The future 'Net Zero Economy' will be based on new forms of energy (e.g., renewable electricity and hydrogen), new feedstocks (sustainably sourced biological and waste materials), and a new depth of data. These changes present particular problems for the process industries (bulk and fine chemicals, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and utilities etc). To 'Engineer Net Zero' in these industries, they must undergo the most profound transformation since the industrial revolution. To accommodate these new energy types, novel feedstocks and new data, entirely new processes, process technologies and green chemical routes will have to be developed. The scale of the challenge is enormous; manufacturing alone accounts for ~10% of the total economic output of the UK (£203bn Gross Value Added) and ~7% of UK jobs (HMG, 2022).
Research Challenges:
The PINZ CDT will help to 'Engineer Net Zero' by developing new processes, green chemistries, and process technologies, via Research for Technology Transfer (O2) at the interfaces of process and chemical engineering, and the biological, chemical and data sciences. Our Research Themes (T) have been informed by and co-created with industry:
(T1) Energy: The use of renewable electricity and hydrogen demands new ways to perform process steps (reactions, separations, heat transfer) and whole process design.
(T2) Feedstocks: Sustainable feedstocks/raw materials and solvents (bio-based, carbon-neutral, waste-derived), will force the development of new process chemistry and technology.
(T3) Data: The increasing quantity and quality of data (in-process, LCA, TEA) will dramatically change how we design, operate, and monitor processes.
Training Challenges:
Build Back Better: Our Plan for Growth (HMT, 2021), and The UK Innovation Strategy: Leading the Future by Creating It (BEIS, 2021) highlight a strategic focus on skills development, innovation, and Net Zero to transform the UK into a global science and engineering superpower. To meet these substantial challenges and maintain the UK as a technology hub and global leader in innovation in the process industries, the UK requires pioneering, innovative, and knowledgeable chemical engineers/chemists. These world-class, doctoral-level graduates will not only be required to navigate these challenges: they will need to lead the change. The PINZ CDT will create these 'Net Zero-enabled' future leaders via a nurturing, supportive and collaborative training environment, which will equip the researchers with the tools to develop, analyse, evaluate, and implement new technologies and processes during their projects and future careers.
Student-Centred Training (O1) will underpin everything we do, tailoring research training both at the individual and CDT level, alongside the provision of the management, entrepreneurship, and business skills that industry demands. Throughout their training, we will facilitate peer-to-peer interactions within and across cohorts to build a community and engender a broad exchange of ideas. This is especially important when working with students from diverse academic and personal backgrounds and recognises the contribution diversity makes to a challenge on the scale of Net Zero.
Delivery:
PINZ will be led by the world's largest Process Intensification Group (PIG, Newcastle University), and the world-leading Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE, University of York), leveraging >40 years of combined experience in technology transfer and >40 ongoing industrial partnerships. Only through this combination of the 'biggest and best' can the internationally leading education, training, and research needed to produce the next generation of leaders and innovators for Net Zero be realised.
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