"The project will deliver a step-change process innovation for the manufacture of metal food packaging. Food can manufacturers coat flat metal sheets with three coating layers before the sheets are formed into a can. While the second (inked design) and top layer (varnish) are UV-cured, the first layer (basecoat) which protects the sheet from rusting and provides a good surface for printing on, still relies on traditional 200°C gas oven-curing. The project responds to the specific demand by the food metal packaging industry to eliminate the time, footprint, energy consumption and emissions associated with the practice of oven-curing of basecoats. The partners will develop a new UV-curable basecoat formula and integrate the basecoat into the manufacturing process of a food can maker. A prototype system will be built to allow partners to test the innovation in real-world conditions and validate performance expectations."

Ice formation on aircraft, wind turbines and power lines is a major cost to industry and an ongoing cause of fatal air crashes and accidents from ice-shedding. Current ice-mitigation technologies rely on mechanical breaking of the ice, electrical heating or application of de-icing chemicals. These are expensive, inefficient, unreliable, and damaging to the environment. The aim of the ICEMART project is to develop a novel passive ice-repellent coating that will prevent ice formation and adhesion without the need for active ice-management. This development will have far-reaching impact across a wide range of sectors, including aviation and energy where it could save hundreds of lives, eliminate the discharge of over 100 million litres of aircraft de-icing fluid, contribute to annual savings of £7bn in fuel and 80Mtonnes of CO2 from aviation and improve wind generation efficiency by 17%. ICEMART technology is based on a novel patented technique for obtaining multi-functional additives that can be incorporated into coating resins making them highly repellent to water and ice, whilst providing a tough and durable coating.

This project seeks to further develop a novel straw biorefinery process that will target the development of a range of products for applications such as platform chemicals for plastic manufacturing and high quality cellulosic fibres for value added applications. This technology will bring triple line manufacturing benefits to the Chinese economy through reductions in energy and the production of new conversion technologies . Straw is an underutilised co-product in China and the UK with a great potential as a feedstock. However, using this feedstock is problematic and new technological approaches are needed. The straw bio-refinery concept was first developed in Bangor in 1995 and the principal scientist is now based in Beijing Forestry Uni. This project will introduce new technologies such as novel enzymes and will use a novel fractionation process that is based in Bangor. The project will enable Beijing Forestry and Bangor to work together and enhance and demonstrate the benefits at a scale previously not achievable. Funding will enable the application of the technology to the manufacturing capacity of China which will result significant economic and environmental benefits.

This project will enable a step-change ina current manufacturing process called wet-filament winding where a significant reduction in the consumption of solvents can be achieved in conjunction with reductions in the volume of waste material generated. This in effect will transform the workplace in terms of air-quality and significantly reduce emissions to the atmosphere. In the new manufacturing technique, a conventional resin bath in not used. Instead, the components of the resin system are mixed on-demand and dispensed using the optimum volume to impregnate the fibres. Productivity and quality-imporvements will be obtained by: - a reduction in the impregnation time via fibre spreading. Proof-of-concept experiments have shown that the properties of filament wound composites produced using the new technique are equivalent to or better than those obtained using conventianal wet-filament winding. The socio-economic benefits of this proposal are very significant. A recent site trial has demonstrated that the so called clean filament winding technology can be retrofitted easily on conventional filament winding machines. The Exploitation Plan for the project consists of three strategies: - new build; - Retrofit; - End-users in the consortium.

The aim of this project is to develop a new pultrusion technique that is environmentally friendly and one that permits new resin systems such as custom formulated polyurethanes to be evaluated. In the conventional process, the reinforcing fibres are impregnated in a resin bath and then passed through a heated die to cross link the resin and to shape the pultruded component. In the new manufacturing technique, the components of the resin will be stored in separate containers and pumped on demand using a custom designed polyurethane resin component delivery system. Efficient and effective impregnation of the fibres will be achieved using a novel combination of efficient fibre spreading and an injection-head. The green credentials of this new manufacturing technique will be assessed using life cycle assessment.

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