World-Leading Research

Optimisation of the cryogenic bulk liquid production and supply market

Supervisors: Dr Mark Willis and Dr Chris O’Malley

Location: Newcastle University

Industrial Partner: BOC Linde

Linde and BOC plants make cryogenic liquid air products at various production rates. Production is subject to variable power prices and customer locations, as well as vehicle and driver availability which creates a complex optimisation / scheduling problem. Moreover, any derived schedule must be automated and continually updated to account for variations in production capacity and efficiency.

This project aims to develop, construct and apply an optimisation strategy for bulk liquid production accounting for the subsequent supply market (liquid oxygen, nitrogen, and argon to customers from UK production sites). This will be constrained by customer demands and subject to electricity spot market prices as well as process carbon intensity (net zero) objectives. Plant start-up penalties and inter-site optimisation capabilities will be incorporated into the optimisation model to emulate realistic operational flexibilities and costs.

Development of Water-Soluble and Biodegradable Detergent Ingredients from CO2 and Bio-renewable Sources

Supervisors: Dr Fernando Russo Abegão and Dr Kamelia Boodhoo

Location: Newcastle University

Industrial Partner: Procter and Gamble

Fast moving consumer goods, such as fabric and home care products, have a high market volume and can contribute positively to industrial and consumer sustainability. This project, co-funded by Procter and Gamble, will focus on the development of novel renewable and biodegradable water-soluble detergent ingredients through a circular economy approach. The project will research CO2 activation and conversion techniques and exploit bio-renewable platform molecules in Newcastle University, with a specific focus on catalysis, molecular functionality creation, and production pathways development.

Sewage Sludge Treatment for Sustainable Resource Recovery and Contaminants Abatement

Supervisors: Dr Anh Phan

Location: Newcastle University

Industrial Partner: Onunda

In the UK, approximately 53 million tonnes of untreated sludge per annum is processed at 200+ sludge treatment centres. The common treatment of sludge is anaerobic digestion (AD) (73%), followed by lime stabilisation (22%). Sludge treatment is costly, sharing up to 60% of the total running cost of wastewater treatment plants and sludge disposal accounts for up to 50% greenhouse gas emissions of a wastewater treatment plant. In collaboration with our industrial partner Onunda, The aim of the PhD project is to develop an innovative technology for sustainable energy/nutrients recovery and removal persistent pollutants from sludge. The process developed can serve as a stand-alone process or be retrofitted into existing infrastructure of the wastewater industry.

Systematic investigation of pyrolysis process and products for sustainable biochar production

Supervisors: Dr Anjali Jayakumar

Location: Newcastle University

Industrial Partner: Circular Carbon

Circular Carbon is one of the largest producers of biochar (ca 3000 t/a) in Europe to date, with an industrial facility recovering agricultural residues from the global market leader in cocoa butter production. Circular Carbon currently uses pyrolysis, a thermochemical conversion technology, for biochar production and currently uses the gaseous product of pyrolysis for renewable pyrolysis steam production. While successful, the increasing demand for biochar and its by-products in high-value applications necessitates a thorough examination of the existing process and products to optimize efficiency and enhance overall performance.

This project aims to systematically investigate and enhance the pyrolysis process of organic residues, focusing on improving efficiency and product quality. The research will cover various aspects of the process, including exploring the entire operational range across different production scales to minimize environmental impact and production costs. Additionally, the study will assess potential revenue streams for Circular Carbon by analysing advanced application scenarios for the solid, liquid, and gaseous by-products of pyrolysis. These analyses will be based on process and product characterisation, comprehensive life cycle and techno-economic assessments to align with evolving market trends and client needs, as well as to support biochar-based carbon dioxide removal initiatives.

Ethyl Lactate as a Green Solvent – Processes, Performance and Air Quality Impacts

Supervisors: Dr Terry Dillon

Location: University of York

Industrial Partner: Thomas Swan

As most solvents are still derived from fossil fuels, The net-zero agenda is motivating research in York and elsewhere to find sustainable replacement solvents. These new “green” compounds need to perform well with regard to metrics such as aquatic impact, toxicity, flammability, explosivity and solvent performance. 

Ethyl lactate is a bioderived solvent with several promising features. Ranked “green” by the GSK solvent guide it is water miscible and has a boiling point of 154 °C, similar to many undesirable reprotoxic solvents, e.g. DMF (153 °C). Little is known of the fate of ethyl lactate upon release to the atmosphere. Based in the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE), this project will look at solvent benchmarking experiments across a range of applications, green synthetic chemistry and simulations using Hansen Solubility Parameters in Practice and Kamlett-Taft parameters.

Algae-omics

Supervisors: Dr Jonathan Lee and Dr Gary Caldwell

Location: Newcastle University

Industrial Partner: Northumbrian Water Ltd

A process co-developed by Newcastle University and Northumbrian Water Ltd (NWL) and installed at the Bran Sands treatment works on Teesside, uses an ammonophilic microalga (Chlorococcum sp.) originally isolated from Bran Sands to remediate ammonium from the site’s anaerobic digesters. The process is stable, well characterised, and is being implemented at scale. It is central to NWL’s nutrient neutrality and net zero ambitions. However, the alga’s biology remains a black box.

This project will use minion nanopore sequencing of the alga’s genome to define the alga’s transcriptome (following RNA-Seq) when grown under a range of ammonium levels. Understanding the genetic operational limits of the alga will enable further optimisation of the bioremediation process and offers the potential to provide the underpinning data to metabolically engineer the organism in the future. This ‘omics approach will also enable the prediction of other pollutants that this organism can remediate in addition to any valuable biochemicals that may be extracted from the biomass.

3D-Printed Reactors for Shrinking Chemical Processes

Supervisors: Prof Adam Harvey and Dr Jonathan McDonough

Location: Newcastle University

“Flow chemistry” is increasingly of interest in the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries, to allow rapid process development and scale-up, whilst ensuring inherently more efficient continuous, rather than batch, processing.

In this project, novel laboratory-scale continuous reactors will be designed and 3d-printed, and applied to a variety of real reactions from industry, currently performed in batch, to demonstrate “process intensification” and rapid, scalable process development/optimisation. Previous work in the area by the Process Intensification Group has demonstrated that many batch processes can be made significantly “greener” via this method of process development. One recent example is a 200-fold reduction in reactor size while removing an organic solvent altogether, whilst maintaining productivity and improving yield/selectivity etc. We expect to achieve similar results with our current reactions, leading to huge reductions in carbon footprint, to help the process industries move towards Net Zero. Our 3d printing approach is highly flexible, meaning the impact of this work will be potentially far-reaching.

Investigating Activation Pathways of Industrially Critical Pd Cross-Coupling Pre-Catalysts

Supervisors: Prof Ian Fairlamb

Location: University of York

Industrial Partner: Johnson Matthey

Johnson-Matthey are interested in the design, synthesis and catalytic activity of palladium pre-catalysts for application in industrially-critical cross-coupling reactions (such as Suzuki-Miyaura and Buchwald-Hartwig cross-coupling reactions). The mechanisms of activation of palladium pre-catalysts depends on many reaction parameters and exogenous chemical triggers. The primary focus of the project is to improve efficiency and sustainability in industrial processes that are dependent on the use of homogeneous precious palladium pre-catalysts. Mechanistic studies will be used to elucidate pre-catalyst activations pathways, with the global aim to contribute towards the development of greener and more efficient cross-coupling methodologies that can contribute positively to net-Zero targets.

Bioprocess Intensification for Carbon Dioxide and Waste-derived Feedstock Conversion to Bio-based Products

Supervisors: Dr. Sharon Velasquez-Orta and Prof Adam Harvey

Location: Newcastle University

Industrial Partner: Biofuel Evolution Ltd and CPI

To effectively address the climate crisis, we must transition towards a net-zero future and embrace a circular economy framework. The process industries play a significant role in greenhouse gas emissions, making it crucial for them to adopt sustainable practices. This includes utilising renewable fuels, materials, and resources to decarbonize operations and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Through collaboration between Biofuel Evolution Ltd, the PINZ CDT team, and CPI, this project will investigate the biological conversion of captured carbon dioxide and waste-derived feedstocks into renewable products.

Data analytics to map the composition of waste-derived feedstocks across domestic and global geographic regions will help us examine how seasonality (in particular weather conditions) might affect their fundamental characteristics and how waste streams will differ geographically. By understanding this, we can then design, evolve and optimise highly characterised biocatalysts, microorganisms, and microbial consortia to convert waste-based feedstocks into new products. Finally, using CPI’s pilot plant facilities, the project will assess the scalability and usability of the processes and technologies that have demonstrated in a laboratory environment, expanding on the breakthroughs and key learnings discovered.

Towards Net Zero by optimising thermal energy recovery and management in the waste-water sector

Supervisors: Dr Richard Law and Prof Adam Harvey

Location: Newcastle University

Industrial Partner: Northumbrian Water Ltd

The recent energy crisis is placing strain on the waste-water sector to treat sewage in a cost-effective, energy-efficient manner. Additionally, increasingly stringent environmental legislation relating to total nitrogen content will impose an additional thermal energy burden on the treatment of sludge in the coming years. As a result, Northumbrian Water Ltd are investing significant sums on the development of novel processes to reduce the energy burden on-site.

This project will investigate the feasibility of recovering low-grade waste heat in the waste-water sector via a comprehensive modelling and optimisation study. Key milestones will include: (1) comprehensive auditing to ascertain the amount and grade of waste heat available, and potential uses, (2) modelling and optimisation of suitable recovery strategies, including the consideration of novel means of heat upgrade, (3) extrapolation of results to the wider waste-water sector, developing a framework for waste heat recovery and management across the UK, (4) the potential to design “real” systems which will be installed at Northumbrian Water Ltd sites, possibly within the timeframe of this project.

The initial focus of the study will be on two local case studies: Howdon and Bran Sands sewage works.