News Archives - Page 2 of 5

Saica site visit

Saica site visit

TransFIRe members paid a visit to Saica Paper this week to find out about their operations and to look for potential collaborative opportunities. Saica are a leading manufacturer of high-performance and 100% recycled papers for corrugated cardboard in Europe and the US. During the visit, Sanjoo Paddea gave a talk on the overall TransFIRe project, Natanael Bolson gave some insights on resource flows for the paper industry, Dr Lampros Litos MIET talked about waste valorisation and Simon Curling talked about his work on coatings for paper packaging with Wipak and re-pulping with Pulpex and others. As part of the presentations, TransFIRe highlighted that best practices in the paper industry could reduce the carbon footprint and energy emissions by up to 50% and we hope to be able to help identify ways in which Saica can move towards this.

Joanna Johnson2023-12-08T12:04:06+00:00December 8th, 2023|

Sustainability Metrics – upcoming challenges for FIs

Sustainability Metrics – upcoming challenges for FIs

Over the past year, TransFIRe have been working alongside North Lincolnshire Council, in order to create a ten-month action plan to tackle the subject of sustainability performance. The action plan promotes guided peer-to-peer learning by sharing knowledge and experiences across different types of foundation industries and their supply chains. The plan has consisted of three-phases: a) June 2023: An introductory webinar open to all industries from North Lincolnshire (Stage A) b) July 2023: A workshop with a small group of companies (Stage B) c) Oct 23 - Jan 24: Group work with four companies (Stage C) Currently, our TransFIRe researchers are working on stage C of the plan, “Peer to Peer Network of Practice”, which brings together a small number of companies to answer questions such as: why are you making and reporting sustainability measurements and how accurate is your data? It is expected that participating companies will learn [...]

Joanna Johnson2023-12-15T09:04:21+00:00December 7th, 2023|

TFI Network+ Brochure

TFI Network+ Brochure

The TFI Network+, partners of TransFIRe, have just published the first edition of their brochure, summarising the results and impact of 28 completed small projects. These projects, including projects worked on by TransFIRe team members, cover innovations in the key themes required to create sustainable foundation industries, including energy efficiency, resource efficiency, policy, advocacy and equality, diversity and inclusion. They have been co-created by academia and industry and many of the outputs are already embedded within the collaborating companies. Recipients of small project funding are working in universities throughout the UK, in collaboration with companies from the cements, ceramics, glass, metals, paper or chemicals sectors. A second edition will be made available once the final set of small projects has been completed. You can download the TFI Network+ Brochure here

Joanna Johnson2023-12-01T11:16:42+00:00December 1st, 2023|

Biobased coatings for paper packaging

Biobased coatings for paper packaging

Paper based packaging has seen an increase in use recently, driven by the increase in home deliveries and online shopping. As a renewable and biodegradable source of packaging it has a number of advantages over other materials such as plastic. However, in some applications paper isn’t suitable due to its porous structure resulting in poor barrier properties to liquids. A possible solution is a barrier or coating of some kind, with the use of biobased coating sourced from renewable materials preferred. Whilst biodegradation is an important factor, the ability to repulp and reuse these materials is seen as a key factor in creating circular processes and reducing resource use. This is the basis of a current project of a post graduate student, Jennifer Woods, at Bangor University who is working with Wipak UK Ltd. Funded through the Kess 2 program and working with the Transfire project Paper Working Group [...]

Joanna Johnson2023-09-18T15:43:18+00:00September 18th, 2023|

The Aluminium Action Plan: Charting a Sustainable Path Forward

The Aluminium Action Plan: Charting a Sustainable Path Forward

The aluminium industry, with its extensive global influence and importance, finds itself at a crucial crossroads. Recognising the vast potential of this metal in the shift towards a circular economy, the Aluminium Action Plan was devised. This thorough plan provides a distinct direction for the future of the aluminium industry in the UK, underscoring its endless recyclability and the nation's aspiration for sustainable growth. The Action Plan is the fruit of in-depth consultations with UK industry, government, and academia. It sketches a strategic roadmap, detailing short, medium, and long-term goals. These span from immediate actions to address current shortcomings to transformative steps intended to revamp the system entirely. The plan's primary areas of focus encompass circular design, recovery, and business models: Circular Design: This pertains to the creation of products designed for straightforward disassembly, reuse, or recycling. By adopting a circular mindset in design, the industry can ensure products [...]

Joanna Johnson2023-09-11T10:54:16+00:00September 11th, 2023|

The Royal Mint’s Journey in Electronic Waste Management

The Royal Mint’s Journey in Electronic Waste Management

TransFIRe researcher, Dr Masoud Ahmadinia, has recently finished a project working with The Royal Mint on their innovative initiative to extract precious metals from the circuit boards of electronic waste, such as laptops and mobile phones, in order to create an eco-friendly jewellery line. The Royal Mint is working in collaboration with Excir, a Canadian clean tech start-up, to use their patented technology, based on revolutionary chemistry and aims to leverage advanced technologies and innovative methodologies to enhance the extraction process. As part of a secondment, Dr Ahmadinia spent a number of days embedded within The Royal Mint, after which, a range of documentation and analysis was produced. These included a Sankey diagram, visually representing the material and energy flow of the processes involved in order to understand their efficiency and identify potential opportunities, as well as a comprehensive cost analysis report for the energy use of processes. As [...]

Joanna Johnson2023-12-15T14:22:05+00:00September 11th, 2023|

Mapping resource consumption and emissions in the Foundation Industries

Mapping resource consumption and emissions in the Foundation Industries

Understanding the intricate flows of resource consumption and emissions within various industries is paramount in pursuing a sustainable future. As part of TransFIRe’s Work Stream 1 (WS1), we are working on a ground-breaking study that bridges a critical gap in our comprehension of foundation industries. Foundation industries include the cement, ceramics, chemicals, glass, metals, and paper sectors – the backbone of our society. The developed study introduces a methodological framework that addresses the gap in mapping resource flows and provides a replicable blueprint for interpreting the complexities of resource consumption and emissions. By adopting this approach, we gain profound insights into the collective performance of these industries and their sectors. Furthermore, the study benchmarks the current performance of the UK against global averages and best practices, acting as a compass for tracking progress towards ambitious net-zero targets. One of the key merits of this study lies in its ability [...]

Joanna Johnson2023-08-10T11:27:28+00:00August 10th, 2023|

Embedding TransFIRe within industry

Embedding TransFIRe within industry

Secondments are a brilliant way of offering professional benefits to both companies and employees, in our case researchers, alike. For industry, it can be an opportunity to bring someone new into their company, with a fresh set of eyes and skills, that has the potential to help develop a new area of business or solve a particular problem and to help build collaboration. For secondees, it’s an opportunity to immerse themselves in the fabric of a company, help bring their expertise to the table and broaden their skills and knowledge. In light of this, it has been really important and worthwhile for TransFIRe to have a number of secondment placements set up for our research staff for a range of Foundation Industry companies. These placements focus on short term projects or challenges that are of benefit to both the companies and to the TransFIRe researchers. For example, this month [...]

Joanna Johnson2023-08-09T14:35:49+00:00August 9th, 2023|

Resource efficiency and energy efficiency in the Portuguese ceramic industry

Resource efficiency and energy efficiency in the Portuguese ceramic industry

TFI Network+ News The Portuguese ceramic industry constitutes 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product in Portugal, far higher than most other European nations, and thus it is essential this sector is decarbonised, cost-effectively to preserve jobs and national revenue. Moreover, the small size of the country and the co-location of ceramic factories dominantly in northern Portugal lowers the logistical barriers to act collectively to form networks and engage in collective strategies to push towards net zero carbon production. This article considers Portugal as an ideal case study for strategic and collective action to develop and facilitate carbon mitigation strategies. The article focuses mainly on current and future resource efficiency and energy efficiency strategies but additionally assesses the role of fuel switching (H2 vs electrification) and low energy densification technologies. Ian Reaney, Ben Walsh and Paula Vilarinho, Open Ceramics, Vol 15, 2023 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666539523000627

Joanna Johnson2023-12-11T12:52:24+00:00July 31st, 2023|

Barriers and enablers for use of compressed earth blocks

Barriers and enablers for use of compressed earth blocks

Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBs) are a low carbon, low cost construction product that are considered by many to be the go-to sustainable masonry wall solution for low-cost buildings. However, although their use was prototyped in many Global South countries, and special building codes were issued to allow their use, the material has not yet succeeded on a commercial level. This inspired TransFIRe researcher Hisham Hafez, alongside colleagues Alastair Marsh and Deena El-Mahdy, to look into the barriers and enablers for scaled-up adoption of CEDs in Egypt. Using a combination of surveys and interviews carried out amongst architects, CEB manufacturers and academics, the researchers set out to determine the challenges that were faced. The majority of respondents agreed that socio-economic barriers for CEBs are more significant than technical barriers. These included CEBs being unfamiliar to most architects and builders, and that most clients perceive CEBs as ‘low-quality’ or ‘inaesthetic’. Most [...]

Joanna Johnson2023-12-11T10:11:11+00:00July 31st, 2023|