Industry News
ScotGov: Planning consent has been granted for combined heat & power biomass plant for the Port of Grangemouth. The plant is expected to generate up to 120MW of renewable electricity – the equivalent of the amount needed to power around 130,000 homes. The plant will also supply local businesses & industry with up to 200 megawatts thermal (MWth) of renewable heat.
MO: Climate Service UK, a new initiative led by the Met Office will provide users with vital information to help them manage exposure to climate variability & change. By working in partnership with users to understand vulnerability to weather & climate, the Climate Service UK will support 'climate-smart' decisions to make society more resilient.
STFC: Scientists studying tiny wood-boring beetles have taken an important step in the quest to turn old rubbish such as paper & wood into liquid fuel. Using Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron facility on the Harwell Campus, researchers have identified a key enzyme used by the marine-borers or ‘gribble’ to break down wood.
They now hope to reproduce the effect of this enzyme on an industrial scale to create sustainable liquid biofuels – a process that is currently difficult & very expensive.
They now hope to reproduce the effect of this enzyme on an industrial scale to create sustainable liquid biofuels – a process that is currently difficult & very expensive.
WAG: A unique marine water purification system - designed & developed by Hydro Industries in Wales – is en route to the USA for use by one of the world’s largest & most successful salvage companies.
The hi-tech system designed for T&T Salvage will be used in major marine salvage and oil spill operations throughout the USA. It has the capacity to purify contaminated sea water at a rate of up to 500 tonnes of water an hour – Hydro believe this is 6 times faster than their nearest global competitor.
This new small, lightweight system – which can be easily flown by helicopter to rescue vessels working on marine disaster recovery operations - has been designed & developed specifically for Marine Salvage operations.
HEFCE: 5 new university & business partnerships are receiving over £290m of investment in research projects to drive innovation & growth. The projects will focus on physical sciences, medical research, advanced materials, pharmaceutical manufacturing and advanced manufacturing.
They will tackle global challenges like developing new treatments for cancer, or ensuring advanced materials can cope under harsh conditions, including extracting oil and gas reservoirs.
They will tackle global challenges like developing new treatments for cancer, or ensuring advanced materials can cope under harsh conditions, including extracting oil and gas reservoirs.
This is the latest round of projects from the £300m UK Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF), bringing the total number of winners to 20. Successful universities have secured at least double that amount of investment from businesses or charities, together delivering more than £1bn of new funding for research.
WAG: Wales based Concrete Canvas is 1 of 3 finalists for the 2013 MacRobert Award - the premier award for UK innovation in engineering, which recognises the ‘successful development of innovative ideas in engineering and promotes the importance of engineering and the role of engineers & scientists in contributing to national prosperity & international prestige’.
Pontypridd based Concrete Canvas specialises in the production of rolls of fabric impregnated with a dry concrete mix. When sprayed with water, the fabric which has an impervious PVC membrane on one side, hardens within 24 hours to create a hard, fibre reinforced, concrete layer. It was initially used to build shelters that could be rapidly deployed for use in disaster relief & defence.
