Research Archives - Transfire

Barriers and enablers to decarbonising UK manufacturing: views of technical experts and trade organisations

Barriers and enablers to decarbonising UK manufacturing: views of technical experts and trade organisations

As part of TransFIRe, two groups of partners were interviewed: 12 TransFIRe technical academic leads and 7 representatives from trade organisations for representing chemicals (plastics), metals (steel and cast metals), glass, cement, paper and ceramics. The interviewees were given 3-5 prompts of innovations in their industry gathered from the academic and trade literature and encouraged to suggest other innovations. They were then asked to outline the barriers and enablers for each innovation. This document presents the key messages from these interviews.

Sanjooram Paddea2024-07-15T10:57:49+00:00July 15th, 2024|

New products from high-grade polymer particulate waste streams

New products from high-grade polymer particulate waste streams

TransFIRe researchers at Northumbria University have developed a method to convert waste polyethylene terephthalate (wPET) into an unsaturated polyester for use in protective coatings applications, thereby also lowering the demand of virgin petrochemical feedstocks typically required to produce these polyesters. State of the art mechanical separation of mixed plastics which are predominantly PET at recycling centres works by converting large objects into a “flake” which can be separated efficiently into very high purity recycled wPET content. However, a proportion of the throughput can only be purified to 90-99% PET purity due to the presence of small and often highly coloured flakes of other plastics, and hence has no commercial value. This fraction of the wPET process is incinerated or sent to landfill rather than used in closed loop recycling. These so called “flake losses” account for around 160 ktpa of PET lost from the closed loop recycling process in Europe [...]

Joanna Johnson2024-05-07T12:21:10+00:00April 29th, 2024|

Discovering the hidden value of mineral waste

Discovering the hidden value of mineral waste

As part of TransFIRe, the British Geological Society (BGS) is working to gain a better understanding of the composition and production of mineral waste in the UK. This research aims to help refine the estimate of the amount of mineral waste produced in the UK and provide more data on the composition of this waste to determine any potential uses for manufacturing processes within the Foundation Industries (FI). The FI are significant mineral consumers and use at least one or more of the products from the UK minerals industry, for example gypsum in cement and ceramics or silica sand in glass, metals and others. Mineral extraction and processing involves selection, size reduction and separation into products and inevitably will lead to the production of waste – material that is either discarded or unsold. Multiplied over the 2000 or so mining and quarrying operations in the UK, this adds up [...]

Joanna Johnson2024-04-26T13:02:04+00:00February 9th, 2024|

Energy Benchmarking of Manufacturing Processes in Foundation Industries

Energy Benchmarking of Manufacturing Processes in Foundation Industries

As industry increasingly looks at ways to reduce their environmental impacts, manufacturing processes have come under greater scrutiny. The manufacturing sector accounts for 38% of global energy consumption and 25% of global CO2 emissions, much of which comes from process energy and electricity consumption. To reduce these emissions, it is imperative to find ways to reduce the energy consumption in manufacturing either using more energy-efficient equipment and processes or by moving towards to renewable energy. In order to identify areas of inefficiency and which changes will have the greatest impact, benchmarking energy consumption, or determining the “best practices”, in manufacturing processes is a critical step. By comparing energy utilisation data to industry standards or to similar operations, manufacturers can get a greater understanding of their energy consumption and determine the areas to tackle first for the greatest effect. External benchmarking, against other companies within the same sector, and internal [...]

Joanna Johnson2024-01-19T14:28:03+00:00January 15th, 2024|

Model and simulation-based investigation on use of agriculture waste/byproduct in brick manufacturing

Model and simulation-based investigation on use of agriculture waste/byproduct in brick manufacturing

This case study utilises ThermoRecycliSt (Thermodynamic simulation-guided (waste/byproduct) materials Recycling Strategy) and other available models to conduct an exploratory investigation to manufacture eco-friendly light-weight bricks through the mixing of agriculture waste/byproduct with raw materials used for clay brick manufacturing at the Wienerberger brick factory. The primary focus is on examining the feasibility of incorporating agricultural waste and byproducts into the brick manufacturing process. By leveraging ThermoRecycliSt, alongside proven models, this study seeks to relatively predict the essential properties of pre-manufactured bricks, significantly reducing the need for laborious and resource-intensive lab-scale trials. By incorporating modelling tools, it becomes possible to conduct a more streamlined and economical evaluation of the feasibility of utilising waste/byproduct materials in the production of bricks. Ultimately, this case study endeavours to provide valuable insights into the feasibility of implementing ThermoRecycliSt and similar models for enhancing sustainability in the construction industry by reducing reliance on traditional raw materials, [...]

Joanna Johnson2023-12-15T12:53:25+00:00December 15th, 2023|

Potential for energy savings and carbon dioxide emissions reduction in the cement industry

Potential for energy savings and carbon dioxide emissions reduction in the cement industry

TransFIRe researchers have undertaken a literature review to compare cement production practices, in terms of energy consumption and CO2 emissions, in order to identify approaches that are the least energy and emissions intensive. Cement production accounts for 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions, 3 to 4% of green-house gas emissions, and 7% of global industrial energy use. Demand for cement is also continuously increasing due to the rising worldwide population and urbanisation trends, as well as infrastructure development needs, with a further global increase of 12- 23% from its current level expected by 2050. Following the net-zero carbon 2050 agenda, both energy and emissions must be significantly reduced and, in order to do so, it is essential to understand the manufacturing processes involved and the accompanying energy utilisation and CO2 emissions. The literature review considers both the different types of cement production routes and the different production stages involved, [...]

Joanna Johnson2023-12-11T15:25:15+00:00December 11th, 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|

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 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|