Transfire

TMS 2024 Annual Meeting & Exhibition
2024-03-03 - 2024-03-07 | Hyatt Regency Orlando, Orlando, FL, United States
The TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition brings together more than 4,000 engineers, scientists, business leaders, and other professionals in the minerals, metals, and materials fields for a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary exchange of technical knowledge.

Blue Skies, Greener Future: A Global Renaissance of Metallurgy
2024-04-19 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | Virtual – Zoom
Blue Skies, Greener Future: A Global Renaissance of Metallurgy: The Birth of Metallurgy 2.0
Speaker: Professor Zhongyun Fan
Metals are the backbone of global manufacturing and the fuel for economic growth. However, extraction and processing of metals are highly energy intensive and cause severe environmental damage: metal extraction accounts for 12% of global primary energy demand and 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The global grand challenge is to decouple economic growth from environmental damage. The worldwide sustainability crisis has led to a complete rethink of how we source, formulate and deploy metallic materials in the future, triggering a global renaissance of metallurgy and giving birth to Metallurgy 2.0. In this context, we have developed a vision for full metal circulation (FMC), under which the global demand for metallic materials will be met by a full circulation of secondary metals without the need for either mining or metal extraction.
Speaker: Prof. Zhongyun Fan is a professor of metallurgy, the founder and Director of BCAST at Brunel University London. He is the principal investigator/director of the EPSRC funded LiME Research Hub, a national centre of excellence in liquid metal engineering. He is also the principal investigator for the UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre for Circular Metals.
He has published over 400 scientific papers with an H-Index of 59 and a total citation of 14071 (Google Scholar). He has led a wide range of research projects as principal investigator with grants totalling over £70M.
He has been chairman of 4 major international conferences and members international scientific committee of 6 international conferences. He was the co-chairmen of the Casting and Solidification Society (IOM3, 2012-2018), is a Board Member of the Light Metals Division (IOM3), a Fellow of the Institute of IOM3 and the Institute of Cast Metal Engineers (ICME). He was the recipient of the Elegant Work Prize (1995), the Cook/Ablett Award (2003) and Dowding Medal and Prize (2012) of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3).

Materials Research Exchange (MRE) 2024
2024-04-23 - 2024-04-24 | Business Design Centre, 52 Upper St, London, N1 0QH, United Kingdom
To celebrate 10 years of Materials Research Exchange (MRE), we are ushering in a ground-breaking transformation for 2024 by introducing four exciting flagship events all in one spectacular experience!
This unique event is your gateway to the world of materials innovation, featuring an exhibition, investor showcase, and cross-cutting seminars on technology transfer from the UK’s world-class research base.
What’s on
Prepare to be amazed as MRE 2024 delves into a diverse range of materials, from nanotechnology to biomaterials, textiles, polymers, metals, glass, and more. These materials are not just theoretical concepts but critical building blocks for real-world applications, including energy, construction, packaging, marine, automotive, and low carbon technologies.
MRE is a catalyst for progress. Through cross-cutting presentations, thought-provoking panel discussions, and an investor showcase brimming with potential, MRE fosters an environment of knowledge-sharing and cross-sector interactions. MRE is where the UK’s research and innovation excellence in materials meets the world of UK product manufacturers and forward-thinking investors.
This is your chance to connect with the materials community to collaborate, exchange ideas, and adopt the latest advances in materials science.
Flagship events

Circular Critical Materials Conference

Reimagining Materials and Manufacturing Showcase

GRIPS Conference

Investor Showcase

Why attend?
MRE brings an opportunity to network with over 1500 delegates from the materials community: researchers, academics, industry, government, investors and innovators from various fields to explore and discuss cutting-edge developments in materials science and technology. For our international attendees, this is a unique opportunity to witness the UK’s world-leading capability in new materials development and meet with potential collaborators

Final TransFIRe Celebration Event
2024-06-12 09:00 - 16:45 | Lecture Room 16, Cranfield Management Development Centre (CMDC), College Road, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL, United Kingdom
Join the TransFIRe team for an event celebrating the culmination of the TransFIRe project on Wednesday 12 June in Lecture Room 16 at the Cranfield Management Development Centre, Cranfield University
The event will summarise the achievements and research outputs of TransFIRe over the three years of the project and will discuss the legacy and next steps for the Foundation Industries.
Add this event to your calendar

Agenda

Venue / Accommodation

Dinner

About

Agenda for Wednesday 12th June
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 (Atrium)
11.15
ThermoRecycliSt: Exploring new horizons for waste recycling in Foundation Industries
Dr Ahmed Khalil, University of Exeter
This presentation delves into the innovative Thermodynamic Simulation-Guided Recycling Strategy (ThermoRecycliSt) and its significant contributions to the recycling of waste materials and the use of alternative raw materials in the foundation industries. By leveraging thermodynamic simulation calculations, ThermoRecycliSt effectively predicts phase changes in both individual waste materials and integrated raw mixes, primarily within the refractories industry, and including the ceramic, cement and glass foundation industries. This efficient screening tool assesses the suitability of waste materials, thus offering broad guidance for diverse foundation industries aiming to enhance resource utilisation and environmental sustainability.
Key case studies demonstrate ThermoRecycliSt's impact. The "Recycling Refractory Waste" project, in collaboration with Trent and Parkinson-Spencer Refractories Ltd, showcased the strategy's ability to improve raw material mix performance and identify applications for refractory systems. The "Wienerberger Model-Driven Sustainable Brick Manufacturing Case Study" demonstrated the potential of integrating agricultural waste, such as sugarcane bagasse, into bricks. ThermoRecycliSt and empirical correlations predicted essential properties (e.g., mechanical strength, porosity) for optimising waste incorporation in bricks to achieve energy-saving benefits. Together, these case studies highlight ThermoRecycliSt's versatility and its vital role in shaping sustainable waste recycling practices across foundation industries.
11.35
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.
11.55
Industrial Symbiosis: from research activities to new applications?
Dr Lampros Litos, Cranfield University
As companies are always looking for new ways to reduce their carbon footprint, substitution of raw materials can be worth exploring. In some cases, process waste can be a particularly valuable feedstock. In looking for novel use cases for waste material in foundation industries the concept of industrial symbiosis offers a valuable paradigm for research and development of new applications.
In the first instance companies are looking for a like-for-like substitution of virgin materials with waste. If direct substitution is not an option, barriers to new opportunities quickly arise. Some barriers can be strategic, technological, organisational or simply economical and though technically possible to overcome, the effort and resource for additional R&D require a strong business case attached to it. Afterall, using waste material as feedstock can only be economical within a limited geographic radius.
Taking a cross-cutting view of the technology working groups in Transfire, the workstream created workshops and industry engagement opportunities for industry partners to exchange ideas and information on waste. In addition, the workstream took a deeper dive into the complexity and effort required for process technologies to be adopted, making an assessment of adoption readiness against different foundation industries.
12.15
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.
12.35
Lunch (Restaurant 3, 1 and 7)
13.35
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

Join us for a live recording of a very special episode of The Equity Edge podcast. Hosted by Professor Sue Black and Jo Stansfield, the Equity Edge is all about shaping tomorrow’s foundation industries, with a focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and how it can help us achieve a sustainable and fairer future.
This special episode celebrates International Women in Engineering Day, held annually on 23rd June, and highlights the amazing achievements of women engineers and exciting career opportunities for girls. We will be joined by a panel of guests who will share their stories, experiences and insight as women working in the Foundation Industries - these include:

Sarah Connolly, Innovation Lead, Innovate UK
Dr Lorraine Ferris, Royce Fellow, Henry Royce Institute
Lucy Smith, Head of Transformation, Materials Processing Institute

14.30
Crossing fences and building bridges: Understanding barriers to community-industrial partnerships for energy transitions
Professor Steve Yearley, University of Edinburgh
This presentation will give a flavour of key WS3 activities, in particular the research on four topics: indicators and metrics for firms’ SD/environmental performance; GIS modelling in the context of circularising spent sand and other resources; business-to-business learning; and the User Journey approach to mapping key participants’ understanding of the problem- and opportunity-space.
The rest of the talk will focus in a little more detail on our fifth issue – understanding the barriers to (and scope for) community-industrial partnerships for energy transitions. FIs are typically hot processes where firms find it hard to re-use all the ‘waste’ heat on the premises (to heat offices or pre-heat materials etc). The key question then is: what gets in the way of them sharing that valuable energy with the communities in which they’re located?
Our results highlight key issues on the supply side, such as contractual and legal barriers for firms which think of sharing their heat and difficulties they experience relating to ambiguous emissions “Scopes” and carbon accounting schemes. Critical too are demand-side issues among the potential customers for their heat; for example attitudes and perceptions of industrial waste heat. The talk will finish by highlighting the risk of FIs missing the boat in the current energy transition and being left behind: how do FIs compare with other emerging sources of (waste) heat for community use?
14.50
Coffee break (Atrium)
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)
In this talk we will look at the importance of the foundation industries in a developed society and how we can go about creating a leading set of sustainable low carbon and resource efficient industries for the future. We will consider how research is translated through to innovation and then applied to manufacturing with a focus on the future development of these industries that truly are the foundation of our economy.
16.10
Event wrap up
16.15
Event close

Venue
Lecture Room 16, Cranfield Management Development Centre
How to find us - Cranfield campus
Local Taxi
The local taxi company is called Skyline - Skyline Taxis | Book Taxi Milton Keynes | Northampton | Bedford | Flitwick
You can prebook taxis via their app or by calling. A taxi from Milton Keynes Train Station will cost around £14. A taxi from Bedford Train Station will cost around £20.

Parking
There is free parking at the CMDC.

Accommodation
Accommodation can be booked directly with the conference venue - CMDC – Venue Cranfield - for a 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.
At the time of booking, you will require credit card details to guarantee your room booking.

Conference Dinner Details
Please note that bookings for the conference dinner are now closed and we can no longer accommodate any further guests.
Tuesday 11th June - B239, Lounge 2 and Restaurant 2 CMDC
18.45: Welcome Drink (a welcome drink will be provided on arrival and further drinks can be purchased from the bar) (Lounge 2)
19.15: Dinner (Restaurant 2)

Menu
Starter:
Chilled cucumber and dill soup (v) with Heirloom cherry tomatoes, pickled shallot and micro cress.
Main Course:
Roasted chicken supreme, chicken and basil veloute, polenta, lemon and olive oil slice, balsamic roasted Mediterranean vegetable stack
or
Courgette, fennel and soya bean fritters (v), lemon and dill sour cream, polenta, lemon and olive oil slice, balsamic roasted Mediterranean vegetable stack
Dessert:
Earl grey and dark chocolate pot, french macaroon, chocolate spears and digestive crumb
Freshly brewed coffee and petit fours

Join the TransFIRe team for an event celebrating the culmination of the TransFIRe project on Wednesday 12 June at Cranfield Management Development Centre at Cranfield University .
As TransFIRe draws to a close, this event will showcase key findings from a range of our transformational research projects, undertaken in collaboration with a wide range of industrial partners from across the foundation industries. We will discuss lessons learnt, how these might be relevant or useful to other sectors, next steps for our partners and how the legacy will continue.
This event will be aimed at anyone working within the foundation industries and their supply chains and will be a great opportunity for networking.

11th International Conference on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing
2024-09-18 - 2024-09-20 | Hotel Vila Galé, R. De São Fernando 5, 9100-173 Santa Cruz, Portugal
SDM-2024 will consist of keynote talks, oral presentations, invited sessions and workshops. It will cover the theory and applications of sustainable design and manufacturing, and related areas, whilst providing an excellent platform for the presentation and discussion of new data and concepts, leading to knowledge exchange and the generation of new ideas.
The conference proceedings will be published by Springer as book chapters in a volume of the KES Smart Innovation Systems and Technologies series, submitted for indexing in Scopus and Thomson-Reuters Conference Proceedings Citation Index (CPCI) and the Web of Science.
