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Spectris (United Kingdom)

Spectris (United Kingdom)

19 Projects, page 1 of 4
  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: EP/E040551/1
    Funder Contribution: 515,959 GBP

    Summary: A novel laboratory scale continuous hydrothermal flow synthesis (CHFS) system has been developed for the controlled synthesis of inorganic nano-materials (particles <100nm) with potential commercial applications from sunscreens and battery materials to fuel cell components and photocatalysts. The CHFS system has many advantages; it is a green technology (using supercritical water as the reagent), which utilises inexpensive precursors (metal nitrate salts) and can controllably produce high quality, technologically important functional nano-materials in an efficient single step (or fewer steps than conventionally). This project seeks to move the existing laboratory scale CHFS system (developed over the past few years at QMUL) towards a x10 pilot scale-up (nano-powder production of up to 500g per 12h depending on variables). The proposed research will initially compare the ability to control particle characteristics of the CHFS system at the laboratory scale over a large range of process variables (flow rates, temperatures, pressures, etc), building full operational envelopes that will describe reactor variables versus particle properties for each material. In particular, we will utilise process analytical technology (PAT)and the data will help develop univariate and multivariate understanding of the temporal operational spaces and interactions between process variables and product quality. PATand chemometrics incorporated with combined computational fluid dynamics modelling of hydrodynamics/mixing and population balance modelling of particle size evolution via nano-precipitation will be used to study alternative nozzles designs and other potential bottleneck factors. This will lead to a generic strategy for scaling up and controlled manufacture of nanomaterials with consistent, reproducible and predictable quality. The scale up quantities of nano-powders from the pilot plant will allow industrial partners to perform prototyping or comprehensive commercial evaluation of nano-powders in a range of applications which they have hitherto not been able to conduct due to lack of sufficient high quality material. Importantly, the know-how acquired on the project and the proposed feasibility studies will reduce the risk and commercial barriers for industry that might consider building a larger industrial scale CHFS plant in the future.

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  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: EP/I028293/1
    Funder Contribution: 196,531 GBP

    This proposal seeks EPSRC Follow-On grant funding to fund the technical and commercial development and integration of molecular modelling software (HABIT and SYSTSEARCH) developed by the crystallisation science and engineering research group at the University of Leeds which enables the prediction of the crystal shape and related surface chemistry of pharmaceutical, fine chemical and energy solid phase products and their mediation by their crystallisation environment. The predictive approach developed draws down on the modelled material's crystallographic structure together with the application of appropriate empirical inter-atomic/molecular force-field parameters through which the structure's key inter-molecular interactions (supra-molecular synthons) for both host (homo-synthons) and growth environment (hetero-synthons related to e.g. solvent, additives and impurities) can be identified, characterised regarding their strength and directivity and related to the product's physical and chemical properties. The work has been developed through a previous EPSRC senior fellowship programme and a number or associated EPSRC research grants. Commercialisation is envisaged through re-engineering the software based on user requirements, afforded through the data-bases and software of the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) and, through this, providing a significant enhancement of the predictive resources available to both academic and industrial research groups. The commercially robust software package, HABIT2011, will be offered through CCDC and directly to end user customers. The Synthonic Engineering identity will be established as an internal project, initially internally incubated within the University and later established as a spin off company. Synthonic Engineering will support the continuing technical and scientific development/enhancement of the HABIT2011 software; facilitate product licensing opportunities for other potential users; and provide consultancy, know-how and contract research support to the commercial sector. The utility of the modelling will be embedded within 4 key representative end-user companies: pharmaceuticals (Pfizer), agrochemicals (Syngenta), fuels (Infineum) and nuclear processing (National Nuclear Laboratory) through applications demonstrators on commercial compounds and at least one scientific instrument company (Malvern Instruments). These companies will also provide membership for a steering board to ensure the project's currency to the industrial sector.

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  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: EP/N015916/1
    Funder Contribution: 1,015,840 GBP

    Biotechnology has made significant advancements in the understanding of human genomics and proteomics revolutionising medical diagnosis, prevention and treatment. Advances and breakthroughs in target-oriented biotechnology research have been used to enhance the synthesis of a number of commercially significant products. It has been reported that there are over 6000 biopharmaceuticals currently in development, potentially worth in excess of $100's bn (£145bn in 2012). Despite the increasing successes in discovering protein-based medicines, their manufacture in a cost effective and reliable fashion remains a major industrial challenge, which currently limits the ability of the biopharmaceutical industry to deliver solutions to patients. The vision here is to develop a programme for process intensification and de-bottleneck of downstream bioprocessing (DSB), by implementation of Seeding and Continuous Biopharmaceutical Crystallisation (SCoBiC), for the separation and purification of biopharmaceuticals. The ambition of this proposed project to develop strategies for a continuous biocrystallisation process, including selective crystallisation directly from multicomponent fermentation broths by seeding, for whole antibodies and antibody fragments. The goal is to reduce manufacturing costs, provide for simpler processes while achieving the high purity of material achievable from multi step chromatography. This ambition is driven by the awareness that separation and purification processes represent one of the most time and cost-intense downstream operations in the manufacture of commercial biopharmaceutical products. This proposal will develop a continuous biocrystallisation platform as an alternative to conventional DSB, offering improvements to manufacturability, enabling higher throughput, lowering the product costs, an increase in product quality and stability, including opportunities for novel formulations and technologies.

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  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: EP/L025108/1
    Funder Contribution: 551,376 GBP

    Bulk nanobubbles are a novel type of nanoscale bubble system. They are spherical with a typical diameter of 100-200 nanometres and they exist in bulk liquid. The most peculiar characteristic of these bulk nanobubbles is their extraordinary longevity. Whilst the lifetime of macrobubbles (> 1 mm) is on the order of seconds and that of microbubbles (1-1000 microns) is on the order of minutes, nanobubbles do last for weeks and months. Existing theories, however, predict a huge inner gas pressure (typically around 30 atm) and, consequently, molecular diffusion theory would predict that they would dissolve extremely quickly - on a timescale of about 1 microsecond. The existence of bulk nanobubbles has been reported by a number of academic researchers but due to their unusual behaviour there is still some controversy around the subject. In a preliminary study in collaboration with the IDEC Corporation in Osaka (Japan), we have managed to generate nanobubbles via two different techniques and, using advanced instrumentation, we have been able to visualise them and measure their size distribution. Because of their unusual longevity bulk nanobubbles are already attracting a lot of industrial attention and many potential applications have been identified or tested, especially in Japan and USA. Thus, there is immense scope for nanobubbles to impact and even revolutionise many current industrial processes such as water treatment, industrial cleaning and the production of chemicals, biofuels, food as well as other important high value added applications including healthcare technologies. There is, however, little academic or industrial activity taking place within Europe and the UK. As such, there is an urgent need for research on this subject so as to enable the UK to keep up with this emerging scientific field and so that UK industry can benefit from the vast potential of this novel technology. From a scientific point of view, the mystery behind the longevity of bulk nanobubbles has led to many different speculations as to the reasons for this phenomenon. However, reports are sparse, and in the main conflicting and have not been independently validated. An aspect to be considered is that nanobubbles are not macroscopic systems and so everyday thermodynamics is not reliable. Furthermore, atomistic simulations on this scale are only now becoming feasible. To fully exploit the potential benefits of bulk nanobubbles, our understanding of the fundamental rules governing their existence and behaviour needs to be substantially improved. Our hypothesis is that bulk nanobubbles do exist, they are filled with gas and they persist for a timescale at least ten orders of magnitude longer than expected. The aim of this proposal is to explore and study the underlying mechanisms by which they come to exist and persist, and to help explain some of the reported unusual properties of bulk nanobubble suspensions using a combination of experimental, theoretical and computational tools. The work will address questions concerning the formation of nanobubbles, their coalescence, dynamic behaviour and stability, including their apparent immunity to the destabilising process of coarsening or disproportionation, also known as Ostwald ripening. The effects of liquid properties, gas properties, shear and temperature will be studied experimentally, modelled theoretically and simulated computationally by molecular dynamics. The practical aim of the present project is to develop robust predictive tools based on the knowledge gained from the experimental and modelling work, as an aid to industrial practitioners. These tools will provide a description of the structural and dynamical properties of bulk nanobubbles in terms of the liquid and gas intrinsic properties as well as external parameters like pressure and temperature. We will also work with our industrial partners to help them explore and develop novel applications.

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  • Funder: UK Research and Innovation Project Code: EP/D038499/1
    Funder Contribution: 886,013 GBP

    The current advancement of technology very much depends upon the discovery of new materials. It has been known for some time that combinations of elements not involving carbon (called inorganic materials) can have important uses in areas from electronics, computing and UV protection in products, to harnessing energy from the sun. In particular, when inorganic particles are very small, typically made up of a few hundred atoms (called nanomaterials), they can have unusual and exciting properties. The discovery of such nanomaterials is very much hampered by our inability to make these materials fast enough and then to be able to test them adequately for their properties.The proposed research seeks to develop a new, faster way of making and discovering inorganic nanomaterials that can absorb sunlight (as an free energy source), and use this energy to split water into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen (in a process known as photocatalysis). The hydrogen can then be used for powering cars or devices of the future. Such a process is important to sustain the energy requirements of mankind on this earth when our fossil fuels (e.g. oil) are exhausted.

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