In collaboration with Ferrovial Construction UK & Ireland The Foundation Industries face stark challenges that are worsened by a persistent lack of workforce diversity. In 2020, women represented 16% and BAME workers only 7.1% of all workers. Coinciding with a looming skills shortage due to an ageing workforce, difficulties in recruiting and retaining gender and […]
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Published: March 8th, 2023
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In collaboration with The Dean Group and Morgan Advanced Materials There is no one-size-fits-all approach to Corporate Environmental Sustainability (CES) because organisations have different organisational goals (aims, values, projects, strategies, initiatives & activities) and different interdependencies across these goals. Nevertheless, there is currently no tool or process companies can follow to decide upon their unique […]
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Published: March 8th, 2023
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Through collaborative research and knowledge exchange workshops involving companies and industry associations, the project served to develop a business case for the Foundation Industries to adopt strategies around Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, circularity, and business model innovation to strengthen companies’ competitiveness and reduce the environmental impact they have. Participants reported their engagement with the project […]
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Published: March 8th, 2023
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In collaboration with British Glass Keeping flat glass products (windows and glazing) within a circular economy model presents a great opportunity for decarbonisation, and is economically beneficial. However, public policy attention has focused on recycling and reusing container glass, while most end-of-life post-consumer windows and glazing is not recycled and reusing it is less appropriate. […]
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Published: March 8th, 2023
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In collaboration with Materials Processing Institute (MPI), Morgan Advanced Materials and Lucideon Ltd. Next generation processing technologies (NGPTs), being new technologies that provide high energy efficiency and process intensification supported by transformative digital technologies, are touted as key decarbonisation enablers in the ceramic and glass sectors, but there are adoption barriers to overcome. Through a […]
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Published: March 8th, 2023
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Paper based products often require thin films of plastic to serve as a waterproof barrier. In an effort to make products more recyclable, there has been a push towards to a) reduction in the use of ‘Single Use Plastics’ and b) ensuring that future products are ‘recyclable’ by allowing the reuse of the valuable high-quality […]
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Published: November 8th, 2022
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In collaboration with Johnson Matthey α-Al2O3 is a technical/advanced ceramic used in applications such as electrical insulation, wear, and corrosion resistance, with approximately 120,000 metric tonnes manufactured per year worldwide. Conventional processing of α-Al2O3 ceramics requires significant effort in optimising physical powder characteristics through reduction in particle size, followed by sintering at ~ 1600°C to […]
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Published: October 28th, 2022
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In collaboration with Deakin Biohybrid The project focussed on formulation and process optimisation to develop and improve the performance of low-carbon, bio-based alternative to ceramic tiles. Optimised tiles displayed improved mechanical properties giving flexural strength up to 25 MPa, in excess of our initial target of 12 MPa. The methodology concentrated on an iterative statistical […]
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Published: October 28th, 2022
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In collaboration with Tarmac Cement, Glass Futures, Wienerberger UK and CELSA Steel UK The Foundation Industries (FI) are keen to reduce the amount of raw materials they consume, and maximise the value of the by-products they generate. However, they lack integrated information about the volumes, chemical composition and end use of ‘waste’ which presents a […]
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Published: October 28th, 2022
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In collaboration with AMCRETE The cement industry is one of the biggest CO2 emitters on the planet and concurrently, we are facing a global crisis in plastic waste and how to repurpose, reuse or recycle it rather than disposing of it in landfill/incineration. The scope of this project was to allow concrete to be ‘dematerialised’ […]
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Published: October 28th, 2022
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