The Technology Research Centre Limited

Tong Engineering Ltd is one of the world's leading manufacturers of high quality vegetable grading and handling equipment. We have over 90 years of experience in manufacturing advanced and intelligent handling systems for efficient grading, washing, polishing and processing of a wide variety of crop. There is growing 'desire' in the market place for crop ...

In the current Covid pandemic, plastics are making a comeback. Concern for hygiene and plummeting oil prices have come together in a perfect storm, with a massive surge in production of PPE, water bottles, take-away food containers, pre-packaged produce, and home deliveries wrapped in single-use plastic bags; which will have long term environmental impact...

During the sorting & packing process, grape bunches can be found to possess a variety of defects; particularly botrytis (necrotrophic fungus), splits, shrivelled/damaged fruit, moulds and maggots, which can lead to accelerated rotting of fruit and decreased shelf life - 47% of grape punnets are affected by rots and moulds at current 'end of life'. This re...

A key challenge for plastic recyclers and a major limiting factor in producing recycled polymers, is the wide variation in base polymer input materials which means that meeting the customer specification is very challenging and every batch requires a unique formulation that must be derived experimentally; unlike virgin polymer compounders - who have a sta...

Infection Prevention & Control (IPC) is an NHS high priority, further heightened by the Covid-19 pandemic. The main pillars of IPC are use of PPE and rigorous hand hygiene. The preferred hand sanitisation method is handwashing (anti-microbial soap & water, rinse, dry with paper towels ~30 seconds total time) which achieves log 3 microbial inactivation. Al...

The vast majority of sorting recycling facilities that handle plastics use Near Infrared (NIR: 750 -- 1700 nm wavelength) spectroscopy for automated detection of polymer type for effective sorting; this technique has been chosen and developed over the past twenty years as being the only cost effective and robust technique for sorting mixed post consumer w...

This project aims to develop a new process to extract valuable complete undenatured proteins from potato waste (whole stockfeed grade potatoes and peel), for use as high quality food grade vegan/vegetarian protein supplements, sport protein sources and as functional food processing ingredients. B-Hive Innovations Ltd are set to be first to market with thi...

Structural foam moulded parts have a cellular foamed core with a relatively solid skin outer, produced by a form of injection moulding using a chemical blowing agent or gas such as nitrogen, butane or carbon dioxide. However chemical blowing agents cause ozone depletion & will be phased out under the Montreal Protocol. Gases such as butane & pentane are a...

Potato store efficiency and losses depend crucially on air flows to distribute treatments and to equilibrate temperature and moisture in the breathing crop, without excessive energy consumption and yield loss through dehydration. At least 60% of current stores are failing in this regard, leading to potential exceedances in CIPC - a crucial sprouting suppr...

The EU polymer processing industry continues to contract, with companies struggling to remain competitive. Whilst energy cost reductions are welcomed, cycle time is a key driver of financial performance, with parts costed as a function of cycle time and machinery hourly rate. Our novel approach offers a new heating technology for injection moulding, using...

The UK and EU polymer processing industry continues to contract, with companies struggling to maintain market share against competition from low cost economies. Whilst energy cost reductions would be welcomed, cycle time and component thickness are key drivers of financial performance, with parts costed as a function of cycle time & machine hourly rate. T...

Soft rot, a bacterial infection of potato tubers, leads to large losses for the industry along the storage and supply chain in their efforts to supply high quality potatoes to the consumer. The current washing processes cannot guarantee the removal of the bacteria in some circumstances, and this project aims to develop a more effective cleaning system. Th...