due to time consuming data acquisition in thermal analysis, design and optimisation. It aims to tackle the challenge on automatically, fast, and frequently temperature prediction and setpoint estimation tasks, the most wide-spread tasks in the intelligent industrial heating process, by embedding physics modelling of heating processes into Artificial Neural Networks. Thus it could empower process operators with a reliable and explainable real-time prediction, which can then be used to control the critical factor.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University College London: Physics-informed digital twins for industrial heating processes (twin4heat) 
Organisation Vesuvius UK Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Yukun Hu from University College London was awarded £55,615 for the project 'Physics-informed digital twins for industrial heating processes'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application by introducing Dr. Hu to Vesuvius Plc at a workshop run by the TFIN+
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Yukun Hu is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Vesuvius provided performace data on their gas fired continious kiln and technical support Swerim provided data and technical advice
Impact Disciplines involved: Thermal Engineering, Computer Science The project is ongoing twin4heat's ambition is to accelerate the UK's Net-Zero trajectory through next generation industrial heating processes using artificial intelligence to break through the predictive capability bottleneck of most surrogate model due to time consuming data acquisition in thermal analysis, design and optimisation. It aims to tackle the challenge on automatically, fast, and frequently temperature prediction and setpoint estimation tasks, the most wide-spread tasks in the intelligent industrial heating process, by embedding physics modelling of heating processes into Artificial Neural Networks. Thus it could empower process operators with a reliable and explainable real-time prediction, which can then be used to control the critical factor.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Bath- Innovative green process to turn alkali solid wastes into carbon-negative feedstock for the cement 
Organisation Aggregate Industries
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Xinyuan Ke is a junior lecturer from the University of Bath. She was awarded £55,648 for the project 'Innovative green process to turn alkali solid wastes into carbon-negative feedstock for the cement. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from the Materials Processing Institute and Aggregate Industries UK Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Xinyuan Ke from the University of Bath is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Bath. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. The Materials Processing Institute is supplying materials, technical details, advice and mentoring. Aggregate Industries UK Ltd / London Concrete will provide the research team cement kiln dust from their own cement producer and provide access to technical details of their production facilities at Cauldon and concrete production sites at London Concrete.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: material science & engineering, and civil engineering and environmental engineering. Over 2 billion tonnes of diverse alkali solid wastes (i.e., biomass ash, cement kiln dust, steel slag) are generated from Foundation Industries worldwide annually and are primarily disposed of through landfills and stockpiling. The volume of these is expected to double in the next few decades, which has brought significant challenges to the cement and metal industries for reaching the Net-Zero targets. This project developed an innovative green chemical process via mechanochemical activation to turn these alkali solid wastes into carbon-negative materials which can be used as an alternative feedstock for producing low-carbon sustainable cement. Our project discovered that mechanochemical activation can effectively improve the reactivity of polysilicates (i.e., akermanite), mineral phases that commonly present in alkali solid wastes (i.e., biomass ash, steel slag), for direct carbonation under conditions that resemble the flue gas conditions. The effectiveness of mechanochemical treatment is controlled by the milling time, the ball to sample mass charge ratio, and the water addition content applied to each feedstock materials. In particular, the water addition during the mechanochemical activation has a significant effect on the crystallisation process and the crystalline structure of the carbonate salts formed during the follow-on direct carbonation processes. These alkali solid wastes treated with mechanochemical activation process and used for direct mineral carbonation can be used as alternative supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) to partially replacing cement clinkers in the cement industry, with satisfactory engineering performances (setting time, strength performances) up to 40% cement replacement level. The research team led by Dr Xinyuan Ke at University of Bath is further looking into the feasibility of scaling up this novel process from lab-scale. With the fundamental understanding of the mechanochemical treatment processes developed in this study, the same technology is transferrable to other foundation industries, such as the paper and ceramic industry. Other outputs included: 1. the PI has disseminated the initial outcomes at the TFI Network Hub conferences in May 2022, reached and engaged with a wide range of industrial partners within the Foundation Industries (i.e., MPA, British Steel, Tarmac, etc.). 2. A presentation disseminating the initial results with biomass ash was given to the RILEM technical committee (TC-281CCC) on carbonation in 10th June 2022 to broaden the international reach of this project
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Bath- Innovative green process to turn alkali solid wastes into carbon-negative feedstock for the cement 
Organisation Materials Processing Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Xinyuan Ke is a junior lecturer from the University of Bath. She was awarded £55,648 for the project 'Innovative green process to turn alkali solid wastes into carbon-negative feedstock for the cement. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from the Materials Processing Institute and Aggregate Industries UK Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Xinyuan Ke from the University of Bath is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Bath. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. The Materials Processing Institute is supplying materials, technical details, advice and mentoring. Aggregate Industries UK Ltd / London Concrete will provide the research team cement kiln dust from their own cement producer and provide access to technical details of their production facilities at Cauldon and concrete production sites at London Concrete.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: material science & engineering, and civil engineering and environmental engineering. Over 2 billion tonnes of diverse alkali solid wastes (i.e., biomass ash, cement kiln dust, steel slag) are generated from Foundation Industries worldwide annually and are primarily disposed of through landfills and stockpiling. The volume of these is expected to double in the next few decades, which has brought significant challenges to the cement and metal industries for reaching the Net-Zero targets. This project developed an innovative green chemical process via mechanochemical activation to turn these alkali solid wastes into carbon-negative materials which can be used as an alternative feedstock for producing low-carbon sustainable cement. Our project discovered that mechanochemical activation can effectively improve the reactivity of polysilicates (i.e., akermanite), mineral phases that commonly present in alkali solid wastes (i.e., biomass ash, steel slag), for direct carbonation under conditions that resemble the flue gas conditions. The effectiveness of mechanochemical treatment is controlled by the milling time, the ball to sample mass charge ratio, and the water addition content applied to each feedstock materials. In particular, the water addition during the mechanochemical activation has a significant effect on the crystallisation process and the crystalline structure of the carbonate salts formed during the follow-on direct carbonation processes. These alkali solid wastes treated with mechanochemical activation process and used for direct mineral carbonation can be used as alternative supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) to partially replacing cement clinkers in the cement industry, with satisfactory engineering performances (setting time, strength performances) up to 40% cement replacement level. The research team led by Dr Xinyuan Ke at University of Bath is further looking into the feasibility of scaling up this novel process from lab-scale. With the fundamental understanding of the mechanochemical treatment processes developed in this study, the same technology is transferrable to other foundation industries, such as the paper and ceramic industry. Other outputs included: 1. the PI has disseminated the initial outcomes at the TFI Network Hub conferences in May 2022, reached and engaged with a wide range of industrial partners within the Foundation Industries (i.e., MPA, British Steel, Tarmac, etc.). 2. A presentation disseminating the initial results with biomass ash was given to the RILEM technical committee (TC-281CCC) on carbonation in 10th June 2022 to broaden the international reach of this project
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Bath- Innovative green process to turn alkali solid wastes into carbon-negative feedstock for the cement 
Organisation University of Bath
Department Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Xinyuan Ke is a junior lecturer from the University of Bath. She was awarded £55,648 for the project 'Innovative green process to turn alkali solid wastes into carbon-negative feedstock for the cement. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from the Materials Processing Institute and Aggregate Industries UK Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Xinyuan Ke from the University of Bath is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Bath. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. The Materials Processing Institute is supplying materials, technical details, advice and mentoring. Aggregate Industries UK Ltd / London Concrete will provide the research team cement kiln dust from their own cement producer and provide access to technical details of their production facilities at Cauldon and concrete production sites at London Concrete.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: material science & engineering, and civil engineering and environmental engineering. Over 2 billion tonnes of diverse alkali solid wastes (i.e., biomass ash, cement kiln dust, steel slag) are generated from Foundation Industries worldwide annually and are primarily disposed of through landfills and stockpiling. The volume of these is expected to double in the next few decades, which has brought significant challenges to the cement and metal industries for reaching the Net-Zero targets. This project developed an innovative green chemical process via mechanochemical activation to turn these alkali solid wastes into carbon-negative materials which can be used as an alternative feedstock for producing low-carbon sustainable cement. Our project discovered that mechanochemical activation can effectively improve the reactivity of polysilicates (i.e., akermanite), mineral phases that commonly present in alkali solid wastes (i.e., biomass ash, steel slag), for direct carbonation under conditions that resemble the flue gas conditions. The effectiveness of mechanochemical treatment is controlled by the milling time, the ball to sample mass charge ratio, and the water addition content applied to each feedstock materials. In particular, the water addition during the mechanochemical activation has a significant effect on the crystallisation process and the crystalline structure of the carbonate salts formed during the follow-on direct carbonation processes. These alkali solid wastes treated with mechanochemical activation process and used for direct mineral carbonation can be used as alternative supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) to partially replacing cement clinkers in the cement industry, with satisfactory engineering performances (setting time, strength performances) up to 40% cement replacement level. The research team led by Dr Xinyuan Ke at University of Bath is further looking into the feasibility of scaling up this novel process from lab-scale. With the fundamental understanding of the mechanochemical treatment processes developed in this study, the same technology is transferrable to other foundation industries, such as the paper and ceramic industry. Other outputs included: 1. the PI has disseminated the initial outcomes at the TFI Network Hub conferences in May 2022, reached and engaged with a wide range of industrial partners within the Foundation Industries (i.e., MPA, British Steel, Tarmac, etc.). 2. A presentation disseminating the initial results with biomass ash was given to the RILEM technical committee (TC-281CCC) on carbonation in 10th June 2022 to broaden the international reach of this project
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Birmingham- SANDTHERM: Deployment of a medium-high temperature waste heat recovery unit based on foundry sand 
Organisation University of Birmingham
Department School of Chemical Engineering
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr Argyrios Anagnostopoulos is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Birmingham. He was awarded £43,910 for the project 'SANDTHERM: Deployment of a medium-high temperature waste heat recovery unit based on foundry sand'. Some of the ideas for this project emerged from a workshop that that TFIN+ facilitated with the Cast Metals Federation, which included foundries and academics. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which includes Boro Foundry, Kelvin Thermotech Ltd and Mantec Technical Ceramics Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Dr Argyrios Anagnostopoulos from the University of Birmingham is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Birmingham. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. The Boro Foundry will provision labour and space to construct, deploy and monitor the waste heat recovery WHR- TES system Kelvin Thermotech Ltd will provide expertise in thermal energy storage materials manufacturing, and advice and guidance on thermal energy storage device design. Mantec Technical Ceramics Ltd. will provide consultation on the material level and on a production level to fabricate the sand based building blocks.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: chemical engineering, materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering The aim of this project was to demonstrate a tangible business case of industrial symbiosis (circular economy) in which the waste product of one industry (foundries) is valorised as a key component for novel Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) storage systems to increase the efficiency and decrease carbon footprint of others (e.g., forging). The specific objective is to contrive and deploy a WHR-TES (Thermal Energy Storage) system based on the waste foundry sand. The project demonstrated the technical and economical feasibility of using waste foundry sand (WFS) as a thermal energy storage (TES) material for medium-high temperature waste heat recovery applications. It deployed, operated and monitored a waste heat storage and reuse unit using TES materials containing WFS. This novel material was composed of 40% PCM, 20% WFS and 20% MgO. Two PCM's were selected to improve system efficiency by maximizing latent heat. These were NaNO3 and a 60-40 NaNO3-KNO3 mixture with melting points of 309? and 218? respectively. The materials had a density of 1.65 and 1.93 g/cm3, average specific heat. Average specific heat capacity is 1.23 J/gK and 1.22 J/gK and average thermal conductivity 1.63 W/mK and 1.48 W/mK for NaNO3 and SS CPCMs respectively. The device was charged using a high temperature fan with an average mass flowrate of 0.028 kg/s and an inlet temperature of 400 ? generated, which was the maximum capacity of the 10 kW heater. Total charging time was 10h followed by a total discharging time for 24h. System efficiency was found to be 76.1%. A robust, computationally inexpensive CFD model was able to reasonable reproduce the behaviour of the system. Based on system efficiency and using UK pricing the payback time was found to be 15 years. However, a best case scenario with global competitive pricing and an easily achievable efficiency of 90% resulted in a payback time of 5.6 years. Throughout SANDTHERM several UK companies, in particularly Midlands foundries, were approached and informed on the prospects of this business case. Reactions were overall highly positive. These results could potentially onset a companies to explore this option in an effort to improve their efficiency and reduce waste in a green manner.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Birmingham- THERMCAST- Valorisation of foundry sands as medium-high temperature waste heat recovery materials bricks 
Organisation University of Birmingham
Department School of Chemical Engineering
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr Argyrios Anagnostopoulos is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Birmingham. He was awarded £35,622 for the project 'THERMCAST- Valorisation of foundry sands as medium-high temperature waste heat recovery materials bricks'. Some of the ideas for this project emerged from a workshop that that TFIN+ facilitated with the Cast Metals Federation, which included foundries and academics. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from Kelvin Thermotech Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Dr Argyrios Anagnostopoulos from the University of Birmingham is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Birmingham. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Kelvin Thermotech Ltd is providing advice and guidance on thermal energy storage device design as well as expertise in thermal energy storage materials manufacturing.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: material science, chemical engineering and mechanical engineering. The aim of this project was to develop a tangible business case of industrial symbiosis (circular economy) in which the waste product of one industry (foundries) is valorised as a key component for novel WHR systems with storage to increase efficiency and decrease the carbon footprint of others (e.g., forging). The specific objectives are to formulate and characterise composite heat storage materials using waste foundry sand and to conduct an in-depth thermoeconomic assessment of a WHR system based on the formulated materials for thermal energy storage (TES) applications. The project demonstrated the technical and economical feasibility of using foundry sand as a TES material for medium-high temperature waste heat recovery applications. It developed a novel thermal energy storage (TES) material formulation based on foundry sand for hybrid (latent and sensible) thermal energy storage at up to 400 ?. The optimal composition consisted of 60% NaNO3, 30% foundry sand and 10% additive (BCES X). The material demonstrated good chemical and physical stability after 50 cycles (25-400 ?). Its energy storage density was found to be 566 KJ/kg and its thermal conductivity 1.23 W/mK. In parallel, the temperature of an induction furnace exhaust used for steel melting was monitored. A TES system, based on the developed material, was then designed using the waste heat data and its efficiency was evaluated through CFD modelling and found to be 87% and 81% for charging and discharging respectively. An elementary thermoeconomic analysis was conducted on the proposed TES system. The minimum payback period was estimated to be 5.6 years at a 90% system efficiency.
Start Year 2021
 
Description University of Leeds- Can workforce diversity stimulate transformation towards a more sustainable future? 
Organisation Ferrovial
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Jennifer Tomlinson is from the University of Leeds. She was awarded £50,564 for the project 'Can workforce diversity stimulate transformation towards a more sustainable future?' My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, by helping to introduce her to the project partner at the Enablers of Transformation Workshop for Foundation Industries, 12th October 2022
Collaborator Contribution Prof. Jennifer Tomlinsonis the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. The academic partner will work in collaboration with Ferrovial Construction UK and Ireland. The University of Leeds and Ferrovial Construction are both equally committed to this project in terms of time and resources and have collaborated on the objectives and research design. Ferrovial are able to provide access to a wide range of vital EDI and organisational data on gender and ethnic pay gaps, promotion, retention and exit of their workforce. The data analysis will be combined with new primary research (qualitative) to understand how diversity and inclusion can be achieved to stimulate sustainability.
Impact The project is on-going The foundation industries face stark challenges that are worsened by a persistent lack of workforce diversity. In 2020, women represented 16% and BAME workers only 7.1% of all workers. Coinciding with a looming skills shortage due to an aging workforce, difficulties in recruiting and retaining gender and ethnic minorities have been compounded by the effects of COVID-19 and Brexit restricting access to markets previously relied upon to reconcile shortages in labour supply. The lack of diversity emphasizes the challenges faced by supply chain demands, productivity losses, technological advancements and achieving decarbonization through a loss of existing skills and meeting future demand. Thus, in pursuing workforce sustainability through diversity and inclusion, the construction and foundation industries can achieve transformation by not only addressing skills shortages, but in accessing innovation through new management and organizational structures to pursue net-zero goals. The project aims to identify and better understand the underlying causes of high rates of attrition for women and ethnic minorities and lack of diversity in the foundation industries and to stimulate sustainability and innovation through increased diversification and inclusion. We will investigate existing administrative data on pay, progression and retention to understand the factors that contribute to exit and/or lack of progression, and to develop appropriate solutions. We will focus on why women and ethnic minorities leave the firm; and understand how promotion opportunities and pay impact decisions. We aim to develop a case study to be utilized across the foundation industries that identify factors of attrition to develop appropriate strategies to attract and retain gender and minorities ethnic workers.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Leeds- Can workforce diversity stimulate transformation towards a more sustainable future? 
Organisation University of Leeds
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Jennifer Tomlinson is from the University of Leeds. She was awarded £50,564 for the project 'Can workforce diversity stimulate transformation towards a more sustainable future?' My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, by helping to introduce her to the project partner at the Enablers of Transformation Workshop for Foundation Industries, 12th October 2022
Collaborator Contribution Prof. Jennifer Tomlinsonis the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. The academic partner will work in collaboration with Ferrovial Construction UK and Ireland. The University of Leeds and Ferrovial Construction are both equally committed to this project in terms of time and resources and have collaborated on the objectives and research design. Ferrovial are able to provide access to a wide range of vital EDI and organisational data on gender and ethnic pay gaps, promotion, retention and exit of their workforce. The data analysis will be combined with new primary research (qualitative) to understand how diversity and inclusion can be achieved to stimulate sustainability.
Impact The project is on-going The foundation industries face stark challenges that are worsened by a persistent lack of workforce diversity. In 2020, women represented 16% and BAME workers only 7.1% of all workers. Coinciding with a looming skills shortage due to an aging workforce, difficulties in recruiting and retaining gender and ethnic minorities have been compounded by the effects of COVID-19 and Brexit restricting access to markets previously relied upon to reconcile shortages in labour supply. The lack of diversity emphasizes the challenges faced by supply chain demands, productivity losses, technological advancements and achieving decarbonization through a loss of existing skills and meeting future demand. Thus, in pursuing workforce sustainability through diversity and inclusion, the construction and foundation industries can achieve transformation by not only addressing skills shortages, but in accessing innovation through new management and organizational structures to pursue net-zero goals. The project aims to identify and better understand the underlying causes of high rates of attrition for women and ethnic minorities and lack of diversity in the foundation industries and to stimulate sustainability and innovation through increased diversification and inclusion. We will investigate existing administrative data on pay, progression and retention to understand the factors that contribute to exit and/or lack of progression, and to develop appropriate solutions. We will focus on why women and ethnic minorities leave the firm; and understand how promotion opportunities and pay impact decisions. We aim to develop a case study to be utilized across the foundation industries that identify factors of attrition to develop appropriate strategies to attract and retain gender and minorities ethnic workers.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Leeds- Co-designing a goal interdependency method for deciding corporate sustainability strategy 
Organisation Morgan Advanced Materials
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Rebecca Pieniazek is a Post-Doctoral Researcher from the University of Leeds. She was awarded £54,607 for the project 'Co-designing a goal interdependency method for deciding corporate sustainability strategy'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Rebecca Pieniazek is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. Morgan Advanced Material will allow 20-25 of their staff to take part in the survey
Impact The project is on-going The project will push the boundaries of management research by examining how future and current goals can be aligned. It aims to answer three objectives: (1) How can a company's management team know the extent to which their current environmental solutions are inter-connected with other objectives? (2) How can a company develop a systemic, interdependent set of future solutions and changes to incorporate sustainability alongside their other goals? (3) How can a company plan to transition from their current approach to this better scenario? We will analyse company mission statements/strategic objective documents and conduct interviews with senior managers to produce their Organisational Goal Hierarchy (OGH). We will also run scenario planning workshops, to investigate future scenarios of different types, and levels of, environmental embeddedness and determine the feasibility and consequences of each scenario. We will develop the future OGH scenarios to depict various options for transformations towards net-zero based on developing our previous research. Upon completion, participating companies will have chosen a net-zero strategy which works synergistically with their other objectives, and will have planned their upcoming transition.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Leeds- Co-designing a goal interdependency method for deciding corporate sustainability strategy 
Organisation University of Leeds
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Rebecca Pieniazek is a Post-Doctoral Researcher from the University of Leeds. She was awarded £54,607 for the project 'Co-designing a goal interdependency method for deciding corporate sustainability strategy'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Rebecca Pieniazek is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. Morgan Advanced Material will allow 20-25 of their staff to take part in the survey
Impact The project is on-going The project will push the boundaries of management research by examining how future and current goals can be aligned. It aims to answer three objectives: (1) How can a company's management team know the extent to which their current environmental solutions are inter-connected with other objectives? (2) How can a company develop a systemic, interdependent set of future solutions and changes to incorporate sustainability alongside their other goals? (3) How can a company plan to transition from their current approach to this better scenario? We will analyse company mission statements/strategic objective documents and conduct interviews with senior managers to produce their Organisational Goal Hierarchy (OGH). We will also run scenario planning workshops, to investigate future scenarios of different types, and levels of, environmental embeddedness and determine the feasibility and consequences of each scenario. We will develop the future OGH scenarios to depict various options for transformations towards net-zero based on developing our previous research. Upon completion, participating companies will have chosen a net-zero strategy which works synergistically with their other objectives, and will have planned their upcoming transition.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Leeds- Element-based mapping of waste and by-product material flows for industrial symbiosis 
Organisation Tarmac Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Alastair Marsh is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Leeds. He was awarded £26,864 for the project 'Element-based mapping of waste and by-product material flows for industrial symbiosis'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution The industry partners involved represented the four Foundational Industry sectors targeted in this project: cement (Tarmac Cement), ceramics (Wienerberger UK), glass (Glass Futures), and metals (CELSA Steel UK). Industry partners will facilitate knowledge transfer to the PIs in three main ways: (1) Supported data gathering around the composition and quantity of by-products and waste from the targeted FI sectors. (2) Provided insight around production methods and existing approaches to resource management. (3) Provided feedback and input on the output of the project.
Impact Disciplines involved: life cycle analysis An outstanding knowledge gap for Foundational Industries (FI) is the lack an overarching understanding around the material flows of their wastes and by-products: incl. their volumes, chemical composition ranges, where they are generated, and if/how they are already valorised. Whilst some individual FIs have made significant progress, a 'big picture' approach for the FIs as a whole is still lacking. Mapping and modelling the flows of FI wastes and by-products can be a transformational enabler for FIs to identify untapped opportunities for industrial symbiosis - and hence open up new pathways to leverage emerging processing innovations, minimise emissions, and increase circularity. This project will develop a simplified mapping model of FI wastes and by-products in the cement, ceramics, steel and glass sectors. The unique innovation of this model will be a focus on the key chemical elements relevant to each sector. The immediate impact will be a proof-of concept version of this mapping methodology, and a visualisation interface
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Leeds- Element-based mapping of waste and by-product material flows for industrial symbiosis 
Organisation University of Leeds
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Alastair Marsh is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Leeds. He was awarded £26,864 for the project 'Element-based mapping of waste and by-product material flows for industrial symbiosis'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution The industry partners involved represented the four Foundational Industry sectors targeted in this project: cement (Tarmac Cement), ceramics (Wienerberger UK), glass (Glass Futures), and metals (CELSA Steel UK). Industry partners will facilitate knowledge transfer to the PIs in three main ways: (1) Supported data gathering around the composition and quantity of by-products and waste from the targeted FI sectors. (2) Provided insight around production methods and existing approaches to resource management. (3) Provided feedback and input on the output of the project.
Impact Disciplines involved: life cycle analysis An outstanding knowledge gap for Foundational Industries (FI) is the lack an overarching understanding around the material flows of their wastes and by-products: incl. their volumes, chemical composition ranges, where they are generated, and if/how they are already valorised. Whilst some individual FIs have made significant progress, a 'big picture' approach for the FIs as a whole is still lacking. Mapping and modelling the flows of FI wastes and by-products can be a transformational enabler for FIs to identify untapped opportunities for industrial symbiosis - and hence open up new pathways to leverage emerging processing innovations, minimise emissions, and increase circularity. This project will develop a simplified mapping model of FI wastes and by-products in the cement, ceramics, steel and glass sectors. The unique innovation of this model will be a focus on the key chemical elements relevant to each sector. The immediate impact will be a proof-of concept version of this mapping methodology, and a visualisation interface
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Leeds- Element-based mapping of waste and by-product material flows for industrial symbiosis 
Organisation Wienerberger
Country Austria 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Alastair Marsh is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Leeds. He was awarded £26,864 for the project 'Element-based mapping of waste and by-product material flows for industrial symbiosis'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution The industry partners involved represented the four Foundational Industry sectors targeted in this project: cement (Tarmac Cement), ceramics (Wienerberger UK), glass (Glass Futures), and metals (CELSA Steel UK). Industry partners will facilitate knowledge transfer to the PIs in three main ways: (1) Supported data gathering around the composition and quantity of by-products and waste from the targeted FI sectors. (2) Provided insight around production methods and existing approaches to resource management. (3) Provided feedback and input on the output of the project.
Impact Disciplines involved: life cycle analysis An outstanding knowledge gap for Foundational Industries (FI) is the lack an overarching understanding around the material flows of their wastes and by-products: incl. their volumes, chemical composition ranges, where they are generated, and if/how they are already valorised. Whilst some individual FIs have made significant progress, a 'big picture' approach for the FIs as a whole is still lacking. Mapping and modelling the flows of FI wastes and by-products can be a transformational enabler for FIs to identify untapped opportunities for industrial symbiosis - and hence open up new pathways to leverage emerging processing innovations, minimise emissions, and increase circularity. This project will develop a simplified mapping model of FI wastes and by-products in the cement, ceramics, steel and glass sectors. The unique innovation of this model will be a focus on the key chemical elements relevant to each sector. The immediate impact will be a proof-of concept version of this mapping methodology, and a visualisation interface
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Leeds- Valorisation of metallurgical wastes through chemically bonded ceramics 
Organisation Luxfer MEL Technologies
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr Sam Adu-Amankwah from the University of Leeds was awarded £44,670 for the project 'Valorisation of metallurgical wastes through chemically bonded ceramics'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which includes Luxfer MEL Technologies
Collaborator Contribution Dr Sam Adu-Amankwah from the University of Leeds is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Leeds. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Luxfer MEL Technologies will partake in project meetings to discuss its progress and its wider context. They will also characterise samples and supply samples of metal dross.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: civil engineering, materials science and chemistry. The linear manufacturing model of 'take, use, and dump' are not sustainable because resources are not unlimited while threats from climate change become glaring. The Foundation Industries being natural-resources intensive and with by-products often classified as wastes that end up in landfills can play a significant role in adopting circularity principles. In the circular economy, by-products retain some value and feed into other production process, maintaining the flow loop. However, feasibility of this hinges on availability of symbiotic manufacturing sectors as well as cost effective repurposing strategies where necessary. These do not exist for most by-products from the Foundation Industries and waste streams are often mixed. This project studied thermal and chemical repurposing methods for magnesium-rich by-products from the metallurgical and alloying industry with the objective of producing reactive magnesia. The resulting products were tested subsequently for reactivity and the role of contaminants when used to produce ceramics for niche repairs application. Optimal treatment was attained at 500 °C calcination at which point reactive magnesium formed. Beyond this, crystallization increased leading to the less reactive form of magnesium oxide, pericalse. Chemical treatment through carbonation did not produce measurable levels of carbonates. A chemically bonded ceramic-type binder was successfully produced under ambient conditions from the optimally treated by-product. This achieved comparable reactivity and mechanical properties as factory produced light-burnt magnesia. Impurities due to unsegregated waste streams profoundly modified the reaction and products formed. Mixed alloying oxides e.g. zirconium improved quality of the ceramic produced. The findings from this project demonstrate feasibility of metallurgical wastes for niche applications such as ceramic-type materials for repairs. This is significant as it provides basis for identifying valorisation protocol and the roles of constituents from other waste-streams as was the case for mixed alloying wastes.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Leeds- Valorisation of metallurgical wastes through chemically bonded ceramics 
Organisation University of Leeds
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr Sam Adu-Amankwah from the University of Leeds was awarded £44,670 for the project 'Valorisation of metallurgical wastes through chemically bonded ceramics'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which includes Luxfer MEL Technologies
Collaborator Contribution Dr Sam Adu-Amankwah from the University of Leeds is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Leeds. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Luxfer MEL Technologies will partake in project meetings to discuss its progress and its wider context. They will also characterise samples and supply samples of metal dross.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: civil engineering, materials science and chemistry. The linear manufacturing model of 'take, use, and dump' are not sustainable because resources are not unlimited while threats from climate change become glaring. The Foundation Industries being natural-resources intensive and with by-products often classified as wastes that end up in landfills can play a significant role in adopting circularity principles. In the circular economy, by-products retain some value and feed into other production process, maintaining the flow loop. However, feasibility of this hinges on availability of symbiotic manufacturing sectors as well as cost effective repurposing strategies where necessary. These do not exist for most by-products from the Foundation Industries and waste streams are often mixed. This project studied thermal and chemical repurposing methods for magnesium-rich by-products from the metallurgical and alloying industry with the objective of producing reactive magnesia. The resulting products were tested subsequently for reactivity and the role of contaminants when used to produce ceramics for niche repairs application. Optimal treatment was attained at 500 °C calcination at which point reactive magnesium formed. Beyond this, crystallization increased leading to the less reactive form of magnesium oxide, pericalse. Chemical treatment through carbonation did not produce measurable levels of carbonates. A chemically bonded ceramic-type binder was successfully produced under ambient conditions from the optimally treated by-product. This achieved comparable reactivity and mechanical properties as factory produced light-burnt magnesia. Impurities due to unsegregated waste streams profoundly modified the reaction and products formed. Mixed alloying oxides e.g. zirconium improved quality of the ceramic produced. The findings from this project demonstrate feasibility of metallurgical wastes for niche applications such as ceramic-type materials for repairs. This is significant as it provides basis for identifying valorisation protocol and the roles of constituents from other waste-streams as was the case for mixed alloying wastes.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Liverpool- Improved Energy Efficiency of Float Glass Production 
Organisation Pilkington Glass
Department Pilkington Technology Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Peter Green is an ear;y career lecturuer from the University of Liverpool, and was awarded £48,511 for the project: 'Improved Energy Efficiency of Float Glass Production'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from the NSG Group.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Peter Green from the University of Liverpool is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Liverpool. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Pilkington NSG provided training and support to the PDRA conducting the research whilst on-site, as well as access to data on the NSG Group float process data recording and management platform.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project included: engineering, machine learning, manufacturing processes, and autonomous systems Of all the 'enablers' of transformation, digitisation and control offers the greatest potential to impact across multiple Foundation Industry sectors and its benefits of reduced plant downtime and energy and raw material savings are clear. Implementation however, deviates significantly from the classic skill sets associated with the foundation industries, requiring knowledge of advanced computing, sensing, modelling and data handling. In the built environment, glass is pivotal in modern construction with ten million tonnes of float glass produced in Europe every year, with the UK currently having a 6% share of European glass production . Pilkington United Kingdom Limited, part of NSG Group, is a leading UK glass manufacturer and supplier with around 3,000 staff across the UK and producing a wide range of glass solutions (glass for architectural applications, solar panels, automotive equipment, touchscreens etc.) Being an energy-intensive manufacturing process and noting NSG Group's aim to achieve a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030, this project explored the development of a data-based model which can, ultimately, be used to increase the efficiency of the float glass production. This study involved the development and deployment of a machine learning model which, having been trained on data gathered from 100s of sensors at the UK5 float glass plant in St. Helens, can be used to predict variations in product quality up to 72 hours into the future. The overall model was formulated using a Gaussian 'product of experts' approach, whereby separate models are each used to cover different regions of the input space before predictions are formulated using a weighted product of all models. The model is able to function in an online setting (allowing it to be updated using the most recent data from the UK5 plant). The model can be used to form different decision support tools (e.g. the optimiser, sensitivity analysis) to help increase the efficiency of float glass production. The approach is scalable to large datasets and, to the best of our knowledge, generic in that it can be extended to other float glass furnaces. NSG has directly funded another 6 months of research which has already been transferred into the Manufacturing Execution System used at the UK5 plant. Outputs include: Fault density estimation in float glass manufacturing using a robust-scalable Gaussian process approach, PhD thesis, submitted 23/02/2022
Start Year 2021
 
Description University of Liverpool- Improved Energy Efficiency of Float Glass Production 
Organisation University of Liverpool
Department School of Engineering
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Peter Green is an ear;y career lecturuer from the University of Liverpool, and was awarded £48,511 for the project: 'Improved Energy Efficiency of Float Glass Production'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from the NSG Group.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Peter Green from the University of Liverpool is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Liverpool. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Pilkington NSG provided training and support to the PDRA conducting the research whilst on-site, as well as access to data on the NSG Group float process data recording and management platform.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project included: engineering, machine learning, manufacturing processes, and autonomous systems Of all the 'enablers' of transformation, digitisation and control offers the greatest potential to impact across multiple Foundation Industry sectors and its benefits of reduced plant downtime and energy and raw material savings are clear. Implementation however, deviates significantly from the classic skill sets associated with the foundation industries, requiring knowledge of advanced computing, sensing, modelling and data handling. In the built environment, glass is pivotal in modern construction with ten million tonnes of float glass produced in Europe every year, with the UK currently having a 6% share of European glass production . Pilkington United Kingdom Limited, part of NSG Group, is a leading UK glass manufacturer and supplier with around 3,000 staff across the UK and producing a wide range of glass solutions (glass for architectural applications, solar panels, automotive equipment, touchscreens etc.) Being an energy-intensive manufacturing process and noting NSG Group's aim to achieve a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030, this project explored the development of a data-based model which can, ultimately, be used to increase the efficiency of the float glass production. This study involved the development and deployment of a machine learning model which, having been trained on data gathered from 100s of sensors at the UK5 float glass plant in St. Helens, can be used to predict variations in product quality up to 72 hours into the future. The overall model was formulated using a Gaussian 'product of experts' approach, whereby separate models are each used to cover different regions of the input space before predictions are formulated using a weighted product of all models. The model is able to function in an online setting (allowing it to be updated using the most recent data from the UK5 plant). The model can be used to form different decision support tools (e.g. the optimiser, sensitivity analysis) to help increase the efficiency of float glass production. The approach is scalable to large datasets and, to the best of our knowledge, generic in that it can be extended to other float glass furnaces. NSG has directly funded another 6 months of research which has already been transferred into the Manufacturing Execution System used at the UK5 plant. Outputs include: Fault density estimation in float glass manufacturing using a robust-scalable Gaussian process approach, PhD thesis, submitted 23/02/2022
Start Year 2021
 
Description University of Manchester- Circularising the Pressure Moulding of Ceramics 
Organisation University of Manchester
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Ahu Gumrah Dumanli-Parry is a Fellow from the University of Manchester. She was awarded £28,096 for the project 'Circularising the Pressure Moulding of Ceramics'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Ahu Gumrah Dumanli-Parry is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. PCL Ceramics Ltd established in 1991, is one of the market leaders in developing resin moulds, materials, handling equipment and high-pressure casting technology for the sanitary ware, tableware, and technical ceramics industry worldwide. PCL will participate in the project by providing resin-based moulds for the high pressure casting process. PCL will work with their customer portfolio to obtain this data pertaining to the high pressure casting process. Therefore, PCL will commit one-person month of personnel time towards this project
Impact Disciplines involved: materials science Ceramic materials are the most versatile group of materials offering long-term use, high thermal stability, high strength, chemical inertness and, with their suitability for use in mass production. On the other hand, the very properties that single out ceramics for "extreme and advanced applications", set obstacles to the conventional manufacturing methods. Processing of ceramics, historically, suffers from high amounts of waste, tool wear and is the most notorious in terms of energy use. Therefore, novel technological innovations are highly required for ceramic manufacturing industry to meet the futures carbon-zero targets. With this collaborative work, we will employ ready-to-use ceramic doughs-a recent innovation from Dr Akbulut's group at Sabanci University (SU) with a huge potential to transform the ceramics industry to no-material-leak, energy- and cost-efficient schemes. These doughs are highly-loaded, homogeneously-coagulated suspensions of advanced ceramics, yet as opposed to slurries which are ready to flow or have certain yield stress, they could be directly shaped through moulding, traditional and laser machining. With this project we will combine the academic innovations and capability of the Dr Dumanli-Parry and Dr Akbulut and show the adaptation of these doughs to the established sectors with quantified results and benefits. We also will produce the preliminary indicators on circularity of the process and provide fundamental structure-property relationships of the alumina doughs. We will specifically focus on the moulding of alumina crucibles to demonstrate the efficiency of our alternative processing scheme. Furthermore, our research collaboration will lead to a new industrial partnership with the PCL Ceramics on the comparative assessment of the process to overlay a quantitative basis. At the end of the project, PCL Ceramics will be able to offer a parameterized process flow without any material waste to its customers.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Manchester- Sustainable Replacements for Coal Tar Pitch Binders 
Organisation Morgan Advanced Materials
Department Morganite Electrical Carbon Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Christina Valles is a junior lecturer from the University of Manchester. She was awarded £55,975 for the project 'Sustainable Replacements for Coal Tar Pitch Binders'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from Morgan Advanced Materials.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Christina Valles from the University of Manchester is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Manchester. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. Morgan Advanced Materials contributed chemicals, staff time to help with prototyping, and technical assistance to share best practice.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: Materials science, materials chemistry and electrical power engineering Coal Tar Pitch (CTP) is a residue formed from the distillation of coal tar and is widely used as a carbonisable/graphitisable binder to form carbon electrodes (e.g. for aluminium smelting), seals, specialty graphites for electric brushes and current collectors (e.g. wind turbine generators & rail pantograph systems), and molten metal-conveying components for the ferrous and non-ferrous metal industries. CTP, though, is fossil-derived and toxic and has recently been classified as a 'sunset' status material under REACH such that identification of a sustainable alternative is essential for the Foundation Industries dependent on these carbonised/graphitised materials. Wood Tar Biopitch (WTB), obtained from distilling sawdust at temperatures up to 1,000 °C under an inert atmosphere, shows promise as a safe and renewable binder. However, despite several decades of academic interest, socio-economic drivers are only now sufficient for its key shortcomings to be addressed. From a sustainable CTP alternative perspective, these shortcomings include: • carbon conversion yields below theoretical prediction, • obstacles to translation to existing manufacturing processes (e.g. poor impregnation and extrusion), • insufficient binding to particles, and • relatively poor properties of the resultant materials. The main output of this project has been the development of a first technical roadmap for replacing CTP with WTB across the foundation sectors (based on a combination of a deep literature review and the preliminary experimental results obtained during this project), which will then be used to guide future developments. The development of this first-generation roadmap has allowed us to engage with the wider sector users and identify the technical, economic, and funding drivers to define the next steps. This project has led us to identify the key focus for further research, as follows: • Within the 6 months, WTB was produced in the UoM, mixed with graphite particles and then carbonised to produce a carbon-carbon composites. • The performance of the WTB based composites currently underperform compared to those derived from CTP. • Commercial WTB supply is in its infancy, particularly compared to bio-oil. Hence in-house baseline material is needed to establish R&D knowhow. These points have been translated into objectives for a follow-on grant recently submitted with Morgan contributing as industry partner
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Manchester- Sustainable Replacements for Coal Tar Pitch Binders 
Organisation University of Manchester
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Christina Valles is a junior lecturer from the University of Manchester. She was awarded £55,975 for the project 'Sustainable Replacements for Coal Tar Pitch Binders'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from Morgan Advanced Materials.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Christina Valles from the University of Manchester is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the University of Manchester. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. Morgan Advanced Materials contributed chemicals, staff time to help with prototyping, and technical assistance to share best practice.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: Materials science, materials chemistry and electrical power engineering Coal Tar Pitch (CTP) is a residue formed from the distillation of coal tar and is widely used as a carbonisable/graphitisable binder to form carbon electrodes (e.g. for aluminium smelting), seals, specialty graphites for electric brushes and current collectors (e.g. wind turbine generators & rail pantograph systems), and molten metal-conveying components for the ferrous and non-ferrous metal industries. CTP, though, is fossil-derived and toxic and has recently been classified as a 'sunset' status material under REACH such that identification of a sustainable alternative is essential for the Foundation Industries dependent on these carbonised/graphitised materials. Wood Tar Biopitch (WTB), obtained from distilling sawdust at temperatures up to 1,000 °C under an inert atmosphere, shows promise as a safe and renewable binder. However, despite several decades of academic interest, socio-economic drivers are only now sufficient for its key shortcomings to be addressed. From a sustainable CTP alternative perspective, these shortcomings include: • carbon conversion yields below theoretical prediction, • obstacles to translation to existing manufacturing processes (e.g. poor impregnation and extrusion), • insufficient binding to particles, and • relatively poor properties of the resultant materials. The main output of this project has been the development of a first technical roadmap for replacing CTP with WTB across the foundation sectors (based on a combination of a deep literature review and the preliminary experimental results obtained during this project), which will then be used to guide future developments. The development of this first-generation roadmap has allowed us to engage with the wider sector users and identify the technical, economic, and funding drivers to define the next steps. This project has led us to identify the key focus for further research, as follows: • Within the 6 months, WTB was produced in the UoM, mixed with graphite particles and then carbonised to produce a carbon-carbon composites. • The performance of the WTB based composites currently underperform compared to those derived from CTP. • Commercial WTB supply is in its infancy, particularly compared to bio-oil. Hence in-house baseline material is needed to establish R&D knowhow. These points have been translated into objectives for a follow-on grant recently submitted with Morgan contributing as industry partner
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Manchester: Data-driven optimisation framework for assessing energy and emission saving potentials in foundation industries 
Organisation Palm Paper Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Alessandra Parisio is a junior lecturer from the University of Manchester. She was awarded £54,439 for the project 'Data-driven optimisation framework for assessing energy and emission saving potentials in foundation industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application by introducing Dr. Pariso to the industry partners at a workshop we organised 8th Feb 2022
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Alessandra Parisio from the University of Manchester is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. Palm Paper provided provided £2500 of in-kind support in the form technical advice and provision of data
Impact Disciplines involved in the project iclude Power & Energy, Control Engineering and Optimisation, Dynamic modelling, Computer Science (Machine learning/Artificial Intelligence) and Software programming. The project is ongoing This project focuses on the assessment of prospective energy and cost savings associated with foundation industries. A case study of Palm Paper is considered in the associated study, but the underlying concepts transcends the borders of this specific application. Palm Paper is a paper production company which produces newsprints and news paper grades from completely recycled materials. The reliance of this company on natural gas and electricity is reflected in the costs of purchase of these utilities. It is an aim of this project to identify areas within the production process which will translate directly or indirectly to the reduction of the cost of energy and associated emissions.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Manchester: Data-driven optimisation framework for assessing energy and emission saving potentials in foundation industries 
Organisation University of Manchester
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Alessandra Parisio is a junior lecturer from the University of Manchester. She was awarded £54,439 for the project 'Data-driven optimisation framework for assessing energy and emission saving potentials in foundation industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application by introducing Dr. Pariso to the industry partners at a workshop we organised 8th Feb 2022
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Alessandra Parisio from the University of Manchester is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her. Palm Paper provided provided £2500 of in-kind support in the form technical advice and provision of data
Impact Disciplines involved in the project iclude Power & Energy, Control Engineering and Optimisation, Dynamic modelling, Computer Science (Machine learning/Artificial Intelligence) and Software programming. The project is ongoing This project focuses on the assessment of prospective energy and cost savings associated with foundation industries. A case study of Palm Paper is considered in the associated study, but the underlying concepts transcends the borders of this specific application. Palm Paper is a paper production company which produces newsprints and news paper grades from completely recycled materials. The reliance of this company on natural gas and electricity is reflected in the costs of purchase of these utilities. It is an aim of this project to identify areas within the production process which will translate directly or indirectly to the reduction of the cost of energy and associated emissions.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Nottingham- Circular business model innovation in the UK cement, glass, and ceramics industries 
Organisation University of Nottingham
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Maria Karafyllia is from the University of Nottingham. She was awarded £46,089 for the project 'Circular business model innovation in the UK cement, glass, and ceramics industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Maria Karafyllia is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to her.
Impact The UK Foundation Industries are worth £52B, produce 28 million tonnes of materials per year and account for 10% of the UK total CO2 emissions, posing a major challenge to meet the UK Government's legal commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. The UK Foundation Industries also have low profit margins, making them vulnerable to changes in energy cost and to international competition. These industries lack tailored circular business models that will enable them to create, deliver, and capture customer value in more sustainable ways, hindering their contribution to the national net zero target by 2050, and their international competitiveness. Moreover, the UK Foundation Industries underperform in relation to the EDI agenda. This project focuses on cement, ceramics, and glass industries, and informs all the UK Foundation Industries. It aims to (1) embed self-sustaining industry practices regarding EDI in new circular business models, (2) establish a knowledge transfer network to drive EDI transformation, and to develop and share best practice, and (3) develop a compelling business case for the UK Foundation Industries with the key components being EDI, Net Zero, innovation, future skills, and digitisation.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Nottingham- Enabling business models innovation for sustainability in the UK glass sector 
Organisation British Glass
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Luis Torres is from the University of Nottingham. He was awarded £42,211 for the project 'Enabling business models innovation for sustainability in the UK glass sector'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, by introducing the PI to the British Glass at the Enablers of Transformation in Foundation Industries, Leeds (12/10/2022)
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Luis Torres is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. British Glass will (1) provide existing practices or relevant documents regarding policy interventions enabling business model innovation for sustainability in the UK glass sector (2) Join three stage one-hour interviews with members of top management teams and advisor teams (3) Provide links to companies for site visits (4) Participate in two workshops at the academic institution by an organisational member. This contribution will provide important inputs into the proposed work so that the outputs are tailored to the circular business needs of the UK foundation industries
Impact The project is ongoing A deep understanding of policy interventions and combination of these interventions for business model innovation in the flat glass sector can bring several technical, environmental, economic, and societal benefits. Specifically, it will (i) provide insights into policy interventions/mix and thereby facilitate making timely future policy decisions to respond to suitability targets; (ii) significantly reduce the amount of disposed waste glass materials and their negative impact on the environment; (iii) propose innovative business models for the circular economy and improve profitability of relevant companies; and thus (iv) increase industrial productivity and resilience on their path towards a more sustainable future. The outputs of the project will help the foundation industries develop strategies in material recycling for long-term sustainability, managing material processing, and providing cost-saving solutions. This aligns with the UK's Industrial Strategy and is vital to the national economy and quality of life.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Nottingham- Enabling business models innovation for sustainability in the UK glass sector 
Organisation University of Nottingham
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Luis Torres is from the University of Nottingham. He was awarded £42,211 for the project 'Enabling business models innovation for sustainability in the UK glass sector'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, by introducing the PI to the British Glass at the Enablers of Transformation in Foundation Industries, Leeds (12/10/2022)
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Luis Torres is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. British Glass will (1) provide existing practices or relevant documents regarding policy interventions enabling business model innovation for sustainability in the UK glass sector (2) Join three stage one-hour interviews with members of top management teams and advisor teams (3) Provide links to companies for site visits (4) Participate in two workshops at the academic institution by an organisational member. This contribution will provide important inputs into the proposed work so that the outputs are tailored to the circular business needs of the UK foundation industries
Impact The project is ongoing A deep understanding of policy interventions and combination of these interventions for business model innovation in the flat glass sector can bring several technical, environmental, economic, and societal benefits. Specifically, it will (i) provide insights into policy interventions/mix and thereby facilitate making timely future policy decisions to respond to suitability targets; (ii) significantly reduce the amount of disposed waste glass materials and their negative impact on the environment; (iii) propose innovative business models for the circular economy and improve profitability of relevant companies; and thus (iv) increase industrial productivity and resilience on their path towards a more sustainable future. The outputs of the project will help the foundation industries develop strategies in material recycling for long-term sustainability, managing material processing, and providing cost-saving solutions. This aligns with the UK's Industrial Strategy and is vital to the national economy and quality of life.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Nottingham- Sustainable asphalt pavements with recycled concrete aggregate and waste glass 
Organisation University of Nottingham
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Haopeng Wang is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Nottingham. He was awarded £27,894 for the project 'Sustainable asphalt pavements with recycled concrete aggregate and waste glass'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Haopeng Wang is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. The principal investigator will do secondments at Total Reclaims Demolition Ltd (TRD) with a duration of one month in total. Activities including onsite inspection and investigation, organising seminars, etc. will be carried out to enhance the knowledge transfer. TRD is committed to working with the principal investigator via the following aspects: (i) Hosting the applicant during the secondment by providing workspace, access to the Research and Development Laboratory; (ii) Supplying materials for comparison testing and evaluation, including different types recycled concrete aggregates; (iii) Serving on the project management team including attending project meetings and workshops for sharing industry expertise and assisting the dissemination of research results; (iv) Hosting an industrial demonstration of producing asphalt mixture with recycled concrete and glass.
Impact Disciplines involved: materials, modelling, characterisation Asphalt is the major surfacing material of UK's road infrastructure which comprises mineral aggregates and bitumen. Meanwhile, the foundation industry generates millions of tons of waste concrete and glass in the UK, which could potentially be a replacement of the scarce natural aggregates. The current project aims to incorporate recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) and recycled glass cullet (RGC) from foundation industries into the production of high performance and sustainable asphalt pavements. The green technology developed by using RCA and GGC as natural aggregate substitutes in asphalt production can bring a number of technical, environmental, economic and societal benefits. Specifically, it will (i) provide a better understanding of the interaction mechanism between asphalt, cement concrete and glass; (ii) significantly reduce the exploitation of natural aggregates and the amount of disposed waste concrete and glass materials; (iii) thus benefit the environment by reducing the carbon footprint of the construction industry; (iv) minimize the costs of pavement construction. The outputs of the project will help the foundation industry and highway industry to develop strategies in material recycling for long-term sustainability, managing material processing, and providing cost saving solutions. This aligns with the UK's Industrial Strategy and is vital to the national economy and quality of life.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Sheffield- Introducing High-Temperature Hyperspectral Electronics to the Foundation Industries 
Organisation Tata Steel Europe
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Jon Willmott from the University of Sheffield was awarded £55,987 for the project ' Introducing High-Temperature Hyperspectral Electronics to the Foundation Industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Jon Willmott from the University of Sheffield is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Tata Steel Europe provided £20k of in-kind support in the form of resources and samples
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: Electronics, Imaging, Metrology (measurement science), Material Science. The project is on-going. The project consists of two main work packages: firstly, the development of our hyperspectral metrology techniques and secondly, the design and assembly of a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) spectrometer. Combining these two technologies will allow us to create a MWIR hyperspectral camera. We have developed the hyperspectral metrology with our visible-range hyperspectral imaging system and verified this through testing with high-temperature hydrocarbon flames. The gas-phase flames have been imaged with our designed system, and the spectral emission of methane-air flames was comprehensively investigated. The results suggest that our system can capture the gas-phase flames precisely and the high spatial resolution could help target the actual reaction zone of the combustion. The ratio of intermediate products (C2 and CH) could be ideal for monitoring the mixture of fuel and oxygen, enabling improvements in energy efficiency. The next step is to investigate the spectral emissions with different hydrocarbon fuels with various carbon atoms and build a theoretical model of thermal transfer and heat release rate. The MWIR spectrometer has been designed and assembled with low-cost, commercial off the shelf parts. The Zemax model suggests that a spectral range of 3 µm - 4 µm with resolution of <20 nm / pixel is achievable with the current design. Our next step is to combine our hyperspectral metrology which is successfully tested within the visible range with the custom MWIR spectrometer and to build the MWIR hyperspectral imaging system.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Sheffield- Introducing High-Temperature Hyperspectral Electronics to the Foundation Industries 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Jon Willmott from the University of Sheffield was awarded £55,987 for the project ' Introducing High-Temperature Hyperspectral Electronics to the Foundation Industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Jon Willmott from the University of Sheffield is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Tata Steel Europe provided £20k of in-kind support in the form of resources and samples
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: Electronics, Imaging, Metrology (measurement science), Material Science. The project is on-going. The project consists of two main work packages: firstly, the development of our hyperspectral metrology techniques and secondly, the design and assembly of a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) spectrometer. Combining these two technologies will allow us to create a MWIR hyperspectral camera. We have developed the hyperspectral metrology with our visible-range hyperspectral imaging system and verified this through testing with high-temperature hydrocarbon flames. The gas-phase flames have been imaged with our designed system, and the spectral emission of methane-air flames was comprehensively investigated. The results suggest that our system can capture the gas-phase flames precisely and the high spatial resolution could help target the actual reaction zone of the combustion. The ratio of intermediate products (C2 and CH) could be ideal for monitoring the mixture of fuel and oxygen, enabling improvements in energy efficiency. The next step is to investigate the spectral emissions with different hydrocarbon fuels with various carbon atoms and build a theoretical model of thermal transfer and heat release rate. The MWIR spectrometer has been designed and assembled with low-cost, commercial off the shelf parts. The Zemax model suggests that a spectral range of 3 µm - 4 µm with resolution of <20 nm / pixel is achievable with the current design. Our next step is to combine our hyperspectral metrology which is successfully tested within the visible range with the custom MWIR spectrometer and to build the MWIR hyperspectral imaging system.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Sheffield- Low-temperature densification of Al2O3 through a modified cold-sintering process 
Organisation Johnson Matthey
Department Johnson Matthey Technology Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Edoardo Mantheakis is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Sheffield. He was awarded £24,676 for the project Low-temperature densification of Al2O3 through a modified cold-sintering process'. Dr. Mantheakis is using the facilities of my research group for this project and the TFIN+ was instrumental in providing the funding
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Edoardo Mantheakis is the PI on the project and was introduced to Johnson Matthey, a long time collaborative partner of my group. Johnson Matthey is a British multinational specialising in chemicals and sustainable technologies, heavily involved in providing key capabilities within the chemical and sustainable technology sectors to enable the UK transition to net zero. Johnson Matthey are not currently recipients of large scale Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge funds. The proposed project aligns closely with their strategy to facilitate sustainable manufacturing through the development of a process that could lead to low-energy alumina ceramic production, that directly feeds into their main catalyst business and can be applied to a wide range of technologies. The work has great commercial potential to re-invent alumina production worldwide, resulting in large scale energy and cost savings. Johnson Matthey is providing an in-kind contribution of ~ £15,000 covering expert guidance, donated consumables, and use of experimental equipment at Johnson Matthey Technology Centre (JMTC), Sonning, UK. This includes monthly meetings with Dr Hong Ren who is a principle scientist in the Department for Materials at JMTC. These meetings will provide expertise on both the fabrication of ceramic specimens and characterisation techniques required to enable a pathway for industrial exploitation. Johnson Matthey will also provide pseudo-boehmite raw materials with which to conduct experiments with. Use of experimental equipment at JMTC, including SEM, TEM, and EPMA, will enable further in-depth characterisation to support any future publication. In addition to the in-kind contribution, Johnson Matthey will provide a monetary (cash) contribution of ~ £5,000 to cover the expenses of a 1-month placement at JMTC to conduct the aforementioned characterisation experiments
Impact a-Al2O3 is a technical/advanced ceramic used in applications such as electrical, wear, and corrosion resistance,with approximately 120,000 metric tonnes manufacture per year worldwide [1]. Conventional processing of a-Al2O3 ceramics requires significant effort in optimising physical powder characteristics through reduction in particle size, followed by sintering at ~ 1600 °C to achieve the required densification. Cold-sintering is an emerging technology that enables densification of ceramics through the use of a liquid medium at < 300 °C and modest pressures (200 MPa). In this proposal, a modified cold-sintering process will be used to consolidate pseudo-boehmite (Al(O)(OH)n) at 300 °C to form dense precursor monoliths which will then be converted into high-temperature a-Al2O3 at ~ 1100 °C. The pseudo-boehmite powder is functionalised using carboxylic acids (in this case acetic acid) via mixing or a reactive milling process which facilitates the cold-sintering process through the formation of a surface layer of acetate-alumoxane precursor ([Al(O)x(OH)y(O2CCH3)z]n) that decomposes on heating into alumina. The estimated energy saving of > 50 % by the reduction in sintering temperature from 1600 to 1100 °C is amplified by the cost savings relating to the use of metallic rather than MoSi2 or SiC based furnace elements. This project not only has the potential to benefit the ceramic sector by developing a novel low-temperature consolidation process for a-Al2O3, but also the chemical sector by creating a new market for organic acids. The global production of acetic acid in 2018 was reported to be approximately 18,000,000 metric tonnes worldwide and is forecast to increase to 21,000,000 metric tonnes by 2023.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Sheffield: Sustainable advanced manufacturing via ML-assisted exploitation of sensing and data infrastructure 
Organisation Robinson Brothers
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Iñaki Esnaola from the University of Sheffield was awarded £46,522 for the project on 'Sustainable advanced manufacturing via ML-assisted exploitation of sensing and data infrastructure '. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application by introducing Dr. Esnaola to the industry partner.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Iñaki Esnaola is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Robinson Brothers provided access to specialised information and process data, and access to technical specialists at their company
Impact Disciplines involved- AI, manufacturing, machine learning. The project is on-going AI, and data science in general, are underpinning research disciplines that already are very prominent in numerous manufacturing sectors, and are already achieving measurable impacts (e.g. in the high value, low volume sector in aerospace, automotive etc.). The applications supported via research in AI and data science in manufacturing are typically around process modelling, monitoring, optimisation, control and decision making. These are typical engineering themes, now enhanced and supported via the exploitation of data. Frequent challenges that arise at the start of such initiatives are 1) what AI can do for a given process, and 2) how much and what kind of data do we need? Pertinent to Machine Learning (ML) these questions cannot be answered in a trivial fashion. There are however mathematical and computational methods that can be used to establish the impact of data sparsity/availability on the effectiveness of various ML tools that can be subsequently used for process monitoring, forecasting etc. In this proposal we wish to explore feasibility studies, as a way of evaluating research possibilities and potential AI use in the foundation industries. The intention is to use available data retrospectively and demonstrate data utility, potential sensing needs, and ML forecasting capability. The overarching goal is to show that sustainability targets, as well as overall process performance, could be further enhanced via the use of appropriate data. Via this study, we also envisage identifying data challenges specific to each sector's case studies, as well as directions for setting the future research agenda.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Warwick- Atomistic scale simulation of the magnetic anisotropy in steels 
Organisation British Steel
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Lei Zhou is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Warwick. He was awarded £23,985 for the project 'Atomistic scale simulation of the magnetic anisotropy in steels '. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Lei Zhou is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Tata Steel and British Steel have products where texture and anisotropic grain morphology are key microstructure parameters that affect magnetic and mechanical properties. Both industrial partners have offered support in terms of sample provision, access to equipment and staff time to attend regular progress review meetings and technical discussions
Impact Disciplines involved in the project: Steel metallurgy, magnetism, modelling Steel is the most used material globally by value and one of the most recyclable materials, making it a vital foundation industry. Improved monitoring of processes is a key part of sustainability, growth and modernisation for the steel industry. Electromagnetic (EM) sensors are one of the ideal candidates, which have been applied to microstructure monitoring and control. The project developed the fundamental modelling capability to relate texture to magnetic properties and generate valuable magnetic parameter data for crystallographic anisotropy in steels that will support the use of EM sensors for texture characterisation online in steel mills. The measurement of remanence with an angle to the rolling direction in the rolling plane has been identified as the optimum experimental method to measure the texture in steels. This led to future works in both modelling and EM sensor measurement research to be followed up after the project period. The project allowed the PI Dr Frank Zhou to build up an extended network of academic and industrial partners, and he subsequently submitted two fellowship applications, one to the EPSRC open fellowship scheme and one for a Royal Society University fellowship.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Warwick- Atomistic scale simulation of the magnetic anisotropy in steels 
Organisation TATA Steel
Department Tata Limited UK
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Lei Zhou is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Warwick. He was awarded £23,985 for the project 'Atomistic scale simulation of the magnetic anisotropy in steels '. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Lei Zhou is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Tata Steel and British Steel have products where texture and anisotropic grain morphology are key microstructure parameters that affect magnetic and mechanical properties. Both industrial partners have offered support in terms of sample provision, access to equipment and staff time to attend regular progress review meetings and technical discussions
Impact Disciplines involved in the project: Steel metallurgy, magnetism, modelling Steel is the most used material globally by value and one of the most recyclable materials, making it a vital foundation industry. Improved monitoring of processes is a key part of sustainability, growth and modernisation for the steel industry. Electromagnetic (EM) sensors are one of the ideal candidates, which have been applied to microstructure monitoring and control. The project developed the fundamental modelling capability to relate texture to magnetic properties and generate valuable magnetic parameter data for crystallographic anisotropy in steels that will support the use of EM sensors for texture characterisation online in steel mills. The measurement of remanence with an angle to the rolling direction in the rolling plane has been identified as the optimum experimental method to measure the texture in steels. This led to future works in both modelling and EM sensor measurement research to be followed up after the project period. The project allowed the PI Dr Frank Zhou to build up an extended network of academic and industrial partners, and he subsequently submitted two fellowship applications, one to the EPSRC open fellowship scheme and one for a Royal Society University fellowship.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Warwick- Atomistic scale simulation of the magnetic anisotropy in steels 
Organisation University of Warwick
Department Warwick Manufacturing Group
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Lei Zhou is a post-doctoral researcher from the University of Warwick. He was awarded £23,985 for the project 'Atomistic scale simulation of the magnetic anisotropy in steels '. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Lei Zhou is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Tata Steel and British Steel have products where texture and anisotropic grain morphology are key microstructure parameters that affect magnetic and mechanical properties. Both industrial partners have offered support in terms of sample provision, access to equipment and staff time to attend regular progress review meetings and technical discussions
Impact Disciplines involved in the project: Steel metallurgy, magnetism, modelling Steel is the most used material globally by value and one of the most recyclable materials, making it a vital foundation industry. Improved monitoring of processes is a key part of sustainability, growth and modernisation for the steel industry. Electromagnetic (EM) sensors are one of the ideal candidates, which have been applied to microstructure monitoring and control. The project developed the fundamental modelling capability to relate texture to magnetic properties and generate valuable magnetic parameter data for crystallographic anisotropy in steels that will support the use of EM sensors for texture characterisation online in steel mills. The measurement of remanence with an angle to the rolling direction in the rolling plane has been identified as the optimum experimental method to measure the texture in steels. This led to future works in both modelling and EM sensor measurement research to be followed up after the project period. The project allowed the PI Dr Frank Zhou to build up an extended network of academic and industrial partners, and he subsequently submitted two fellowship applications, one to the EPSRC open fellowship scheme and one for a Royal Society University fellowship.
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Warwick- Low-carbon manufacturing of mineral wool using steelmaking slags and silicatewastes from multisector 
Organisation University of Warwick
Department Warwick Manufacturing Group
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Zhiming Yan is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Warwick. He was awarded £23,952 for the project 'Low-carbon manufacturing of mineral wool using steelmaking slags and silicatewastes from multisector '. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Zhiming Yan is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. Glass Futures provided advice and technical support, raw materials and industrial data
Impact Disciplines involved: high temperature physical chemistry, steelmaking, mineral wool manufacturing A large amount of high-temperature steelmaking slag (1400~1600 ?) is produced during pyrometallurgical production. The heat (energy) carried by these slags is released into the atmosphere during the tapping process and has not been used effectively. On the other hand, a large amount of heat is required to remelt the cold slag during manufacturing mineral wool, and high-silicon materials are added to facilitate fibrization. In this project, the heat of molten metallurgical slag, mainly BOF slag as it is not well used, and high-silica wastes (glass waste) were used to directly manufacture high-quality mineral wool to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. 1) A modified mixture with slag/glass/SiO2/Al2O3=4/4/1/1 was proposed. The melting temperature, viscosity, and composition meet the requirement of wool fibre manufacturing. 2) The higher temperature and lower viscosity tend to create fibres with a smaller diameter. 3) The CO2 emissions will decrease by more than 50.04kg/t wool due to the heat from slag and faster smelting. For follow-on activities, it is proposed to use a four-roll high-speed centrifuge test to manufacture mineral wool as this method is widely in industry. More characterization and tests are needed for the product. Futher opprtunities for exploitation/implementation of the research findings with industry will be sought as the results so far as quite promising
Start Year 2022
 
Description University of Warwick- Overcoming Adoption Barriers of Next Generation Processing Technologies in Ceramic/Glass Industries 
Organisation Lucideon
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed is from the University of Warwick. He was awarded £55,823 for the project 'Overcoming Adoption Barriers of Next Generation Processing Technologies in Ceramic/Glass Industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. The project has support from Morgan Advanced Materials, one of the world's leading ceramics producers, as well as Lucideon Ltd, an SME based in Stoke-on-Trent and the lead of a £18.1m Strength in Places Fund grant for advanced ceramics in the Midlands, and the Materials Processing Institute (MPI), a centre for innovation in Advanced Materials including ceramics and glass. All three industrial partners offer support in planning, carrying out and disseminating the results of our research proposal. In particular, Morgan Advanced Materials commit to assistance with the questionnaire and interview design, to ensure our questions are fit for purpose and provide initial input. The partners also offer opportunities for introduction to industrial partners, support through advice from their industrial perspective, and active participation in our advisory board for the project meetings, and the final workshop. They will also help in the dissemination of the final project output reports and be instrumental in scoping future activities which will stem from this project. Their support is valued in total at £27500.00 and represents a considerable vote of confidence in our proposed methodology and the purpose of our project.
Impact The project is still ongoing. Next Generation Processing Technologies (NGPTs) can open pathways to double net energy productivity by facilitating novel processing concepts and enabling rapid manufacture of energy-efficient products through greater control, optimisation, and analytics. Through engagement with industry on how the barriers to adoption of these processes can be overcome, this project will contribute to (i) understanding of the extent to which NGPTs are implementable or if more is needed to render them implementable; (ii) understanding of sector-specific problems hindering adoption; (iii) understanding of the impact of pressure points such as costs, legislation, workforce availability, skills development; and (iv) identification of strategic/economic/policy levers to facilitate adoption. The overall project outcome will aid the determination of meaningful technological and policy interventions required for widening the use of NGPTs in the ceramic and glass foundation industries.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Warwick- Overcoming Adoption Barriers of Next Generation Processing Technologies in Ceramic/Glass Industries 
Organisation Materials Processing Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed is from the University of Warwick. He was awarded £55,823 for the project 'Overcoming Adoption Barriers of Next Generation Processing Technologies in Ceramic/Glass Industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. The project has support from Morgan Advanced Materials, one of the world's leading ceramics producers, as well as Lucideon Ltd, an SME based in Stoke-on-Trent and the lead of a £18.1m Strength in Places Fund grant for advanced ceramics in the Midlands, and the Materials Processing Institute (MPI), a centre for innovation in Advanced Materials including ceramics and glass. All three industrial partners offer support in planning, carrying out and disseminating the results of our research proposal. In particular, Morgan Advanced Materials commit to assistance with the questionnaire and interview design, to ensure our questions are fit for purpose and provide initial input. The partners also offer opportunities for introduction to industrial partners, support through advice from their industrial perspective, and active participation in our advisory board for the project meetings, and the final workshop. They will also help in the dissemination of the final project output reports and be instrumental in scoping future activities which will stem from this project. Their support is valued in total at £27500.00 and represents a considerable vote of confidence in our proposed methodology and the purpose of our project.
Impact The project is still ongoing. Next Generation Processing Technologies (NGPTs) can open pathways to double net energy productivity by facilitating novel processing concepts and enabling rapid manufacture of energy-efficient products through greater control, optimisation, and analytics. Through engagement with industry on how the barriers to adoption of these processes can be overcome, this project will contribute to (i) understanding of the extent to which NGPTs are implementable or if more is needed to render them implementable; (ii) understanding of sector-specific problems hindering adoption; (iii) understanding of the impact of pressure points such as costs, legislation, workforce availability, skills development; and (iv) identification of strategic/economic/policy levers to facilitate adoption. The overall project outcome will aid the determination of meaningful technological and policy interventions required for widening the use of NGPTs in the ceramic and glass foundation industries.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Warwick- Overcoming Adoption Barriers of Next Generation Processing Technologies in Ceramic/Glass Industries 
Organisation Morgan Advanced Materials
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed is from the University of Warwick. He was awarded £55,823 for the project 'Overcoming Adoption Barriers of Next Generation Processing Technologies in Ceramic/Glass Industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. The project has support from Morgan Advanced Materials, one of the world's leading ceramics producers, as well as Lucideon Ltd, an SME based in Stoke-on-Trent and the lead of a £18.1m Strength in Places Fund grant for advanced ceramics in the Midlands, and the Materials Processing Institute (MPI), a centre for innovation in Advanced Materials including ceramics and glass. All three industrial partners offer support in planning, carrying out and disseminating the results of our research proposal. In particular, Morgan Advanced Materials commit to assistance with the questionnaire and interview design, to ensure our questions are fit for purpose and provide initial input. The partners also offer opportunities for introduction to industrial partners, support through advice from their industrial perspective, and active participation in our advisory board for the project meetings, and the final workshop. They will also help in the dissemination of the final project output reports and be instrumental in scoping future activities which will stem from this project. Their support is valued in total at £27500.00 and represents a considerable vote of confidence in our proposed methodology and the purpose of our project.
Impact The project is still ongoing. Next Generation Processing Technologies (NGPTs) can open pathways to double net energy productivity by facilitating novel processing concepts and enabling rapid manufacture of energy-efficient products through greater control, optimisation, and analytics. Through engagement with industry on how the barriers to adoption of these processes can be overcome, this project will contribute to (i) understanding of the extent to which NGPTs are implementable or if more is needed to render them implementable; (ii) understanding of sector-specific problems hindering adoption; (iii) understanding of the impact of pressure points such as costs, legislation, workforce availability, skills development; and (iv) identification of strategic/economic/policy levers to facilitate adoption. The overall project outcome will aid the determination of meaningful technological and policy interventions required for widening the use of NGPTs in the ceramic and glass foundation industries.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Warwick- Overcoming Adoption Barriers of Next Generation Processing Technologies in Ceramic/Glass Industries 
Organisation University of Warwick
Department Warwick Manufacturing Group
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed is from the University of Warwick. He was awarded £55,823 for the project 'Overcoming Adoption Barriers of Next Generation Processing Technologies in Ceramic/Glass Industries'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Taofeeq Ibn-Mohammed is the Principal Investigator on this small grant. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. The project has support from Morgan Advanced Materials, one of the world's leading ceramics producers, as well as Lucideon Ltd, an SME based in Stoke-on-Trent and the lead of a £18.1m Strength in Places Fund grant for advanced ceramics in the Midlands, and the Materials Processing Institute (MPI), a centre for innovation in Advanced Materials including ceramics and glass. All three industrial partners offer support in planning, carrying out and disseminating the results of our research proposal. In particular, Morgan Advanced Materials commit to assistance with the questionnaire and interview design, to ensure our questions are fit for purpose and provide initial input. The partners also offer opportunities for introduction to industrial partners, support through advice from their industrial perspective, and active participation in our advisory board for the project meetings, and the final workshop. They will also help in the dissemination of the final project output reports and be instrumental in scoping future activities which will stem from this project. Their support is valued in total at £27500.00 and represents a considerable vote of confidence in our proposed methodology and the purpose of our project.
Impact The project is still ongoing. Next Generation Processing Technologies (NGPTs) can open pathways to double net energy productivity by facilitating novel processing concepts and enabling rapid manufacture of energy-efficient products through greater control, optimisation, and analytics. Through engagement with industry on how the barriers to adoption of these processes can be overcome, this project will contribute to (i) understanding of the extent to which NGPTs are implementable or if more is needed to render them implementable; (ii) understanding of sector-specific problems hindering adoption; (iii) understanding of the impact of pressure points such as costs, legislation, workforce availability, skills development; and (iv) identification of strategic/economic/policy levers to facilitate adoption. The overall project outcome will aid the determination of meaningful technological and policy interventions required for widening the use of NGPTs in the ceramic and glass foundation industries.
Start Year 2023
 
Description University of Warwick- Using blast furnace waste heat to convert various wastes into new raw materials for low energy glass 
Organisation British Glass
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Zushu Li from the University of Warwick was awarded £55, 82 for the project 'Using blast furnace waste heat to convert various wastes into new raw materials for low energy glass'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from British Glass, Glass Futures, Materials Processing Institute and Calumite Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Zushu Li from the University of Warwick is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the Warwick Manufacturing Group. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. British Glass provided information and data on the requirements for products suitable for remelt back into new glass as well as interpretation and analysis of data. Glass Futures provided data on materials and glass manufacturing processes. Materials Processing Institute provided support on advice on practical issues related to the steel making process. Calumite Ltd. provided data on their raw materials and product specifications.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: energy, materials and the circular economy Energy-intensive industries such as glass manufacturing and steelmaking are facing significant challenges in reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. A huge amount of heat during blast furnace (BF) hot metal and slag tapping dissipates into the atmosphere and has not been recovered/utilised as thermal energy (heat) in molten BF slag at the temperature up to 1500 °C. On the other hand, in glass manufacturing a significant amount of energy is consumed in raw material preparation and melting and a great portion of CO2 emissions is released from the decomposition of virgin raw materials (carbonates). This project aimed to develop an innovative process, i.e. to use the blast furnace waste heat to convert various wastes such as contaminated recycled glass streams to high value raw materials for glass industry to reduce energy/virgin raw materials consumption and CO2 emissions. The project outcomes included: 1. We determined how much wastes can be taken by the novel process and the impact of wastes on operational parameters such as melting temperature and viscometer. This was done by mass and heat balance modelling, and thermodynamic modelling, the study showed that up to 50 kg waste glass can be added to 100 kg molten blast furnace slag under potential operating conditions. 2. We have determined the dissolution mechanism of waste glass in the molten blast furnace slag using various techniques. The findings inform industry that under a potential industrial scenario (with strong stirring caused by injection) the dissolution of waste glass will not be a limiting factor. 3. The new raw materials made in laboratory high temperature melting experiments have been assessed using XFR, XRD and SEM-EDS. The new material with 30% waste glass addition contains 32.12% CaO, 47.58%SiO2, 5.84%MgO, 8.31%Al2O3, 0.56% K2O, 4.0% Na2O, 0.45% TiO2, and 0.28%Fe2O3, which is suitable as a raw material for glass manufacturing. Publications include: 1. "Conversion of hard-to-use industrial wastes to new raw materials for low energy glass manufacturing." Zhiming Yan, Theint Theint Htet and Zushu Li. 2. Abstract submitted to 8th International Conference on Materials Science and Smart Materials - Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ Symposium. 11th July 2022. Brunel University London and Online
Start Year 2021
 
Description University of Warwick- Using blast furnace waste heat to convert various wastes into new raw materials for low energy glass 
Organisation Materials Processing Institute
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Zushu Li from the University of Warwick was awarded £55, 82 for the project 'Using blast furnace waste heat to convert various wastes into new raw materials for low energy glass'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from British Glass, Glass Futures, Materials Processing Institute and Calumite Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Zushu Li from the University of Warwick is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the Warwick Manufacturing Group. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. British Glass provided information and data on the requirements for products suitable for remelt back into new glass as well as interpretation and analysis of data. Glass Futures provided data on materials and glass manufacturing processes. Materials Processing Institute provided support on advice on practical issues related to the steel making process. Calumite Ltd. provided data on their raw materials and product specifications.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: energy, materials and the circular economy Energy-intensive industries such as glass manufacturing and steelmaking are facing significant challenges in reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. A huge amount of heat during blast furnace (BF) hot metal and slag tapping dissipates into the atmosphere and has not been recovered/utilised as thermal energy (heat) in molten BF slag at the temperature up to 1500 °C. On the other hand, in glass manufacturing a significant amount of energy is consumed in raw material preparation and melting and a great portion of CO2 emissions is released from the decomposition of virgin raw materials (carbonates). This project aimed to develop an innovative process, i.e. to use the blast furnace waste heat to convert various wastes such as contaminated recycled glass streams to high value raw materials for glass industry to reduce energy/virgin raw materials consumption and CO2 emissions. The project outcomes included: 1. We determined how much wastes can be taken by the novel process and the impact of wastes on operational parameters such as melting temperature and viscometer. This was done by mass and heat balance modelling, and thermodynamic modelling, the study showed that up to 50 kg waste glass can be added to 100 kg molten blast furnace slag under potential operating conditions. 2. We have determined the dissolution mechanism of waste glass in the molten blast furnace slag using various techniques. The findings inform industry that under a potential industrial scenario (with strong stirring caused by injection) the dissolution of waste glass will not be a limiting factor. 3. The new raw materials made in laboratory high temperature melting experiments have been assessed using XFR, XRD and SEM-EDS. The new material with 30% waste glass addition contains 32.12% CaO, 47.58%SiO2, 5.84%MgO, 8.31%Al2O3, 0.56% K2O, 4.0% Na2O, 0.45% TiO2, and 0.28%Fe2O3, which is suitable as a raw material for glass manufacturing. Publications include: 1. "Conversion of hard-to-use industrial wastes to new raw materials for low energy glass manufacturing." Zhiming Yan, Theint Theint Htet and Zushu Li. 2. Abstract submitted to 8th International Conference on Materials Science and Smart Materials - Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ Symposium. 11th July 2022. Brunel University London and Online
Start Year 2021
 
Description University of Warwick- Using blast furnace waste heat to convert various wastes into new raw materials for low energy glass 
Organisation University of Warwick
Department Warwick Manufacturing Group
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ is funding a series of small projects which aim to support research and innovation of benefit to the foundation industries. Dr. Zushu Li from the University of Warwick was awarded £55, 82 for the project 'Using blast furnace waste heat to convert various wastes into new raw materials for low energy glass'. My research team is not directly involved in the research, but we facilitated the application, which has industrial support from British Glass, Glass Futures, Materials Processing Institute and Calumite Ltd.
Collaborator Contribution Dr. Zushu Li from the University of Warwick is the Principal Investigator on this small grant, which took place at the Warwick Manufacturing Group. As such, all research outputs, impact, and follow-on activities are attributed to him. British Glass provided information and data on the requirements for products suitable for remelt back into new glass as well as interpretation and analysis of data. Glass Futures provided data on materials and glass manufacturing processes. Materials Processing Institute provided support on advice on practical issues related to the steel making process. Calumite Ltd. provided data on their raw materials and product specifications.
Impact The disciplines involved in the project include: energy, materials and the circular economy Energy-intensive industries such as glass manufacturing and steelmaking are facing significant challenges in reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions. A huge amount of heat during blast furnace (BF) hot metal and slag tapping dissipates into the atmosphere and has not been recovered/utilised as thermal energy (heat) in molten BF slag at the temperature up to 1500 °C. On the other hand, in glass manufacturing a significant amount of energy is consumed in raw material preparation and melting and a great portion of CO2 emissions is released from the decomposition of virgin raw materials (carbonates). This project aimed to develop an innovative process, i.e. to use the blast furnace waste heat to convert various wastes such as contaminated recycled glass streams to high value raw materials for glass industry to reduce energy/virgin raw materials consumption and CO2 emissions. The project outcomes included: 1. We determined how much wastes can be taken by the novel process and the impact of wastes on operational parameters such as melting temperature and viscometer. This was done by mass and heat balance modelling, and thermodynamic modelling, the study showed that up to 50 kg waste glass can be added to 100 kg molten blast furnace slag under potential operating conditions. 2. We have determined the dissolution mechanism of waste glass in the molten blast furnace slag using various techniques. The findings inform industry that under a potential industrial scenario (with strong stirring caused by injection) the dissolution of waste glass will not be a limiting factor. 3. The new raw materials made in laboratory high temperature melting experiments have been assessed using XFR, XRD and SEM-EDS. The new material with 30% waste glass addition contains 32.12% CaO, 47.58%SiO2, 5.84%MgO, 8.31%Al2O3, 0.56% K2O, 4.0% Na2O, 0.45% TiO2, and 0.28%Fe2O3, which is suitable as a raw material for glass manufacturing. Publications include: 1. "Conversion of hard-to-use industrial wastes to new raw materials for low energy glass manufacturing." Zhiming Yan, Theint Theint Htet and Zushu Li. 2. Abstract submitted to 8th International Conference on Materials Science and Smart Materials - Transforming Foundation Industries Network+ Symposium. 11th July 2022. Brunel University London and Online
Start Year 2021
 
Description 'Can digitalisation change the way we think about and use materials? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Prof. Oan Todd gave a talk on 'Can digitalisation change the way we think about and use materials?' which attracted 64 registrations. This particular presentation was co-ordinated with Call 3 for small projects on a similar topic. This talk was part of the 'Blue Skies, greener future' webinar series
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://tfinetworkplus.org/catch-up-can-digitalisation-change-the-way-we-think-about-and-use-materia...
 
Description 'Enablers of Transformation' workshop, University of Leeds 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 12th Oct 2022- 'Enablers of Transformation' workshop, University of Leeds. This workshop was a collaboration between TFIN+ and the Leeds University Business School exploring how Foundation Industries can effectively engage with policy makers and embed business models to enable transformation across sectors. For a real and sustainable transformation, it was important to consider the intangible organisational barriers and opportunities of such a process. Innovation and transformation of the Foundation Industries (FI) will require governance, business and operational models change which can only be achieved with involvement and support of the entire supply chain. Identification of intangible barriers, including end-users perceptions and needs, regulations, standardisation and policy, are key to transforming FI to meet the net-zero emissions targets. This in person event was held on 13th October and had 50 attendees. Information about the event can be found in https://business.leeds.ac.uk/faculty/events/event/837/enablers-of-transformation-workshop-for-foundation-industries
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description 8th International Conference on Material Science & Smart Materials "MSSM 2022" 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 11-13 July 2022- TFI Network+ symposium as part of the 8th International Conference on Material Science & Smart Materials "MSSM 2022" organised by Prof Hussam Jouhara. Held in person at Brunel University London
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Blue Skies, Green Future Webinar: Dr Begoña Ferrari- COLLOIDAL PROCESSING: ROUTES TO SAVE ENERGY and RESOURCES 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact In materials science and technology, sintering challenges need an exhaustive control of previous processing steps. The most relevant advances on the colloidal processing shaping of ceramic, metallic, organic and carbonaceous materials are based on the innovations of the colloids design. From granulation to 3D printing, colloidal materials significantly broaden technical, functional and biomedical applications. Shaping from colloidal suspensions are predictable, and with their stable biphasic nature, inks/suspensions have tremendous potential to satisfy fabrication requirements, lowering energy costs and saving materials and human resources. The incursion of colloidal materials in the Additive Manufacturing (AM) enables materials assembly, prototyping and delivery across the multiple length scales required for multifunctionality. Rheological properties of the colloidal feedstock make predictable and tuneable the material micro- nanostructures, and hence the electrical, optical, biological and mechanical properties of the 3D parts.

Understanding the colloidal behaviour of particles (with any nature, shape and size) in liquid media is mandatory to prepare stable and disperse inks suitable in colloidal AM, as well as in massive processing technologies. In electrostatically stabilized suspensions, the morphology, the crystallography and the reactivity of the particles surface, determine the charge distribution, while the ionic strength modulates their absolute values, defining the complex fluid properties and particles assembly during solvent evaporation or elimination for granulation. But also, the particle surface modifiers, organic molecules or polymers, are effective tools to manage chemical stability or flocculation of particles and hence particles packing/ordering during shaping. Moreover, in materials processing, bioresources and biodegradable polymers have an increasing presence as substitutes of fossil-derived shape structurers. The use of biomaterials, i.e. the incorporation of PolyLacti acid (PLA) or celluloses, as rheological modifiers in the colloidal shaping technologies, reinforces the cero-carbon mfootprint and cero-waste feature of later sintering processes.

The design of the polymer matrix determines the shaping and printing parameters and final microstructures, widening the scope of processes used for fabrication. Inorganic charges close to 50 vol.% and an extremely uniform dispersion of particles within the matrix are key in the indirect shaping & printing of 100% metal/ceramic materials.
In this presentation, we will summarize strategies of surface modification understood as the absorption of cationic or anionic polymers or surfactants onto the particle surface, and the rheological control over the printing vehicles, or additives used to confer the structure to the 3D printed parts; since they determine the practical building up of tridimensional materials through colloidal AM, providing numerous possibilities for the fabrication of new constructs unobtainable usingtraditional methods.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Ceramics Expo linked to the Advanced Materials Show, Birmingham 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 28th-29th June 2022, Ceramics Expo linked to the Advanced Materials Show, Birmingham. This was attended by Ian Reaney, Neil Lowrie and Deborah Froggatt for the purpose of networking, manning a stand and presenting on TFIN+ activities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Decarbonising the cements sector, University of Zagreb 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 1st June 2022, Workshop for decarbonising the cements sector, an event organised by the University of Zagreb (Croatia) attended by the main cement producers in Croatia as well as the president of the cement producers association of this country. This event was in person, attended by Prof. Susan Bernal Lopez showcasing the activities of the TFIN+ and findings of roadmaps analysis, with participation of colleagues from 5 different countries.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Designing alloys for resource efficiency webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Over 60 people attended this webinar as part of the 'Blue Skies, Green Future' webinar series. This was a talk by Professor Mark Rainforth on 'designing allows for resource efficiency'. The webinar consisted of a 40 minute presentation and 20 minutes questions from the audience. Following the webinar, membership of the Network increased and attendees were invited to join future events. The audience was also asked for permission to be added to the Network mailing list to increase future engagement.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-vvg89kaZw&t=2949s
 
Description Early Career Researcher Net Zero Conference held in Manchester 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact 30th Nov - 1st Dec - TFI Network+ collaborated with 8 other research centres to deliver the first ever Early Career Researcher Net Zero Conference held in Manchester. The conference focused on skills development and networking for Early Career Researchers. Over 200 delegates attended the conference over two days. The other research centres included in the planning committee were UKCCSRC, CO2RE, IDRIC, C-DICE, Energy Revs, CREDS, UKERC and Energy Research Accelerator. Plans are being discussed for this to be a yearly event with thoughts around hosting and funding logistics to be considered further.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Energy efficient manufacturing for the Foundation Industries virtual workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The topic of this workshop was 'Energy Efficient Manufacturing Within the Foundation Industries' and included 4 speakers from outside the Network and 2 breakout room sessions with discussion led by the Network management team. The workshop attracted over 60 attendees. The primary aim was to inform future Network activities and funding call themes based on discussion, encourage discussion between industry and academia, identify cross-sectional opportunities and encourage more members to the Network for further interaction.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5l6TDppm30
 
Description Engineering Development Trust/Industrial Cadets Webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This webinar was a collaboration between the TFI Network+ and TransFIRe to showcase the work of the Engineering Development Trust and Industrial Cadets to encourage the audience to get involved in their activities to provide STEM opportunities for young people. The webinar consisted of 50 minutes presentation from the EDT/Industrial Cadets team and 10 minutes of wider discussion with the audience. The objectives were to introduce the work of the EDT/IC, engage with industry and academic audiences with volunteer and collaboration opportunities and discuss the next steps to get involved. The main outcome was further discussions with the Network to continue discussions on how to support STEM and outreach for young people.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co8fVcL5XYc&t=505s
 
Description ITM Power COP26 regional event exhibition 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact TFI Network+ had an exhibition stall at a regional ITM Power COP26 event held in October 2021. The event attracted over approx. 100 attendees. The Network raised awareness of our work, our opportunities for engagement and our research so far with aims to encourage more engagement with the Network and increase membership
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description Industrial Decarbonisation Research & Innovation Centre Partners and Stakeholders Forum in Edinburgh 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 6th-7th June 2022, Industrial Decarbonisation Research & Innovation Centre Partners and Stakeholders Forum in Edinburgh, attended by Neil Lowrie and Deborah Froggatt for the purpose of networking. This was a useful event to meet researchers, in particular those working in the social sciences field
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Industrial Symbiosis for Skills Alliance webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This webinar was part of our monthly 'Blue Skies, Green Future' webinar series. This session was a presentation by Antonius Schroder on the topic 'Industrial Symbiosis for Skills Alliance' which presented the SPIRE-SAIS research as a blueprint for supporting skills development. Over 30 attendees signed in to the webinar which consisted of 40 minute presentation and 20 minute question and answers. The main outcomes were to spark discussion and reflection among the audience and encourage further engagement with the Network.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEcTKZTxc-c&t=2s
 
Description Joint in person event with the UK chapter of the American Ceramics Society 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 27th July- Joint in person event with the UK chapter of the American Ceramics Society: 'New Ceramics Technologies for the move to Net Zero', hosted by Lucideon in Stoke on Trent
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Keynote lecture for the Portuguese ceramics industry: Towards Net Zero 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 13th April 2022. Keynote lecture at workshop run by Ian Reaney for the Portuguese ceramics industry: Towards Net Zero. I gave a 1h presentation to audience of Portuguese ceramics industry, raising the awareness and dicussing the path to net zero. I answered questions and gave advice on best practice and tried to encourage the establishment of a Network in this area.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Launch of the Henry Royce Discovery Centre (Sheffield) 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 20th April 2022. The launch of the Henry Royce Discovery Centre (Sheffield) was attended by Neil Lowrie, with a stand, for the purpose of networking.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Linkedin profile 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Network launched a Linkedin profile in March 2021 following the virtual launch event. Currently the account has over 600 followers and regularly features news from the Network and relevant organisations, Network events and others of relevance and funding opportunities. Since launch, our LinkedIn feed has generated over 31,000 views
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021,2022,2023
URL https://www.linkedin.com/company/tfinetworkplus/
 
Description Materials Research Exchange 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact TFIN+ Manager Neil Lowrie attended a knowledge exchange workshop at University of Arts London on 11th November. The purpose was to look for opportunities to interact with the arts & humanities. Discussions may lead to site visits to foundation industry manufacturing sites for the purpose of knowledge exchange
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Metals Expo 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The TFIN+, jointly with the Sustain Hub, had a stand at the Metals Expo, Birmingham NEC, 14-15 Sept 2022. The TFIN+ was represented by Prof. Cameron Pleydell-Pearce and Deborah Froggatt. Prof. Pleydell-Pearce took part in a panel discussion to highlight the importance of the metals industry interacting with other foundation industries, and reflected on the successes of the TFI Challenge. There was also discussion on the critical next steps that UKRI needs to take, focusing on skills to deliver the right technologies. There was also discussion on the current business environment, and what is required to enable businesses to invest. The event was very well attended and there were many visitors to the stand. We were able to make new connections to companies involved with the rare earth metals and lithium. It also allowed us to highlight future TFIN+ events and opportunities to visitors
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Next generation and intelligent processes for the Foundation Industries virtual workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This workshop presented and discussed the next generation and intelligent processes which could impact and benefit the Foundation Industries including data centric engineering, new methods to acquire and analyse data, artificial intelligence and digital twin. The workshop consisted of four 20minute presentations from academics across UK institutions and two 10minute question and answer session including all speakers. The workshop attracted over 50 attendees. The objectives were to engage the community on the topic of digitalisation to raise awareness of the upcoming funding call and to foster collaborative relationships between audience members. The main outcome was the utilisation of discussions to shape the theme of the latest TFI Network+ funding call.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWp2TeZsOg8&t=1s
 
Description Post-doctoral researchers funding for small projects virtual workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact This workshop was for Early Career Researchers to raise awareness of the open TFI Network+ ECR funding call and to outline the application process and further support. The Network was keen to attract further ECR applications to the funding call and to encourage further interaction between ECRs and the Network. The Network consisted of presentations from the Network+ management team, Innovate UK, TransFIRe hub and a short discussion session with the audience. The main outcome was increasing the Network membership with a longer term outcome aim to be an increase in ECR application to the ECR open funding call.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Prof. Julian Allwood, University of Cambridge, The bulk materials in 2050 with Absolute Zero emissions 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 25th May 2022, Prof. Julian Allwood, University of Cambridge, The bulk materials in 2050 with Absolute Zero emissions, which attracted 194 registrations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Prof. Justin Perry, Northumbria University, Which Future for Chemicals? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 20th April 2022, Prof. Justin Perry, Northumbria University, Which Future for Chemicals?, which attracted 51 registrations. This particular presentation was aimed at better engagement with the chemicals sector of the FIs.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://tfinetworkplus.org/webinar-catch-up-which-future-for-the-chemicals-sector/
 
Description Realistic Approaches to Reducing CO2 Emissions in Cement and Concrete webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This webinar was part of our monthly 'Blue Skies, Green Future' webinar series. This session was a presentation by Professor Karen Scrivener on the topic 'Realistic Approaches to Reducing CO2 Emissions in Cement and Concrete'. Over 150 attendees signed in to the webinar which consisted of 40 minute presentation and 20 minute question and answers. The main outcomes were to spark discussion and reflection among the audience and encourage further engagement with the Network. The webinar showcased the latest research in the Cements sectors and informed the audience of research and future plans.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aXnSkDaTjA
 
Description Regular monthly newsletter 
Form Of Engagement Activity A magazine, newsletter or online publication
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact TFI Network+ launched a monthly newsletter in March 2021 following our virtual launch event. This newsletter is distributed on the last working day of each month and is distributed to all members and subscribers to the newsletter (Note: you do not have to be a member of the network to subscribe to the newsletter). Currently there are over 850contacts on the mailing list. Each newsletter consists of the latest news from the Network, funding opportunities, news from the Foundation Industry sectors or relevant bodies, TFI Network+ events and external relevant events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2011,2021,2022,2023
 
Description Roadmapping for the foundation industries virtual workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Over 100 attendees from across the Foundation Industries and academia attended this workshop to discuss pre-existing roadmaps within the sectors and address challenges, barriers, commonalities and opportunities within the roadmaps. The discussion was used to guide future topics for webinars, workshops and funding calls to better align with the sectors needs. The workshop resulted in more members to the Network and a increased interaction between audience and Network.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i20FbwFZGKg
 
Description Sensors, Controls and Digitalisation workshop with KTN 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This workshop was hosted in collaboration with the KTN and was part of a series of 3 mini-conferences hosted by the Network, TransFIRe hub and KTN (each held one event). The workshop included 6 presentations and an overview of the Network from the Director. Over 50 people signed in to the virtual workshop. Each presentation was 15 minutes with time for a Q+A session after each presentation and at the end of the workshop. The outcomes were to raise awareness of the Network, hub and KTN, share collaboration opportunities and encourage further interaction with the Network on an upcoming related call and events.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKs4Na38jJo&t=1s
 
Description TFI Showcase and House of Lords reception 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 23rd June 2022, TFI Showcase and House of Lords reception, organised by the KTN, attended by Ian Reaney, Neil Lowrie and Deborah Froggatt for the purpose of networking. There was a stand manned by Neil Lowrie and Ian Reaney during the day and the evening reception was attended by Ian Reaney and Deborah Froggatt. The event was an opportunity to network with organisations involved in the TFI Challenge
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description TFIN+ website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The TFIN+ website regularly features news and updates, and also acts as the small project submission portal. Since launch in Feb 2021 the website has had >34,000 views from visitors all over the world.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021,2022,2023
URL http://www.tfinetworkplus.org
 
Description The Role of CCS in Transforming Foundation Industries 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 28th June 2022, The Role of CCS in Transforming Foundation Industries - This webinar was co-hosted by TFI Network+ as part of a regular series run by UKCCSRC. The webinar was led by Dr Kyra Sedransk-Campbell and included presentations and a panel session. Speakers included Bruce Adderley (UKRI), Paul Fennell (Imperial College London) and James Watt (WSP). Discussions focussed on carbon capture and storage in the Foundation Industries and both the UKCCSRC and TFI Network+ community was invited. Promotions for the event were made across both organisations' channels.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description The role of CCS in Transforming the Foundation Industries' 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 28th June 2022, Webinar co-hosted by TFI Network+ as part of a regular webinar series hosted by UK Carbon Capture and Research Storage Centre (UKCCSRC) titled 'The role of CCS in Transforming the Foundation Industries' which attracted 55 registrations
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022,2023
 
Description Transforming Foundation Industries Forum 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 11th - 13th May 2022: Transforming Foundation Industries Forum, jointly organised by the TFIN+ and the TransFIRe hub. This was our first major event, organised in collaboration with the TransFIRE hub, to showcase ongoing activities related to the hub's work themes; ongoing strategy related to EDI; and the results of TFIN+ funded small projects. The final day was an opportunity for delegates to examine and discuss challenges and future opportunities. The decision to run the Forum as an online event was made in late 2021, when the risk of a Covid induced lockdown was increasing. Professional facilitators were hired to plan and assist with the running of the event to maximise interaction between the delegates.

Registration was run by both TFI Network+ and TransFIRe through their respective registration systems. TFI Network+ utilised Eventbrite as has been used for all previous TFI Network+ ran events. As of writing, data from TransFIRe is unavailable. TFI Network+ Eventbrite listing event attracted 118 registrations. Of those registered, 68 were academic, 30 were from industry and 20 listed 'other' as their background. 69% of those registered were male, 25% were female (6% did not disclose their gender identity).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Twitter account 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Network Twitter account was launched in March 2021 following the virtual launch event. Currently there are over 350 followers and we regularly share news from the Network, relevant news and updates from sectors and relevant organisations, upcoming TFI Network+ events and events from the sector. Since launch, the Twitter feed has generated over 38,000 impressions
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021,2022,2023
URL https://twitter.com/TFINetworkplus
 
Description Virtual launch event 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The network held a virtual launch event on the 15th February 2021 aimed at academic and industry audience to launch the Network and raise awareness of the work the Network will be undertaking. The event included presentations from the Network management team and from leading industry bodies within each of the Foundation Industry sectors. The objectives were to raise awareness of the Network, with the main outcome generating traffic to the Network+ website and increasing membership
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64TZFZ3S-Z8
 
Description Workshop aimed at Early Career Researchers 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 23rd May 2022. As a result of the first ECR-focused workshop, which took place in March 2022, we saw a significant increase in ECR applications to Call 3 (20 applications compared to 7 in total for Call 1 and Call 2 combined). We therefore decided to run a second workshop to promote the second call for small projects amongst ECRs (fourth call overall for the Network). The event was run jointly with the Future Leaders Group of the Transforming Foundation Industries challenge and attracted over 30 ECRs. Speakers included Dr. Sarah Connolly from Innovate UK to give an overview of the challenge and Dr. Xinyuan Ke (University of Bath) to present on the Transforming Foundation Industries Future Leaders Group. Prof. Vera Trappmann (University of Leeds) gave a short presentation on the importance of the social sciences to the TFI challenge.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Workshop exploring equality, diversity and inclusion in the Foundation Industries 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The TFIN+ teamed up with Inclusioneering to deliver this workshop exploring equality, diversity and inclusion in the Foundation Industries. Our speakers established what EDI meant for the sectors and showcased individual and industry perspectives and success stories to encourage an industry-wide discussion about greater diversity and inclusion. There was an opportunity to interact with our speakers via a Q&A/panel discussion following the talks. The event attracted 88 registrations of whom 55 were women, 33 were men. 68% identified as from industry or other, and 32% were from academia.

Speakers included: Gary Ford, an independent consultant working across the IT sector and the wider management environment; Professor Sue Black, a multi award winning Computer Scientist, Technology Evangelist and Digital Skills Expert; Myrtle Dawes, a Solution Centre Director at the Net Zero Technology Centre where she leads the development of technology for net zero in the energy sector; Lisa Nicholas, who is on a mission to use her lived-experience of over 20 years as one of the "the onlys" in manufacturing and engineering to help others to succeed in these industries; Dr Kyra Sedransk Campbell, a Senior Lecturer and Royal Society - EPSRC Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield and the co-founder of Nanomox; and Jeffrey Fox who worked in teaching and management in Further and Higher Education in the Midlands and Northwest for 25 years before a pivot into the third sector and then into technical ceramics as Partnership Development Manager for AMRICC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lucideon.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://tfinetworkplus.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EDI-workshop-final-report-1.pdf
 
Description Workshop on Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency in the ceramics Industry, Aveiro, Portugal 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 17-18th Nov, Workshop on Decarbonisation and Energy Efficiency in the ceramics Industry, Aveiro, Portugal. Workshop was attended by Portuguese Academic and industrialists and concerned the wider issues of resource and energy efficiency in ceramic manufacturing. IMR gave a keynote lecture and was part of the discussion panel
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description cold sintering of functional materials webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Webinar on the topic 'cold sintering of functional materials' presented by Professor Clive Randall as part of the TFI Network+ Blue Skies, Green Future webinar series. Over 80 attendees signed in to the webinar, which consisted of a 40 minute presentation and 20 minute question and answer. This webinar sparked discussion among the audience and some members of the audience then became members of the Network to engage further.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFcQ_yY34mg&t=1s
 
Description non-traditional technology for the concrete sector webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Over 100 people attended a virtual webinar which was the first in the regular 'Blue Skies, Green Future' series launched by TFI Network+. The topic was 'non-traditional technology for the concrete sector' presented by Professor John Provis and the audience was invited to ask questions after the main presentation. The session was organised to spark discussion and innovation among the audience and to attract new members to the Network.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S56_MLIroU4
 
Description resource efficiency and circular economy in the Foundation Industries virtual workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The theme of this workshop was 'resource efficiency and circular economy in the Foundation Industries'. There were 4 speakers from industry and academia who discussed the challenges, opportunities, innovation and technology influencing the Foundation Industries. This workshop included 2 breakout sessions led by the Network+ management team (with involvement from the event speakers) which facilitated discussion among the attendees. The workshop helped to inform the themes and focus areas of future funding calls, and encourage further attendee interaction with the audience. The workshop also facilitated interactions between sectors for potential future collaboration.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bVmN7yMqtA&t=493s
 
Description supply chain resource sustainability and decision science webinar 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This webinar was presented by Professor Lenny Koh on the topic 'supply chain resource sustainability and decision science'. The webinar attracted over 60 attendees and included a 40 minute presentation and 20 minutes of questions from the audience. The talk focused on the advances in multi-scale decision science for a resource sustainable supply chain. The objectives of the webinar were to encourage further consideration for the funding call (open during the webinar) and encourage further interaction with the Network from the audience.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bu2sMrcdRY
 
Description sustainable ceramics manufacturing virtual workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact TFI Network+ hosted a virtual workshop in collaboration with the UK Chapter of the American Ceramics Society (UKACERS) on the theme 'sustainable ceramics manufacturing'. The workshop included 5 presentations from academia and industry and attracted over 50 attendees. The main objective was to spark discussion on the latest ceramics research and raise awareness of the Network to relevant partner organisations.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=835f501Ik8c