Final TransFIRe Celebration Event

Draft Agenda for Wednesday 12th June (subject to change and further details added as confirmed)

09.00
Registration

09.30
Welcome and introduction
Rosa Wilkinson, Director of Policy, High Value Manufacturing Catapult

09.35
Opening address
Professor Karen Holford, Chief Executive and Vice Chancellor, Cranfield University

09.45
New polymeric materials from industrial chemical waste streams, with applications in durable coatings and wastewater treatment
Professor Justin Perry and Professor Matt Unthank, Northumbria University

There are a range of carbon based materials that are currently undervalued or even unvalued by the foundation industries which we have shown can be converted into materials with identified use cases as an alternative to them being sent for landfill or energy recovery. We will show that the unrecyclable fraction of the PET recycling process can be converted into an alkyd polymer using biosourced or waste fillers to create a robust coating for industrial applications needing durability. In another case study, we will show that the range of waste polysaccharides from the paper and food sectors can be used as "drop in" alternatives to petrochemical monomers making plastic films and coatings which can be entirely biosourced and are suitable for a range of application including waste water treatment (which is under trial at a pilot scale by Northumbrian Water). Finally we will show that whilst the chemical industry forms a complicated network of material inputs and outputs, it is possible to map this to facilitate industrial symbiosis at a regional and hopefully national scale.

10.05
A realistic route to decarbonization of the UK cement and concrete industry by 2050
Dr Michal Drewniok and Dr Hisham Hafez, University of Leeds

The UK cement industry is responsible for 7MtCO2, approximately 2.1% of total territorial UK CO2 emissions and approximately 9% of the UK's manufacturing emissions. This impact can be reduced by using low-carbon cement replacement materials (Supplementary Cementitious Materials – SCM) or alternative fuels. Carbon intensity of the final product which is a structure made from concrete can be reduced further by layout and structural optimisation, waste reduction as well as better concrete mix design. In system terms, increase reuse and refurbishment of concrete structures can reduce the cement and concrete demand and therefore reduce CO2 emissions.

While each of these steps have a relatively marginal CO2 reduction potential, their combination can achieve much larger CO2 savings. This presentation will demonstrate how the combined effect of multiple marginal actions that can be applied today to reduce CO2 emissions from the cement industry.

10.25
Analysing resource efficiency & benchmarking of foundation industries
Professor Jonathan Cullen, University of Cambridge

Within the pressing global call for a decarbonised economy, the UK takes a leading role. The foundation industries are fundamental in this transformation, though they face significant challenges in reducing carbon emissions. This presentation will deliver insights from the studies conducted on resource efficiency and benchmarking, examining the resource flows to bring clarity to the use of resources within these sectors. We will analyse key metrics such as energy intensity, emissions intensity, and material circularity, thereby showing their combined effect on the nation's performance indicators. Our analysis provides a clear perspective in recognising opportunities and refining strategic initiatives towards the net-zero emissions target set for 2050.

10.45

Coffee break

11.15
Benchmarking of UK glass manufacturing for the identification of potential energy efficiency improvements
Professor Paul Bingham, Sheffield Hallam University

This presentation will cover work to investigate the compositions of commercial soda-lime-silica glasses currently present in the UK market, as there is a lack of recent research on the subject, with the most recent studies now being over 20 years old. The differences uncovered in composition of current commercial glass compositions, compared to glasses from 30 to 40 years ago, has shed light on the direction of travel and reasons for adjustments to UK glass compositions over recent decades, but it also provides insights and predictions into the future trends. Crucially, it also illustrates opportunities for glass manufacturers to modify or adjust their glass compositions to enable lower melting temperatures, thereby reducing energy demand and fuel carbon emissions. It also de-risks compositional modifications for a glass manufacturer by highlighting that other manufacturers have already successfully commercially implemented such changes.

11.35
ThermoRecycliSt: Exploring new horizons for waste recycling in Foundation Industries
Dr Ahmed Khalil, University of Exeter

11.55
Natural coatings for paper packaging
Dr Simon Curling and Jennifer Woods, Bangor University

The use of plastics in packaging has come under a lot of scrutiny in the past few years due to its persistence in the environment. Plastic is an undeniable effective material but are there alternatives? Paper and card are one obvious alternative, however, these are not an effective material when liquid or grease is present. Treatments such as films or coatings can be added to improve these properties but if they are made from plastics this may remove the benefit of using paper in the first place!

New processes can use biodegradable polymers as films or use technology to remove the films, although current interest is in recycling and repulping the paper rather than degrading.  In addition, natural coating materials, using seaweed and beeswax have also been developed in association with Wipak Ltd.

This presentation will discuss the developments into repulping these new materials and the promising results in the methods of application and resultant properties of using natural coating materials.

12.15
Industrial Symbiosis: from research activities to new applications?
Dr Lampros Litos, Cranfield University

12.35
Lunch

13.35
Keynote talk: Chris McDonald, Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Stockton North and Strategic Advisor to the Materials Processing Institute

13.50
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Foundation Industries – International Women in Engineering Day session
Professor Sue Black OBE, Durham University and Jo Stansfield,  TransFIRe’s Senior Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Project Manager, and Founder of Inclusioneering Limited

14.30
Crossing fences and building bridges: Understanding barriers to community-industrial partnerships for energy transitions
Professor Steve Yearley, University of Edinburgh 

14.50
Coffee break

15.20
Sustainability solutions for the metal industry
Professor Rossi Setchi, Cardiff University

This talk will highlight some of the work of the TransFIRe team with two champions of sustainability and circular economy in the UK. The first case study includes detailed chemical analysis of a range of by-products and investigating opportunities to transform these by-products into valuable resources for the steel making industry and other foundation industries. The second study focuses on the recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) to recover precious metals. It introduces the team's methodology for modelling material and energy flows within the e-waste recycling process.

15.40
Scaling and accelerating the innovation needed to drive the transformation of the foundation industries
Dr Graham Hillier, FRSA, Chair, Foundation Industries Sustainability Consortium (FISC)

16.40
Event wrap up

16.45
Event close

Industry partners and sponsors

Registration for the event is free for our industrial partners and sponsors - please register at Final TransFIRe Celebration Event Tickets

Academics and other attendees

Registration for the event is £75pp and tickets can be purchased from the Cranfield University Online Store.

Conference dinner

The conference dinner will be held on Tuesday 11th June (the evening before the event) at the conference venue (CMDC) at 7pm.  The cost for the dinner will be £55pp.  Please indicate when purchasing your ticket whether you have any dietary requirements.

Tickets for the conference dinner can be purchased from the Cranfield University Online Store.

Please contact Joanna Johnson if you have any queries.

As part of this event, we have reserved a number of rooms at the conference venue itself - CMDC – Venue Cranfield

Accommodation can be booked directly with the conference venue for a discounted rate of £113.95pp for bed and breakfast – you can do this by calling 01234 754820 or by sending an email to cmdcreservations@cranfield.ac.uk and quoting Kx number 394091.

At the time of booking, you will require credit card details to guarantee your room booking.