These findings have the potential to accelerate the discovery of novel, more efficient cryoprotectants - and may also allow for the repurposing of molecules already known to slow or stop ice growth.

Professor Matthew Gibson, from Swagֱ�� Institute of Biotechnology at Swagֱ��, added: “My team has spent more than a decade studying how ice-binding proteins, found in polar fish, can interact with ice crystals, and we’ve been developing new molecules and materials that mimic their activity. This has been a slow process, but collaborating with Professor Sosso has revolutionized our approach. The results of the computer model were astonishing, identifying active molecules I never would have chosen, even with my years of expertise. This truly demonstrates the power of machine learning.”

The full paper can be read .

Today, the and The announced the nine recipients of the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK, including three Laureates and six finalists.

and are named among the three Laureates, who will each receive £100,000 in recognition of their work in Chemical Sciences and Physical Sciences & Engineering, respectively.

Now in its seventh year, the awards are the largest unrestricted prizes available to UK scientists aged 42 or younger. The awards recognise research that is transforming medicine, technology and our understanding of the world.

This year’s Laureates were selected by an independent jury of expert scientists from across the UK.

Professor Anthony Green, a Lecturer in Organic Chemistry from Swagֱ��, has been named the Chemical Sciences Laureate for his discoveries in designing and engineering new enzymes, with valuable catalytic functions previously unknown in nature that address societal needs. Recent examples include the development of biocatalysts to produce COVID-19 therapies to break down plastics, and to use visible light to drive chemical reactions. 

Rahul Nair, Professor of Materials Physics at Swagֱ��, was named Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering for developing novel membranes based on two-dimensional (2D) materials that will enable energy-efficient separation and filtration technologies. Using graphene and other 2D materials, his research aims to study the transport of water, organic molecules, and ions at the nanoscale, exploring its potential applications to address societal challenges, including water filtration and other separation technologies.

Internationally recognised by the scientific community, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists are instrumental in expanding the engagement and recognition of young scientists and provide the support and encouragement needed to drive scientific innovation for the next generation.

, Founder and Chairman of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, said: “Providing recognition and funding early in a scientist’s career can make the difference between discoveries that remain in the lab and those that make transformative scientific breakthroughs.

“We are proud that the Awards have promoted both UK science and the careers of many brilliant young scientists and we look forward to their additional discoveries in the years ahead.”

, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences and Chair of the Awards’ Scientific Advisory Council, added: “From studying cancer to identifying water in far-off planets, to laying the groundwork for futuristic quantum communications systems, to making enzymes never seen before in a lab or in nature, this year’s Laureates and Finalists are pushing the boundaries of science and working to make the world a better place. Thank you to this year’s jury for sharing their time and expertise in selecting these daring and bold scientists as the winning Laureates and Finalists of the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK.”

The 2024 Blavatnik Awards in the UK Laureates and Finalists will be honoured at a black-tie gala dinner and award ceremony at Banqueting House in Whitehall, London, on 27 February 2024.

The research will deliver a method to produce enriched lithium in the quantities needed to make breeder blankets for deuterium-tritium fusion reactors. This allows tritium, which is an extremely scarce resource, to be produced inside the reactor. Thereby solving the challenge of how to fuel fusion reactors.

Dr Kathryn George will lead the project in collaboration with Prof Philip Martin, Prof Clint Sharrad and Dr Laurence Stamford from The University of �Ѳ��Գ������ٱ��’s Chemical Engineering department, Prof Bruce Hanson at the University of Leeds and Global Nuclear Security Partners Ltd. 

UKAEA launched the new Fusion Industry Programme challenge ‘Realising the potential of lithium in an economic, sustainable and scalable fusion energy fuel-cycle’ in early 2023, encouraging organisations to develop and evaluate prototypes of lithium technology.

In total, five organisations have secured six contracts worth £7.4m in total with UKAEA to develop lithium technology for fusion energy. The four universities and one company have received contracts ranging between £700,000 and £1.5m from UKAEA’s ‘Fusion Industry Programme’.

Tim Bestwick, UKAEA’s Chief Development Officer, said: “Fusion energy continues to feature on the world stage, with recent commitments being made at COP28 to develop fusion as a sustainable, low carbon source of energy for future generations.

“The Fusion Industry Programme is encouraging the development of UK industrial fusion capacity and preparing the UK fusion industry for the future global fusion power plant market.

“The organisations that have been awarded these contracts have successfully demonstrated their lithium technology concepts and will now develop them to the ‘proof of concept’ stage.”

The latest contracts follow the award of Fusion Industry Programme contracts earlier in 2023, focused on digital engineering and fusion fuel requirements, and more recently materials and manufacturing, and heating and cooling technologies.

The is awarded to an eminent individual who has rendered exceptional service to chemical engineering. Professor Azapagic is the first woman to ever be presented with the prize.

The award honours George E Davis, the founding father of the profession, and is not given more frequently than every three years; the previous medal was awarded in 2016.

The medal was presented by IChemE Past President David Bogle, prior to Professor Azapagic’s keynote lecture delivered at the European Congress of Chemical Engineering in Berlin, today, 18 September 2023. 

He said: “I am proud to present Adisa with the Davis Medal on behalf of IChemE in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the profession and the enormously positive impact of her achievements. Sustainability and systems thinking are central to the modern discipline of chemical engineering, and her work exemplifies this instrumental approach.”

Globally, Adisa was the first appointed Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering. Based at Swagֱ��, she is pre-eminent for her work on sustainable production and consumption and is particularly known for her leadership in, and contributions to, carbon footprinting, life cycle assessment, and sustainability, for which she was awarded an MBE in 2019.

She has published over 200 journal papers, three books, and has delivered numerous plenary and keynote lectures worldwide. With two honorary doctorates and an H-index of 76, her work has significantly impacted industry and has helped to inform national and international policy.

In her many public and media engagements, she has acted as a role model, helping to inform consumers about what they can do for sustainability, as well as demonstrating how chemical engineers contribute to sustainable development in practice, building a positive public perception of our discipline.

Professor Azapagic said: “I am delighted that my work on sustainable chemical engineering has been recognised by this high accolade named after the founder of our discipline George E. Davis. This award is particularly dear to me as Davis held his first lectures in chemical engineering at Swagֱ��. I am also thankful to my group Sustainable Industrial Systems at Swagֱ�� and many academic and industrial collaborators who contributed to and supported my work over the years.”

, Vice Dean and Head of School of Natural Sciences at Swagֱ��, has been named winner of the 2024 RB Anderson Catalysis Award. 

The biennial award is given by the to internationally recognised leaders in the field of catalysis. 

Sponsored by the Canadian Catalysis Foundation, it is named after prominent Canadian catalysis researcher Robert B Anderson. 

Previous winners include Mark Barteau, Lanny D Schmidt, Mark Davis, Leo E Manzer, Robert J Farrauto, Harold Kung, James Dumesic, Avelino Corma, Enrique Iglesia, Ganapati Yadav, Johannes Lercher, Bert M Weckhuysen, Jingguang Chen, and Daniel E Resasco. 

The award consists of a plaque, 5,000 CAD toward travel, and a 1,500 CAD honorarium. Professor Hardacre will deliver two plenary lectures at the Canadian Symposium on Catalysis, to be held in May 2024 in Quebec, Canada, at which the award will be presented. 

One educational lecture will be aimed towards graduate students and postdoctoral fellows; the other is a research-based plenary talk taking place during the symposium.

This project is one of 20 that will be supported as part of IDRIC’s Wave 2 £6 million funding to accelerate decarbonisation of industry. Designed to aid industrial decarbonisation in Scotland, North West England, Teesside, Solent, Black Country, Humber, and South Wales, this second wave will fund 20 projects across 14 institutions covering a wide range of technological, environmental, economic, skills and social aspects of decarbonisation. 

, a Research Fellow based in The University of �Ѳ��Գ������ٱ��’s Department of Chemical Engineering, has also been awarded funding by IDRIC’s second wave. Working in collaboration with BGS, Heriot-Watt University and Centrica, she will explore hydrogen storage near industrial clusters using porous rock storage with research in the Humber, North West, South Wales and Teesside. 

�Ѳ��Գ������ٱ��’s energy experts are committed to delivering an equitable and prosperous net zero energy future. By matching science and engineering, with social science, economics, politics and arts, the University’s community of 600+ experts address the entire lifecycle of each energy challenge, creating innovative and enduring solutions to make a difference to the lives of people around the globe. 

This enables the University’s research community to develop pathways to ensure a low carbon energy transition that will also drive jobs, prosperity, resilience and equality.

, Professor and Chair of Subsurface Engineering and Porous Media Physics in the at Swagֱ��, has been . 

Professor Niasar will be President-Elect for two years, starting May 2023, and will become InterPore President two years later. 

InterPore, a non-profit independent scientific organisation, was established in 2008. It has more than 1,500 individual members and 48 institutional members, and . So far, it has held 15 annual conferences – in Europe, Asia and North America. 

The organisation aims to advance and disseminate knowledge for the understanding, description and modelling of natural and industrial porous medium systems. 

InterPore acts as a platform for researchers active in modelling of flow and transport in natural, biological, and technical porous media, such as soils, aquifers, oil and gas reservoirs, biological tissues, plants, fuel cells, wood, ceramics, concrete, textiles, paper, polymer composites, hygienic materials, food, foams, membranes, and more.

The grant will begin the transformation of the University’s existing Pilot Plant for Chemical Engineering, creating a world-leading facility for sustainable chemical processing. This space will bring researchers together with industry professionals to provide the vital infrastructure needed to test advanced technologies that prototype industrial-scale processes.

Swagֱ�� is the birthplace of Chemical Engineering, and the University continues to be a prime destination for industry‐relevant training. Today our academic researchers are at the forefront of some of the globe’s most transformational science and engineering discoveries.

Professor Lev Sarkisov, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering has said about the project: “We are developing the new generation of sustainable chemical technologies by combining advanced concepts in multiscale modelling, materials, data science and process optimization.

"The new Industrial Hub will be the testing ground for these technologies at the pilot scale, accelerating their transition to the industrial practice. With the new facility, Swagֱ�� will lead research and innovation on clean energy working closely with industry and delivering a new curriculum for the next generation chemical engineers.”

The new Industrial Hub for Sustainable Chemical Engineering will be developed in the James Chadwick Building, which is part of the new £450m home for engineering and materials science - Swagֱ�� Engineering Campus Development (MECD) - opening in September 2022.

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of Swagֱ��, has said: “With support from the Wolfson Foundation, Swagֱ�� will be able to significantly accelerate the UK’s ambitions for a thriving low carbon industrial sector. The new facilities will replicate industrial scale technologies and optimise industrial chemical processes, advancing scientific research to deliver solutions to the climate crisis.

We are excited to build on our position as the UK's primary university programme for the delivery of sustainable chemical engineering research and training the engineers of tomorrow.”

About the new home for engineering and materials science

�Ѳ��Գ������ٱ��’s new engineering and materials science development will provide world-class sustainable research facilities, alongside flexible and innovative teaching and learning spaces that will enable students to shape their own learning environment. It will house a community of 8,000 students, researchers, academics and professional services staff. This will be the largest concentration of interdisciplinary engineering expertise in any UK university.

Colleagues from Swagֱ�� and Durham University have received a £754,000 research grant from EPSRC for subsurface CO2 storage. 

The project, entitled Performance and Injectivity of CO2 in Hyper-Saline Aquifers – or PINCH – is in collaboration with Princeton University, the University of Stuttgart, bp, Shell, and Equinor. 

It represents an excellent research development in the discipline of subsurface energy engineering, and addresses major challenges faced in geological CO2 storage. 

of Swagֱ��'s is Principal Investigator for the PINCH project, which aims to establish fundamental science to develop a novel predictive model and apply it to real field data supported by industries. 

A recent graduate from the at Swagֱ�� has picked up the prestigious . 

Dr Senyou An, now of Imperial College London, won the award based on his excellent PhD research leading to implementation of GPU-based algorithms into novel pore-scale simulators, for modelling and characterisation of flow and transport in porous materials for various fields of engineering and manufacturing. 

InterPore, the International Society of Porous Media, is the largest scientific society of porous media, with more than 1,700 members and 18 national chapters. 

The InterPore-PoreLab Award is made possible by a grant from PoreLab, a centre of excellence jointly formed by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Oslo. 

It is given to a young researcher in recognition of outstanding contributions in the field of porous media from a fundamental point of view. The research may be theoretical, computational, or experimental. 

In the second video, the spotlight is shone on chemical engineering at Swagֱ��, and its focus on innovation:

The Great British Entrepreneur Awards, in partnership with Starling Bank, acknowledges and champions the hard work and inspiring stories of entrepreneurs and businesses across the UK

Swagֱ�� BioGel is a spinout company from the Swagֱ�� Institute of Biotechnology and owes its start to seed funding from the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The company produces PeptiGels and Peptilinks (synthetic hydrogels) that are used for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery applications. Their work has pioneered the hydrogel space by offering cheaper and more bespoke hydrogel solutions to industry that can act as a scaffold for a range of tissue and cell cultures.

Aline will join 1,200 other entrepreneurs at the award ceremony on Monday 22 November at Grosvenor House in London. The event will see all eight regional shortlists brought together to crown the winners of each region.

In attendance will be judges, mentors, investors, and partners who will celebrate the unrivalled creativity, ambition, and resilience of entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom.

Over the last decade, the awards have celebrated some household names including Julie Deane OBE of Cambridge Satchel Co, Alan and Juliet Barratt of Grenade and Shaun Pulfrey of Tangle Teezer, as well as Steven Bartlett, the BBC’s Dragons Den’s youngest ever Dragon.

You can find out more about Aline in her recent International Women’s Day interview, and the .

The management of radioactive graphite waste is one of the major challenges of nuclear power plant decommissioning throughout the world, particularly in the UK, as well as in France and Russia.

More than 300,000 tonnes of nuclear graphite waste worldwide, and around 100,000 tonnes in the UK, await disposal in a Geological Disposal Facility that is yet to be built.

, and have found a novel and non-destructive method of removing radioactivity from this type of waste and downgrading it from the category of 'higher activity waste' to that of a much lower level. This breakthrough could therefore significantly speed up disposal of such material and reduce the overall cost of dealing with our legacy waste.

The treatment developed uses electrolysis to drive the removal of radioactive species from irradiated nuclear graphite into a molten salt medium. Molten salts have an advantage over, for example, water in that molten salts have a wide electrochemical window, which means we can readily access electric potentials that can better force the removal of these nuclear graphite isotopes.

Using this method the team was able to reduce the radioactivity of UK Magnox grade graphite so that reclassification of the graphite from Intermediate Level Waste to Low Level Waste is possible, making it far easier and cheaper to dispose of.

Professor Abbie Jones, Chair in Nuclear Graphite, said: "The UK nuclear industry has built all but one of its reactors (>40 in total) using graphite as core moderator material and structural components. As these cease to operate, this will result in a volume of graphite waste equivalent to ~ 1300 double decker buses (~ 100,000 tonnes). As most of the advanced modular nuclear reactor technologies proposed for future low carbon energy production may also use nuclear graphite, technologies that can minimise the burden of this waste are vital.

"We have submitted an international patent with Swagֱ�� on this technology and are planning follow-on research to determine if we can decontaminate nuclear graphite to levels even further than observed thus far. We will also use our ongoing links with the International Atomic Energy Agency to explore the feasibility of upscaling this technology for the treatment to address further extensive legacy nuclear graphite waste worldwide."

Dr Clint Sharrad, Reader in Nuclear Decommissioning Engineering, added: "If we are successful in industrialising this technology, it could lead to up to £1 billion in savings for the UK taxpayer by reducing disposal costs for current graphite legacy wastes, as well as improved sustainability of advanced reactor technology where graphite will be deployed again.

"The nuclear sector as a whole is already exploring and developing innovative technologies to decommission legacy facilities quickly and safely. Our work has shown how innovation can be successfully achieved by possessing a willingness to work across disciplines and research areas."

The paper, titled , was published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

stemmed from research within Swagֱ��, with current CEAS academic James Winterburn and former CEAS PhD researcher Ben Dolman working to invent the technology involved in its continual fermentation processes for the manufacture of biosurfactants – a greener alternative to surfactants for use in environmentally-friendly home and personal care products.

The company will use this investment to build a commercial biosurfactant plant, allowing it to elevate its work in the biosurfactant space, and bring this to market at a competitive price point.

More details on Holiferm's investment can be found on .

Taking place on Tuesday, 23 March, the ceremony was an opportunity for the Department's academic and professional services staff, as well as its undergraduate and postgraduate students, to come together and celebrate virtually. Head of Department introduced the ceremony and welcomed staff and students before introducing the two award categories.

The BP Achievement Awards have been sponsored by BP for the last ten years and are aimed at first and second-year undergraduate students. Their goal is to recognise and support academic excellence in students who have the ability to excel in their discipline, and to encourage students with an interest in energy to consider careers in the energy sector.

Applicants submitted an essay on an energy-related subject, relevant to their discipline, and this year the essay question was around low-carbon energy. Professor Sarkisov shared that himself, and the panel of academics were extremely impressed with the standard of essays submitted.

The winners of this year's BP Achievement Awards were:

• Annali Khalatbari and Anh Vo Que Luu (first year)
• Yamin Banglawala (second year)

Speaking of her award, Annali said: "The application process for the BP Achievement Award invited students to write an essay about the role that chemical engineers are playing and are expected to play as society strives to transition the energy economy of the world. I would like to thank the Department of CEAS hugely for giving me this award and opportunity - I greatly appreciate it. I look forward to enhancing my knowledge as a student and the potential of gaining industrial experience within a global company."

Anh described the BP Awards as "an occasion for students, particularly in engineering degrees, to enlarge and fulfil our knowledge about sustainable energy. Sustainable energy plays an important role in our current world as we are facing a global crisis, which is known as climate change. Therefore, by participating in this award, we could raise our own awareness and from there, use our influence to spread the message that we have learnt to everyone. Furthermore, it allows us to develop our understanding of what we should develop in terms of technical and non-technical skills as an engineering student who will become an engineer in the near future".

Second-year student Yamin said: "BP's Achievement Award is a step towards inspiring the next generation of engineers by incentivising the analysis of alternate and renewable sources of energy. I think it is a brilliant way to increase the presence of the most important topics within this discipline. I would like to thank the entire CEAS Department for creating the perfect environment where engineers can develop, improve and connect with huge corporations such as BP."

The GTA Awards have been established in CEAS to promote excellence and commitment from demonstrators delivering the chemical engineering curriculum. announced the awards, explaining how graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are a very important part of the student experience.

Demonstrators worked very hard in Semester 1 and 2 to help deliver the chemical engineering curriculum, and the Department is keen to support excellent demonstration in CEAS, and to reward and encourage GTAs who have done an outstanding job.

The winners were:

• Most approachable (nominated by students): Elliott Sutton
• Most effective/innovative online (nominated by academics): Tianmu Yuan
• Best feedback (nominated by academics): Noah Miller
• Most collegial (nominated by GTAs): Julia Jimenez Romero

Best feedback winner Noah said: "I won the award for giving detailed and helpful feedback on work that I have marked. The ceremony was lovely, it was nice to see everyone together and be involved in a little celebration despite all the struggles of the last term."

Winner of most effective/innovative online GTA Tianmu commented: "For the course there was a 'coursework requires' group discussion and face-to-face interaction. However, this was impractical due to the COVID restriction. Therefore, the instructor designed a story, and I wrote an interactive webpage for the students to go through the coursework materials without losing its essence. I sincerely hope this award will motivate all of us to come up with more effective, inspiring, and convenient ways of teaching."

Elliot, winner of the most approachable award, said: "It's really nice to have recognition for my work as I care a great deal about ensuring all of the students I work with get the most out of the sessions. They're a pleasure to teach and I look forward to continuing to do so."

And winner of the most collegial award Julia added: "The award was part of the initiative to incentivise and recognise the work of GTAs in this time of online learning. The award is related to teamwork and collaboration and, in that sense, I think I wouldn't have received this award if it were not for my peers and the rest of the staff. I really appreciate the nomination, and I would like to thank, again, my colleagues and all the staff I work with. This is not only a recognition of my efforts but also to the colleagues I work with, for generating a teaching/learning environment that is more productive, harmonic and cooperative.

"Finally, I would like to thank CEAS staff for the opportunity to complement my PhD studies with teaching experience. Being a GTA has been an excellent opportunity to work with people from different cultures and I strongly recommend other PhD students put themselves in the roles. It is not only a great opportunity to see things from the teaching point of view and support new generations' learning, but it also allows you to meet other fellows, share ideas and develop your soft skills."

The Department sends its huge congratulations to this year's winners, and thanks everyone who came along to celebrate!

The prestigious accolade is given to the most meritorious paper published by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) in 2020.

Entitled 'Tailoring morphology of hierarchical catalysts for tuning pore diffusion behaviour: a rational guideline exploiting bench-top pulsed-field gradient (PFG) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)', the paper by Forster et al was unanimously awarded the medal after being published in Molecular Systems Design and Engineering.

The judging committee commented that the paper "is a relevant and timely paper at the heart of chemical engineering... The committee felt that the work was very thorough and held potential for impact in other contexts".

Head of Department for CEAS Profesor Lev Sarkisov commended Dr D'Agostino and his group for this achievement, saying: "This is an excellent example of a fruitful MSc project and effective supervision of PhD and MSc students."

Dr D'Agostino and his students have been offered the opportunity to accept the award at a virtual presentation.

Congratulations to the team!

The online events will take place throughout the week commencing Monday, 14 December as part of wider celebrations across Swagֱ��. They will provide an opportunity for both staff and students to mark winter graduation after physical ceremonies were postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

FSE graduation celebrations will be spread over the week, with events held for mathematics; mechanical, aerospace and civil engineering (MACE) - technical; MACE - management of projects; physics and astronomy; electrical and electronic engineering; international fashion retailing; materials science and engineering; chemical engineering and analytical science; earth and environmental sciences; computer science; and chemistry.

The move online means students will be able to celebrate regardless of where they are currently situated. It shows that while they may not be in the city at the moment, Swagֱ�� is behind its graduates as they take their next steps out into the world.

Each subject area will celebrate in its own unique way - either via YouTube or Zoom. Dates and times - and links to those on YouTube - are provided below:

School of Engineering

• - Wednesday, 16 December, 11.30am
• - Wednesday, 16 December, 9am
• - Thursday, 17 December, 11.30am
• - Friday, 18 December, 12pm
• - Friday, 18 December, 10am

School of Natural Sciences

• Chemistry - Thursday, 17 December, 11am (link available soon)
• Earth and environmental sciences - Monday, 14 December, 10am (link available soon)
• Materials: International fashion retailing - Wednesday, 16 December, 2pm (link available soon)
• Materials science and engineering - Tuesday, 15 December, 2pm (link available soon)
• Mathematics - Wednesday, 16 December, 10am (link available after the event) 
• Physics and astronomy - Tuesday, 15 December, 11am (link available after the event)

A huge congratulations to all of our FSE graduates, and the best of luck for the future!

Researchers from Swagֱ�� have discovered that simple manipulations of carbon nitride, a metal-free, non-toxic solid, made of Earth abundant elements of carbon and nitrogen, are able to efficiently exploit solar light for the synthesis of organic molecules containing fluorine, which are the building blocks of many agro-chemical and pharmaceutical applications.

The concept the scientists used is known as ‘photocatalysis’ whereby artificial light or sunlight is able to trigger chemical reactions at ambient conditions, which would otherwise require more energy intensive processes.

The process can be compared to that of natural photosynthesis used by plants to harness the sun’s energy. However, artificial exploitation of light energy is very challenging as materials used for this purpose are generally very expensive, difficult to make and very often not efficient in triggering chemical reactions. This represents a major issue in terms of process viability on a large scale.

Industrial implementation of photocatalytic process would be hugely beneficial for the environment and society as it would be able to provide cleaner and more sustainable chemical products reducing and potentially removing the use of fossil fuels as primary source of energy in such industrial productions.

The new findings which are published today in the journal , are the result of an international collaboration between Dr Carmine D’Agostino at Swagֱ�� (UK), with The University of Trieste (Italy), together with the CNR Institute of Materials for Electronics and Magnetism (Italy) and the CIC biomaGUNE (Spain).

The team at Swagֱ�� led by Dr Carmine D’Agostino, together with Luke Forster (PhD student) and Dr Graziano Di Carmine (Research Associate) played a pivotal role in unravelling, through the use of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques, the fundamental changes in carbon nitride properties responsible for the increased efficiency of the nano-engineered materials.

Dr Carmine D’Agostino said: “The chemical industry is a fundamental pillar for economic and technological development. Yet, it is often associated with environmental pollution and climate change. In recent years, efforts are being made to shift the current approach to industrial chemistry towards a greener, more sustainable and zero-waste approach.”

“This new exploitation of solar light for synthesis of useful chemicals is a very promising technology, yet very challenging. In particular, the search of non-toxic, widely available and economically viable materials, able to harness solar energy for efficient chemical conversion holds the Holy Grail for such photochemical conversions.”

This discovery paves new ways for the sustainable synthesis of a wide range of molecules of interest for the pharmaceutical and food industries and puts the basis for a new approach towards modern industrial chemistry.

The online events took place throughout the week commencing Monday, 27 July as part of wider celebrations across Swagֱ��. They provided an opportunity for both staff and students to mark summer graduation after physical ceremonies were postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 12 FSE graduations were spread over the week, with events held for mathematics; mechanical, aerospace and civil engineering; physics and astronomy; electrical and electronic engineering; fashion business and technology; materials science and engineering; chemical engineering and analytical science; earth and environmental sciences; computer science; and chemistry.

The move online meant students were able to celebrate despite being situated all across the globe. It showed that while they may not be in the city at the moment, Swagֱ�� is behind its graduates as they take their next steps out into the world.

Each subject area celebrated in its own unique way - as shown in the recorded videos below:

School of Engineering

School of Natural Sciences

A huge congratulations to all of our FSE graduates, and the best of luck for the future!

This is why we're doing our very best to keep you updated in the lead-up to the new academic year. As such, we'll be answering your questions in a series of video updates.

In this first video, Education Officer in the Students' Union Chloe Salin speaks to the Heads of Education for our Faculty's two Schools – Professor Peter Green in the School of Engineering and Professor Andrew Horn in the School of Natural Sciences – about their plans for a new-look teaching and learning experience.

You'll hear all about the benefits of blended learning; safety on campus; being part of the Swagֱ�� community (and student societies); lab, field and group work; exams and assessment; accessing software; and remote learning.

It's a lot to cover, but we hope the video will help to reassure you that this year's university experience will be what you expect from a university ranked 27^th in the world for two years running.

Please bear in mind that this is what we know right now. We'll provide more information, as and when we have it, in the videos to come.

If you have any questions you would like to ask, please send them through to your Department Admissions or Student Experience Team. They will then be either answered directly, or in one of the upcoming videos.

Swagֱ�� is the most targeted university for graduate employers, and last week's announcement of new post-study work visas will be welcomed by many international students hoping to further their studies at the University.

It was confirmed that post-work study visas will be extended for up to three years post-graduation for international PhD graduates, and that international undergraduate and postgraduate-taught students will be able to live and work in the UK for up to two years post-graduation.

The new Graduate Route is to launch in the summer of 2021, meaning any eligible student who graduates next summer or after will be able to apply, including students who have already started their courses.

As well as being the most targeted university for graduate employers, Swagֱ�� has a team specifically dedicated to helping postgraduate students further their careers.

Find out more about the new Graduate Route and post-study work visa extensions on the .

"As you may already be aware, MECD – our new home for engineering and materials science at Swagֱ�� – was due to open to students from September 2021.

"Unfortunately, owing to consequences from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the opening has been delayed by 12 months to September 2022. We've made this decision with you in mind to ensure we maintain a high quality teaching and learning experience, with minimal disruption to the completion of your studies.

"While construction work has continued during the COVID-19 lockdown, there has been an understandable impact on productivity, which has led to a forecasted 12-week delay to the main construction work, due to social distancing measures implemented on the MECD site.

"This delay unfortunately has a significant impact on the timing of later stages of work, including the fit out of teaching spaces and laboratories. Simply pushing back this work by 12 weeks would result in staff and students having to undertake a huge amount of move-related activity at busy points in the academic cycle, such as through exam, marking and writing up periods. In addition, the continuing uncertainty regarding the full extent of COVID-19 could potentially further impact the ongoing construction programme through this year. Therefore, moving the full opening of MECD to September 2022 will avoid unnecessary disruption to the delivery of the academic year and will ensure the best possible experience for all of our students.

"We are now actively re-planning the move of our teaching, learning, research and associated support activities to MECD by September 2022. As part of this, we will look for opportunities to see which areas of MECD could potentially be opened up to students sooner. This could mean some areas of the development, such as study spaces, could be made available to small numbers of students at a time prior to the full launch, where this would be beneficial and safe to do so.

"Alongside the phased reopening of campus for the 2020/21 academic year, we will also be looking at what enhancements can be made to North Campus to ensure that we maintain excellent teaching support facilities and an enhanced learning experience for you during the extended use of our buildings.

"Please rest assured our vision for MECD remains the same. We aim to provide an environment that creates a sense of pride in the heritage and achievements of the University, while inspiring you, future generations of engineers and scientists, to continue to innovate and pioneer discovery. Find out more about MECD on the .

"Finally, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well and that you enjoy the summer break. I look forward to seeing you virtually, or on the campus, in the new academic year."

As a postgraduate (research) offer-holder, you may have concerns about how the ongoing coronavirus outbreak will affect you and your transition to begin your postgraduate research at the University. In the video, Sarah provides some guidance during this time of uncertainty:

It will still be feasible for most offer-holders to start their PhD in September, but if it makes sense to delay by a month or two, or even until next January, we will be flexible in accommodating your needs and the particular circumstances of your research project. As soon as possible now we would like you to get in touch with your supervisor to consult about your start date.

Please be reassured that whenever you decide to commence your research, we will be as flexible as we possibly can where applicants aren't able to meet the conditions of their offers in the way that they expected, or at the time that they expected, due to the major challenges outside of their control.

Further information for applicants and offer-holders

Full transcript:

Hi, my name is Sarah Heath, I'm Associate Dean for Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Development in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Swagֱ��. I wanted to send a message to you as offer-holders in this time of uncertainty.

I want to start by saying how delighted I am that you have chosen Swagֱ�� as the institution where you will undertake your PhD research. In the past three months our staff, students and alumni have done some amazing work to support the global fight against COVID-19 and I am immensely proud to say I work here.

We understand that you will have concerns about how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic will affect you and your transition to begin your postgraduate research at the University. Obviously, this is not just an issue that affects The University of Swagֱ��, it is affecting Universities all around the world. We want to reassure you that we are monitoring the situation very closely and have significant contingency planning underway, and most importantly, that your health and your safety remains front and centre in our thinking at all times.

Given the considerable disruption to our research projects and laboratories we're reviewing a range of options and thinking creatively, with the goal of giving you the best possible start to your research career in the current circumstances. We believe that most of our postgraduate researchers will be able to commence their research programme with us in the autumn. This is likely to mean that you will begin your research programme remotely, as the restrictions imposed by social distancing measures may make unrestricted access to campus for all difficult for some time to come.

A remote start to your PhD is not a less productive one, it is actually very similar to how most PhDs start in research-intensive universities like ours; in collaboration with your supervisor you will spend the time carefully framing your PhD, formulating your short, medium and long-term aims, and doing much of the preliminary background work which will lead to a productive time once you are back on campus. You will also of course be able to fully participate in other activity, such as research group meetings just as if you were on campus.

As soon as possible we would like you and your supervisor to consult about your start date, to determine if a start this autumn is feasible for the particular circumstances of your research project. Please be reassured that if after consultation you decide that delaying the start to your research until January 2021 would be beneficial, you will be able to do so.

Whenever you decide to commence your research, rest assured that we will be as flexible as we possibly can where applicants aren't able to meet the conditions of their offers in the way that they expected, or at the time that they expected, due to the major challenges outside of their control.

We will of course continue to be guided by government and scientific advice and evidence as the country begins to ease the lockdown, and as in due course we further solidify our plans you'll be notified as soon as possible, and the information will be made available on the University website.

In the meantime, please take the opportunity to visit the applicant and offer-holder information on the University website. Please do keep in regular contact with your supervisor and your departmental support team with any questions or concerns you may have. And above all, please stay safe and look after yourselves and your loved ones.

Dr Spallina will lead the GLAMOUR (GLycerol to Aviation and Marine prOducts with sUstainable Recycling) project, which seeks to address the production of jet fuel and marine diesel oil by developing new low-carbon and low-cost methods through the recycling of waste products from bio-processes.

The four-year project has received a €5 million grant from the European Union's (EU) Horizon 2020 programme, and officially started in May 2020. GLAMOUR, which is coordinated by Swagֱ�� and involves participants from six EU countries, is a broad collaboration covering the complete value chain, from feedstock supplier to end-users.

Aviation and shipping sectors rely on fossil fuel-based technologies and today represent 5% of total anthropogenic CO2 emissions worldwide. More than one billion passengers travel through Europe by plane, resulting in an average fuel consumption of 3.4 litres per passenger-kilometres; around 80% of global trade by volume, meanwhile, is carried by sea - with an overall total marine fuel consumption of 330 million tonnes per year - and this is responsible for 13% of total greenhouse gas emissions from EU transport sectors. 

The enormous carbon footprints of the aviation and marine sectors must be reduced by 50% by 2050 to help achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement. The GLAMOUR consortium will address this problem.

It aims to develop two new processes to convert glycerol - an abundant by-product of first and second-generation biodiesel plants - as well as other bio-based feedstocks in aviation and marine fuels. This is possible after converting the feedstock into syngas and later to liquid fuels with an efficient thermal recovery.

To achieve its goals, GLAMOUR plans to demonstrate an efficient and low-cost two-step chemical process. In the first step, glycerol is gasified using a new gas-solid reaction process based on sorption-assisted chemical looping to tailor syngas composition with inherent pure CO2 separation. In the second, the syngas is converted into liquid fuels using a Fischer-Tropsch compact reactor with 3D printed catalyst, and later integrated with commercial fuel upgrade and refining processes.

The consortium includes two universities, three research centres and five industries (including two SMEs). The other participants are Argent Energy Limited (UK), Technische Universiteit Eindhoven and Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NL), Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (ES), Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (B), INERATEC GmbH and C&CS catalysts and chemical specialties GmbH (DE), Siirtec Nigi SpA and Ciaotech Srl (IT). The project also includes an advisory board with industrial stakeholders such as TOTAL, Johnson Matthey and ENGIE.

Swagֱ��'s annual Volunteer of the Year Awards recognise the amazing work of volunteers throughout the University, highlighting local, national and international projects and the impact they have.

Wide-ranging projects relate to health, children and vulnerable adults, community cohesion, and more.

Moved online this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the awards were hosted for the first time on the . A record number of nominations were received - and many FSE entrants were selected for special recognition.

They included:

Alumni Volunteer of the Year

• Highly commended: Alexandra Bushel (Department of Chemistry) for her ongoing work with Girlguiding UK - as a guide leader, training other guide learners and volunteering in Nepal.

Student Group Volunteer of the Year

• Highly commended: The Closet, a pop-up charity shop led by Rose de Saint Michel to promote sustainability in the fashion industry, selling vintage, second-hand and sample clothing. 

Student Volunteer of the Year

• Highly commended: Mathieu Augustin (Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering) for his volunteering work to reduce food waste with the food-sharing app OLIO.

• Commended: Isaac Campbell (Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science) for his volunteering as an IT teacher for disadvantaged children in a deprived area of Salford.

• Third place: Thomas Lewis (Department of Mathematics) for his role as President of Run Wild Swagֱ��, a free student running society that raises money for homelessness and awareness of issues such as mental health.

Social Justice Photography Competition

The results of the University's were also announced as part of the ceremony - and FSE was again well represented. 

Those who placed highly from the Faculty included:

Runner up: Zakwan Bin Haji Mohtadza (School of Engineering) for 'Coronaracism' (image cropped for article)

Second place: Adil Ahmed (School of Natural Sciences) for 'A Plastic Refuge' (image cropped for article)

Third place: Kashif Sohail (School of Engineering) for 'Splendour at a Cost' (image cropped for article)

A huge congratulations to everyone across the Faculty for their efforts!

As a postgraduate (taught) offer-holder, you may have concerns about how the ongoing coronavirus outbreak will affect you and your transition to beginning your masters-level study at the University. In the video, Danielle provides some guidance during this time of uncertainty:

We recognise the disruption across universities in the UK and around the world, and we are monitoring the situation closely. We will be as flexible as we can where applicants are not able to meet the conditions of their offers in the way they expected, or at the time they expected, due to major challenges outside of their control.

Further information for applicants and offer-holders

Full transcript:

Hello, my name is Professor Danielle George, I'm the Vice President for Teaching, Learning and Student Experience for the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Swagֱ��. I wanted to take the time to record a personal message for you in this time of uncertainty.

We understand that as offer-holders you have concerns about how the ongoing coronavirus outbreak will affect you and your transition to begin your masters-level study at the University. We recognise the disruption across universities in the UK and around the world and we are monitoring the situation closely.

We will be as flexible as we can where applicants aren't able to meet the conditions of their offers in the way they expected, or at the time they expected, due to major challenges outside of their control.

Given the significant disruption to academic systems, we're reviewing a number of options, including moving provision online for the start of term, as well as delaying the start of term to later in the year. If we do anticipate the need to make changes of a significant nature, you'll be notified as soon as possible and information will be made available on the University website.

We'll also be telling you more about how our staff, students and alumni are supporting the global fight against the coronavirus. I'm sure many of you will have heard about hospitals being built in record time to take care of those needing intensive treatment, or the production of ventilators by companies more used to making vacuum cleaners, car parts or electronics. Our statisticians – including a team from Swagֱ�� – are using their modelling expertise to advise the government on how to best protect the UK population and make decisions based on facts and evidence.

I am incredibly proud of all the engineers and scientists working around the clock to support the incredible front-line medical staff to deliver healthcare for the most seriously ill across the world. 

In the meantime, please take the opportunity to visit the applicant and offer holder information from the main University webpage manchester.ac.uk. Please contact our admissions teams with any questions or concerns you may have about your application. Above all, please stay safe and look after yourselves and your loved ones.

As an undergraduate offer-holder, you may have concerns about how the ongoing coronavirus outbreak will affect you and your transition to university. In this video, Danielle provides some guidance for you, your parents and caregivers:

We understand this is a very unsettling time for you and your family, but please be assured that we will do everything we can to ensure these changes won't affect your opportunity to attend our University in the coming academic year.

Further information for applicants and offer-holders

Full transcript:

Hello, my name is Professor Danielle George, I'm the Vice President for Teaching, Learning and Student Experience for the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Swagֱ��. I wanted to take the time to record a personal message for you, your parents and caregivers in this time of uncertainty. 

We understand that as offer-holders you have concerns about how the ongoing coronavirus outbreak will affect you and your transition to university. Some of our UK applicants may have already received notifications about cancelled interviews or offer-holder visit days. Where possible, these will be replaced by webinars and virtual activity with the opportunity for you to ask questions of our admissions teams and some of our current students.

For undergraduate students, following announcements by the UK Department for Education regarding A-levels and the International Baccalaureate, the admissions timetable will run similarly to previous years, and all students will be awarded a grade for any exam they were entered for. We will, of course, consider your needs when addressing any issues with your application and be as flexible as we can. 

Please be assured that we will do everything we can to ensure these changes won't affect your opportunity to attend our University in the coming academic year.

Over the next few months, we'll be increasing the communications we send to you. We'll also be telling you more about how our staff, students and alumni are supporting the global fight against the coronavirus. I'm sure many of you will have heard about hospitals being built in record time to take care of those needing intensive treatment, or the production of ventilators by companies more used to making vacuum cleaners, car parts or electronics. Our statisticians – including a team from Swagֱ�� – are using their modelling expertise to advise the government on how to best protect the UK population and make decisions based on facts and evidence.

I am incredibly proud of all the engineers and scientists working around the clock to support the incredible front-line medical staff to deliver healthcare for the most seriously ill across the world. 

In the meantime, please take the opportunity to visit the applicant and offer holder information from the main University webpage manchester.ac.uk. Please contact our admissions teams with any questions or concerns you may have about your application. Above all, please stay safe and look after yourselves and your loved ones.

Held on 6 February, the event celebrated the important contribution made by the Faculty of Science and Engineering to social and environmental impact, and rewarded staff and students who are 'making a difference'.

CEAS nominations included Abdulrahman Bin Jumah for outstanding contribution to environmental sustainability; Abdullatif Alfutimie for outstanding contribution to equality, diversity and inclusion and the Emerging Impact Award; and Charlie Wand for outstanding contribution to widening participation and the Emerging Impact Award.

Perpetual Idehen was nominated for outstanding contribution to widening participation; the Head of Department Office for outstanding professional services, library and cultural institutions support for social responsibility; and Laurence Stamford for outstanding teaching and learning innovation in social responsibility.

From these eight nominations the Department received a total of four awards. The Head of Department office was highly commended for its work in promoting social responsibility and wellbeing throughout the Department; and Laurence Stamford was awarded for his work in embedding environmental sustainability into the curriculum.

Perpetual Idehen was awarded for her work in inspiring disadvantaged young people through CEAS outreach events, engagement with the Engineering Your Future project, and much more; while Abdullatif Alfutimie was voted winner of the Emerging Impact Award for his work as one the founders of the Rethink Rebuild charity, a Swagֱ��-based charity helping to support refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants in the UK.

The Department would like to congratulate everyone on their nominations, and believes the number of nominees and winners really highlights the Department's contribution to social responsibility, not just in the workplace through events and embedded teaching, but also in their personal lives.

, professor of development studies at the University, has been awarded an OBE whilst has received an MBE.

Prof Hulme recieved his award for services to research and international development while Prof Azapagic, who is Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering at Swagֱ��, was awarded hers for services to sustainability and carbon footprinting.

Prof Hulme is Executive Director of the at Swagֱ�� and CEO of the Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre.

He has worked in the area of global poverty and development for more than 30 years covering everything from poverty reduction and microfinance to the role of NGOs in conflict and peace. 

During that time, his main focus has been on Bangladesh but he has also worked extensively across South Asia, East Africa and the Pacific

As well has her research work at the University, Prof Azapagic heads up the Sustainable Industrial Systems, an internationally-leading research group applying principles of sustainable development and life cycle thinking in industrial practice.

Her research interests include sustainable production and consumption, life cycle sustainability assessment and corporate sustainability.

Adisa has held a number of fellowships and honorary appointments, including fellowships from the Royal Academy of Engineering and UNESCO. She was awarded the IChemE Award for Outstanding Achievements in Chemical and Process Engineering in 2010 and the GSK/CIA Innovation Award in 2011.

Professor Gordon Carlson, who is a consultant surgeon at  as well as one of our alumni, was honoured with a CBE for his services to general and intestinal failure surgery.

As well as being one of our alumni, Prof Carlson also maintains academic links with the University via his professorship in the 

Prof Carlson said he was "amazed" and "delighted" at the award adding: "This award reflects not only my work but also the efforts of my colleagues I have had the privilege to work with, who always put the patient" 

Other notable awards for members of our alumni inlcude:

Dame Sally Davies, who is also master of Trinity College Cambridge and a former chief medical officer for England. She became a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

Sir Clive Lloyd CBE, one of the finest cricketers of his generation who captained the West Indies and Lancashire to great success in the 1970s and 80s, was given a Knighthood. He is currently Vice-President of Lancashire and Chairman of the ICC. Sir Clive holds three honorary degrees from the University: an honorary MA (1983) and LittD (2002) from the Victoria University, and an honorary fellowship of UMIST (1987).

Professor Jane Elliott (PhD Sociology 2001), received an MBE for services to social sciences. Professor Elliott is Professor of Sociology at the University of Exeter, and was Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) from 2014 to 2017. She was also a Research Fellow here at Swagֱ�� from 1994 to 1999.

Michelle Proudman (Conversion Programme - Nursing 1999) was given an MBE for services to community nursing. Miss Proudman is the Lead Nurse for Community Nursing at the Swagֱ�� University NHS Foundation Trust.

As part of this role, Tom was charged with creating a data-driven modelling framework to identify the optimal operating conditions of a novel liquefied natural gas (LNG) refrigeration cycle. The main challenge was optimising the process using the conventional rigorous model (HYSYS Flowsheet) - a very time-consuming task.

After the completion of his project, Tom was invited to present at the 36th Centre for Process Integration Annual Research Consortium, after which he received significant attention, including praise from leading companies such as Shell and BP.

The Principal Technical Expert from Shell was very interested in Tom's work and talked to him over dinner. He later sent Tom an email showing the advanced technique recently developed in Shell, and shared his experience regarding process modelling and control.

Professor Robin Smith, Fellow of the , and Professor Megan Jobson of the said they were "extremely impressed both with the quality and maturity of his work. This assessment was shared by the industrial members of the Research Consortium who participated in the meeting. Tom not only produced an excellent piece of work, but also presented it with great confidence and clarity".

Researchers from Swagֱ�� are developing chemical sensors that can be mounted on to ‘worm robots’, as part of a project involving partners in four European countries to improve detection of people trapped under debris after a disaster.

In the face of natural or man-made disaster, urban search and rescue teams and other first responders like police, medical units or civil protection race against the clock to locate survivors within a critical 72-hour timeframe, often at their own peril due to the presence of unstable structures or hazardous environments.

In order to speed up the detection of survivors trapped in collapsed buildings and to improve working conditions for the first responders, a new Europe-wide project is devising novel technologies using drones, miniaturised robotic equipment and advanced sensors.

The innovative CURSOR Search and Rescue Kit features robots equipped with chemical sensors that detect a wide range of chemical substances indicating human presence, which are carried from operational headquarters to a disaster site by a drone. On site, the robots work independently in clusters searching for survivors.

Additionally, the Mothership UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) acts as an aerial hub that produces high-definition imaging for accurate visualisation of the disaster zone, and allows communication with the control centre.

Researchers from Swagֱ��’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science are developing chemical sensors for small ‘worm robots’ which can enter through small crevices in debris, and send a signal to people above ground if live persons are detected.

“First responders have practical experience on the field and developers the technical know-how,” said project coordinator Klaus Dieter Büttgen, of the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief. “Through this unique collaboration between technical partners, industry, academics and first responders, expertise will be transformed into a novel technology that contributes to locating buried victims more swiftly and with less risk for the people conducting the research operation.”

“One of the problems in coping with disaster situations is the people may be buried under debris or rubble, and it can be difficult to locate them,” said Professor Krishna Persaud of Swagֱ��. “It is also urgent to prioritise the recovery of people who may be alive from those who have sadly passed away.”

The European Commission granted €7M to the CURSOR research proposal under the Horizon 2020 funding scheme. The project was officially launched in September, and will run for three years.

An anonymous post-it board featured kind messages such as 'Postdocs - Always around to help and always know how to work or fix instruments', and 'Being visible, approachable, and always smiling'. Badges were also created, enabling staff to recognise postdocs around the Department.

A University-wide event in University Place kicked things off, with professors, postdocs and lecturers delivering talks about their experiences of postdoctoral life. There was also a to encourage networking and the sharing of ideas.

CEAS held a Department-wide coffee morning on Friday, 20 September, during which postdocs were encouraged to take time out of their busy days to enjoy homemade cakes and refreshments. They also had the chance to talk about things outside of work, meet staff they may not have met before, and take a little break heading into the weekend.

Organisers handed goodie bags to all postdocs, full of stationary and sweets. The event also provided a chance for researchers, PhD students and their supervisors to talk, with one PhD student taking the opportunity to present their postdoc with a bouquet of flowers!

A Faculty-wide networking event took place in Alan Turing Building on the Friday afternoon, allowing postdocs to share experiences from across the two schools and meet other researchers with similar interests - presenting an opportunity for cross-department collaboration.

CEAS is very happy to have shown support to its postdocs, and would like to thank those involved for organising the events, not just in the Department but University-wide. It's given all staff and students an opportunity to say how much they appreciate the hard work put in by our postdocs year-round.

These awards recognise commitments made to by both staff and students across the School, from volunteering and wellbeing events to environmental research. The success of the awards demonstrates not only a shift of focus in the School towards social responsibility, but that staff within it are working hard to lead more responsible lives and help others.

A total of ten winners were recognised at the event on Wednesday, 17 July 2019. They were nominated across a series of categories by peers throughout the School.

The winners were:

• Rachana Halasebele - Outstanding contribution to volunteering (student)

• Abdullatif Alfutimie - Outstanding contribution to volunteering (staff)

• Perpetual Idehen - Outstanding public engagement / widening participation in the field of science and engineering (student)

• Charlie Wand - Outstanding public engagement / widening participation in the field of science and engineering (staff)

• Peter Gardner - Outstanding benefit to society through research (staff)

• Head of School Office - Excellent contribution to equality, diversity, wellbeing and/or charitable initiatives (staff)

• Darren Huyton - Excellent contribution to environmental, sustainability and/or green impact (staff)

• Abdulrahman Bin Jumah - Excellent contribution to environmental, sustainability and/or green impact (student)

• Laurence Stamford - Outstanding teaching and learning innovations in social responsibility (staff)

• Andrew Masters - Outstanding contribution to chemical engineering (staff)

We would like to congratulate all of our winners, and we hope that their contributions to social responsibility only grow in the future.

If you would like to find out more about the winners' contributions to social responsibility, read more on the .

The initiative pledges to plant three million trees for every person who lives in the region, and more than 20 CEAS volunteers - including both academic and professional services staff - took to Crompton Moor, Oldham on Wednesday, 3 April to take part.

The team planted around 300 trees and coped with all types of weather on the day, including sunshine, rain and even snow. It was the School's volunteering signature event, and forms part of both its social responsibility agenda and wellbeing initiatives.

City of Trees is an innovative and exciting movement set to reinvigorate Greater Swagֱ��'s landscape. It will transform underused, unloved woodland by planting a tree for every man, woman and child who lives there. To date, there have been 459,929 trees planted.

Find out more about this great initiative on the .

The lecture was delivered to a mix of academic and professional service staff, postgraduate research students, and family, as well as a number of colleagues whom Megan has met throughout journey through separation processes.

In the lecture, Megan introduced the ideas and principles of process integration, highlighting heat recovery and 'pinch analysis' as key opportunities to reduce energy consumption and to increase efficiency of industrial processes.

In doing so, Megan took us through some of the work of PhD students whom she has supervised over the last 23 years, looking into ways of streamlining processes for manufacturing crude oil in order to make these processes have a greater yield of usable product, while also using less energy and reducing costs. This led to a recent Knowledge Transfer Partnership that enabled one PhD graduate to apply her modelling approach in an engineering consultancy firm that carried out a project on a Spanish refinery - leading to a saving of approximately $7 million (£5.4 million) per year, with no capital investment.

Megan then discussed her work on process development, such as that on reprocessing used nuclear fuel by separating elements from the fuel dissolved in acid and separating the toxic elements, and her work on recovering rare earth elements from used electronic equipment to help sustain our modern 'high tech' lifestyles.

Towards the end of her lecture, Megan thanked those who had inspired her throughout her life - from her father, who encouraged her to learn how to change the oil in her car, to the teacher who told her that "of course girls can study engineering". Driven by the belief that she could achieve, Megan has worked to become a leading academic within the field of process integration. She has called for other academics to lend support and give encouragement to those who are underrepresented in STEM fields because she believes that science and engineering should be for everyone.

While the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science has no more currently planned, we will be highlighting our academics, as well as their research, on our - including our .

Taking place on Wednesday, 6 February, the awards ceremony saw CEAS take home four awards from a total of nine nominations. The School collected two winning awards - one each in 'Outstanding contribution to social enterprise' and 'Outstanding contribution to environmental sustainability' - as well as two 'Highly commended' awards.

Now in its fourth year, the FSE Better World Showcase celebrates the fantastic social responsibility activities taking place across the Faculty. They highlight the actions and contributions of both staff and students to making a social and environmental impact.

The CEAS Love for the Streets team, which uses events and social media marketing to inspire students to volunteer with local homeless charities, won the award, while Dr Rebecca Taylor - who has been instrumental in setting up Green Impact teams on D floor of The Mill and almost doubling the number of Green Impact accreditations awarded to CEAS in 2017/18 - picked up the prize.

'Highly commended' awards went to Professor Chris Hardacre and Lucy Adams as for their commitment to staff wellbeing through the CEAS choir, and to Alessia Xu as an for her work with Incredible Edible Swagֱ�� - managing two sites and a greenhouse to grow fruit and vegetables for the local community. She also became the community and environmental representative for the Whitworth Park halls of residence association, encouraging residents to become more sustainable.

Other nominations came across multiple categories, including 'Outstanding public engagement initiative', 'Outstanding benefit to society through research' and 'Outstanding teaching and learning innovation in social responsibility'.

These included a nomination for 'innovative biosurfactant separation process' (for which Dr James Winterburn and PhD student Ben Dolman also won the BBSRC Innovator of the Year award - read more about this on the ), and for increasing outreach and public engagement in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) via chemical engineering, encouraging school children to have an interest in STEM subjects.

Entitled 'From Zeolites to Fuel Cells (and beyond): a career path through intricate porous structures', the lecture took place in the Sackville Street Building and attendees included a mix of academic and professional services staff.

In the lecture Stuart outlined various areas of his research, from his early career to waste water management and his most recent work examining fuel cells. He also gave some insight into the future of fuel cell technology and, in a broader sense, the hydrogen economy.

Stuart reminisced about previous colleagues who had helped him throughout his career, while also embarrassing some with old photos and stories. He also made efforts to explain his research in ways that all could understand.

He demonstrated how his in-depth knowledge, sense of humour and positive attitude towards his work have led to him earning the respect of his fellow academics within the School.

The School is planning more inaugural events in the future, with the next lecture being held on March 29. It will be delivered by Meghan Jobson and details can be found .

Swagֱ�� has secured more than £19million of research investment after being awarded three Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT).

The Centres will train the next generation of doctoral level students in a range of research and innovation disciplines across engineering and physical sciences.

Swagֱ��’s CDTs are , based in our School of Materials; , based in the School of Chemistry and (Growing skills for Reliable Economic Energy from Nuclear) in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE).

The Centres will be funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It has allocated £444 million with a further £2.2 million coming from The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Industry partners are contributing a further £386 million in cash or in-kind. This funding will be split across 75 different CDTs around the country.

The will develop the next cohort of biomedical materials scientists to work in growing industries such as bioelectronics and fibre technology.

, Professor of Bioengineering and Programme Director for the Advanced Biomedical Materials CDT, said: “Biomedical materials have advanced dramatically over the past 50 years and continue to evolve today.

“With a rapidly growing and ageing population, there is greater demand for more effective and cost-effective healthcare interventions, and this CDT will train an interdisciplinary cohort of students to compete in this field.”

The is a collaboration between Swagֱ��, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield universities. This centre will train expert nuclear scientists and engineers.

Swagֱ��’s GREEN centre lead, , said: “This is an extremely exciting time to work in nuclear science and engineering. The industry is witnessing significant investment and nuclear energy will be an essential component in the country’s efforts to meet climate change targets.”

The  is will develop a new generation of interdisciplinary chemists and engineers specialising in biological and chemical catalysis which, simply put, is transforming the way molecules are made.

, Chair in Organic Chemistry at Swagֱ�� and Integrated Catalysis CDT Programme Director, said: “The UK has one of the world's top-performing chemical industries, achieving outstanding levels of growth, exports, productivity and international investment.

“We aim to train and develop a new generation of chemistry and engineering leaders with the skills to be at the forefront of that growth for years to come.”

The Centres will be funded through EPSRC, which has allocated £444 million and a further £2.2 million from The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

The Centres’ 1,400 project partners have contributed £386 million in cash and in-kind support, and include companies such as Tata Steel and Procter and Gamble and charities such as Cancer Research UK.

Science and Innovation Minister Chris Skidmore added: “As we explore new research to boost our economy with an increase of over £7 billion invested in R&D over five years to 2021/22 – the highest increase for over 40 years – we will need skilled people to turn ideas into inventions that can have a positive impact on our daily lives.

“The Centres for Doctoral Training at universities across the country will offer the next generation of PHD students the ability to get ahead of the curve. In addition, this has resulted in nearly £400 million being leveraged from industry partners. This is our modern Industrial Strategy in action, ensuring all corners of the UK thrive with the skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow.

“As Science Minister, I’m delighted we’re making this massive investment in postgraduate students as part of our increased investment in R&D.”

The research outlines the environmental impact of packaged sandwiches and aims to encourage consumers to consider their food options. These include eating less red meat, eating vegetarian sandwiches and making sandwiches at home.

Professor Azapagic's findings are important because they highlight areas that people wouldn't necessarily think of when discussing climate change. They show that different food items generate differing levels of carbon emissions during their production, with red meats being particularly high.

The research also addresses issues around pre-packaged and ready made foods, as the packaging, delivery and storage of these items have higher levels of emission than that of a home-made sandwich.

Read more about Professor Azapagic's research.

Read a featuring the research.

Of these ten, nine were lab-related and one office-related, while the remaining eight were comprised of four silver (three lab, one office), two bronze (both office), and two 'working towards' (one lab, one office). The overall tally of 18 marks a significant rise on the ten awards picked up last year.

The School has taken various steps to improve its sustainability. They include labs sharing resources - such as freezers and analytical equipment - and having a shared chemical inventory, which is more efficient when run as a group. This serves to reduce energy costs in the running of equipment, waste chemicals, and the packaging and shipping costs that come with these.

Some labs have also implemented a traffic light system for plugs to encourage the proper shutdown of equipment, with anything green OK to turn off.

Offices have contributed by reducing waste and emissions, as well as promoting a healthier lifestyle through innovative methods such as working with the labs to see if the plastic and paper in tea bags can be separated to allow composting and recycling.

The office team has also worked hard to implement a culture shift in The Mill to better highlight environmental issues and promote change. In the coming year both the lab and office teams will work together to tackle waste, with the lab team continuing research into innovative plastic recycling.

Find out more about the .

Scientists say more should be done to tackle the growing environmental impact of takeaway food containers.

A new study estimates there are 2025 million takeaway containers per year being used in the European Union (EU) alone. It also says finding a way to recycle disposable takeaway containers could help reduce equivalent greenhouse gas emissions generated annually by 55,000 cars.

The researchers, from the University's , have carried out the first ever comprehensive study of the environmental impacts of disposable takeaway-food containers. They looked at aluminium, polystyrene (styrofoam) and polypropylene (clear plastic) containers. These were compared to reusable plastic containers, such as “Tupperware”.

For example, the study found that whilst Styrofoam containers have the lowest carbon footprint – 50% lower than aluminium containers and three times lower than their plastic counterparts – they cannot be considered a sustainable packaging as they are not recycled at a mass level and often end up in landfill.

The global takeaway food market is growing fast, with a projected value of over £80 billion in 2020. The sector uses a vast amount of disposable takeaway containers, estimated in this study at 2025 million units per year in the European Union (EU) alone.

Despite this, the scale of the impacts on the environment of takeaway-food containers used in this growing sector was not measured until now.

The study used life cycle assessment (LCA) to estimate the impacts of containers, taking into account their manufacture, use and end-of-life waste management. Altogether, the research team investigated 12 different environmental impacts, including climate change, depletion of natural resources and marine ecotoxicity.

The study found that the styrofoam container was the best option among the disposable containers across all the impacts considered, including the carbon footprint. For example, the styrofoam container had 50% lower carbon footprint than aluminium and three times lower than the plastic. This is because of the lower amount of materials and energy used in the production of styrofoam compared to the other two types of container.

However, styrofoam containers are currently not recycled and cannot be considered a sustainable packaging option. The study estimates that recycling half of the containers currently in use, as envisaged by the EU recycling policy for the year 2025, would reduce their carbon footprint by a third. This would save 61,700 t CO₂ eq. per year at the EU level, equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions generated annually by 55,000 cars. Most other impacts would be reduced by more than 20%.

Dr Alejandro Gallego-Schmid, the lead author, explains: ‘Achieving this level of recycling of styrofoam containers is going to be challenging. Although technically possible and practiced at small scale in some countries, the main difficulties are related to collecting the used containers and the associated costs.’

Dr Joan Fernandez Mendoza, one of the study authors, added: ‘Because they are so light, the styrofoam containers can easily be blown away, contributing to urban and marine litter. So, despite their lower life cycle environmental impacts relative to the other containers, styrofoam containers cannot be considered a sustainable packaging option unless they can be recycled at a large scale.’

The study also found that reusable Tupperware containers had a lower carbon footprint than disposable styrofoam when they were reused more than 18 times. This is despite the energy and water used for their cleaning. Disposable clear-plastic containers needed to be reused even fewer times – only five – to become better for the carbon footprint than the styrofoam.

, the project leader, commented: ‘As consumers, we can play a significant role in reducing the environmental impacts of food packaging by reusing food containers as long as possible. Our study shows clearly that the longer we reuse them, the lower their impacts become over their extended lifetimes.’

The research is published in Journal of Cleaner Production and is available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618336230#appsec1

Energy is one of Swagֱ��’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

Greenhouse gas removal (GGR) could make the UK carbon neutral by 2050, but immediate action is required says a new by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Royal Society.

This is the first time a range of GGR technologies have been assessed for their real-world potential in being used together to meet climate goals in the UK over the next 30 years.

The report’s authors, including Professor Adisa Azapagic from Swagֱ��’s , say GGR technologies have a role to play in counteracting emissions from aviation and agriculture, where the scope to completely reduce emissions is limited.

However, the authors also state that the UK’s first priority must be to maintain efforts to rapidly cut greenhouse gas emissions. Bringing the UK to net-zero emissions in 2050 will require annual removal of an estimated 130 megatonnes of CO₂, even with stringent reductions in emissions.

The report also considers the global picture and outlines a scenario in which a portfolio of GGR technologies can be implemented together to achieve carbon removal across the world by 2100 to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Biological solutions like planting trees will become saturated by the end of the century and other GGR technologies will need to be developed and used in the longer term.

The technologies discussed in the report range from well-known and ready to deploy methods, such as forestation, to more speculative technologies like direct air capture, which aims to use chemical processes to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere.

Each technology is assessed on its readiness for deployment in the time scale required, potential for scalability, costs, environmental and social impacts and how much of a ‘dent’ it can make in removing excess carbon to meet the targets.

, Professor of Sustainable Chemical Engineering, says: “This report presents an extremely ambitious plan, but if we act now it offers a very real opportunity for the UK to be carbon neutral by 2050.

“However, we must first ensure that there are no unintended consequences from the deployment of these new technologies as their impacts on the environment are not fully known yet.

“Therefore, the priority must be to continue to cut greenhouse gas emissions at a rapid rate, as well as employ other techniques and methods if we are to achieve international climate goals, and save the planet for future generations.”

 is one of Swagֱ��’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

This is a prestigious medal awarded to individuals who have made a significant contribution to research into computer-aided product and process engineering. Named after Roger Sargent, former president of IChemE and Corthaulds Professor of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College, the medal was launched in 2014. It was awarded to Robin in recognition of over 35 years leadership and pioneering research leading to conceptual development of advanced process integration principles and methodologies.

Professor Robin Smith is Director of the in the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science of the University of Swagֱ��. He is co-founder of Process Integration Limited and Process Asset Integration Management Limited (ProAim), both spin-out companies from the University. He has extensive industrial experience with Rohm & Haas in process investigation, production and process design, and with ICI in process modelling and process integration.

With Easter fast approaching, the thought of chocolate is probably on all our minds, but could the UK’s love of chocolate be having a damaging effect on the environment?

A recent study by researchers at Swagֱ�� and published in the journal has looked at the carbon footprint of chocolate and its other environmental impacts. It has done this by assessing the impacts of ingredients, manufacturing processes, packaging and waste.

The study estimates that the UK chocolate industry produces about 2.1m tonnes of greenhouse gases (GHG) a year. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of the whole population of a city as large as Belfast. It also found that it takes around 1000 litres of water to produce just one chocolate bar.

Chocolate is the UK’s favourite confectionary product, with the nation preferring milk over dark chocolate. The industry was worth around £4 billion in the UK in 2014 and is set to grow by a further 9 percent by 2019. On a global scale, the UK is the sixth highest chocolate-consuming country in the world. On average each person individually gets through approximately 8 kg per year, which is equivalent to around 157 Mars bars.

The study focused on the three most popular types of chocolate products in the UK, which occupy 90% of the UK market. These are milk chocolate bars, sharing bags and snack chocolates. The team found the worst for the environment were the sharing bags due to their ingredients and bigger packaging.

The researchers found the raw materials used to produce chocolate are the major environmental hotspot as well as the packaging. The impacts from the ingredients are mainly due to milk powder, cocoa derivatives, sugar and palm oil.

Professor Adisa Azapagic, Head of at the University, says: “Most of us love chocolate, but don’t often think of what it takes to get from cocoa beans to the chocolate products we buy in the shop.

“Cocoa is cultivated around the equator in humid climate conditions, mainly in West Africa and Central and South America so it has to travel some distance before it makes it into the chocolate products we produce and consume in the UK.”

According to the International Cocoa Organization the annual production of cocoa beans in 2016 was 4.25 million tonnes. The worldwide sales of chocolate are estimated to be worth more than US$101 billion, with Europe accounting for 45% of the global consumption.

However, it’s not only the cocoa – it’s also the milk powder used to make milk chocolates. Its production is very energy intensive, plus dairy cows produce significant GHG emissions per litre of milk produced. This all adds to the environmental impacts of chocolate.

Professor Azapagic added: ‘It is true that our love of chocolate has environmental consequences for the planet. But let’s be clear, we aren’t saying people should stop eating it.

“The point of this study is to raise consumers’ awareness and enable more informed choices. Also, we hope this work will help the chocolates industry to target the environmental hotspots in the supply chains and make chocolate products as sustainable as possible.”

 is one of Swagֱ��’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

The paper, ‘Environmental impacts of chocolate production and consumption in the UK’, was published in the journal, Volume 106, April 2018, Pages 1012-1025. A free copy of the paper can be downloaded here:

Since the IChemE Macnab-Lacey award was introduced in 2011, no university has done better in this Design & Sustainability based competition than Swagֱ��.

Teams from the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science won the first two annual awards and added a third in 2016.

This year, the School has won another Highly Commended award. The latest entry was from a team supervised by Rosa Cuellar Franca, who designed a process for the "Sustainable Production of Hydrogen".

The team, consisting of Anastasia Gondosari, Matthew McLaughlan, Alexandra Poncia, Sharrviin Rajendram, Glenn Walkley Stubbs, Shan Wei Yap, Shing Yee Yap, and Kheng Zhun Yeoh, were awarded Highly Commended certificates by the Chair of the Sustainability Special Interest Group of the IChemE, Malcolm Wilkinson, at the recent launch meeting for this year’s Design Project.

Congratulations to the group and to all our previous winners.

Do you take a packed lunch to work or buy a sandwich from the shop? The carbon footprint of your sandwich could be having a major impact on greenhouse gas emissions according to new research.

Researchers at Swagֱ�� have carried out the first ever study looking at the carbon footprint of sandwiches, both home-made and pre-packaged. They considered the whole life cycle of sandwiches, including the production of ingredients, sandwiches and their packaging, as well as food waste discarded at home and elsewhere in the supply chain.

Altogether the team looked at 40 different sandwich types, recipes and combinations. They found the highest carbon footprints for the sandwiches with pork meat (bacon, ham or sausages) and those containing cheese or prawns.

Of the recipes considered, the most carbon-intensive variety is a ready-made ‘all-day breakfast’ sandwich which includes egg, bacon and sausage. The researchers estimate that this type of sandwich generates 1441 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂ eq.). This is equivalent to CO₂ emissions from driving a car for 12 miles.

The sandwich with the lowest carbon emission equivalent is a simple home-made favourite, ham and cheese. The study also found that making your own sandwiches at home could reduce carbon emissions by a half compared to ready-made equivalents.

According to the British Sandwich Association (BSA) more than 11.5 billion sandwiches are consumed each year in the UK alone. Around half of those are made at home and the other half are bought over the counter in shops, supermarkets and service stations around the country. That means the UK spends nearly £8 billion a year on the breaded snack, at an average cost of £2 per snack.

, from the , said: 'Given that sandwiches are a staple of the British diet as well as their significant market share in the food sector, it is important to understand the contribution from this sector to the emissions of greenhouse gases.

‘For example, consuming 11.5 billion sandwiches annually in the UK generates, on average, 9.5 million tonnes of CO₂ eq., equivalent to the annual use of 8.6 million cars.’

The results show the largest contributor to a sandwich’s carbon footprint is the agricultural production and processing of their ingredients. Depending on the type, this can account for around 37%-67% of CO₂ eq. for ready-made sandwiches.

Keeping sandwiches chilled in supermarkets and shops also contributes to their carbon footprint. This can account for up to a quarter of their greenhouse gas emission equivalent.

Then there is the packaging material which comes in at up to 8.5 % and, finally, transporting materials and refrigerating sandwiches themselves adds a further 4%.

The study concludes that the carbon footprint of the snacks could be reduced by as much as 50 per cent if a combination of changes were made to the recipes, packaging and waste disposal. The researchers also suggest extending sell-by and use-by dates to reduce waste.

Professor Azapagic, who also heads up the , added: ‘We need to change the labelling of food to increase the use-by date as these are usually quite conservative. Commercial sandwiches undergo rigorous shelf-life testing and are normally safe for consumption beyond the use-by date stated on the label.’

The BSA also estimate that extending the shelf life of sandwiches by relaxing such dates would help save at least 2000 tonnes of sandwich waste annually.

The study also recommends reducing or omitting certain ingredients that have a higher carbon footprint, like lettuce, tomato, cheese and meat. Reducing ingredients, such as cheese and meat, would also reduce the amount of calories eaten, contributing towards healthier lifestyles.

Energy

 is one of Swagֱ��’s - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons

Reference: The paper,  by Namy Espinoza-Orias, Adisa Azapagic; Sustainable Industrial Systems, School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences, Swagֱ�� was published in the  

Microwaves usage across the EU alone emits as much carbon dioxide as nearly seven million cars according to a new study by Swagֱ��.

Researchers at the University have carried out the first ever comprehensive study of the environmental impacts of microwaves, considering their whole life cycle, from ‘cradle to grave’.

The study found:

• Microwaves emit 7.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year in the EU. This is equivalent to the annual emissions of 6.8 million cars.
• Microwaves across the EU consume an estimated 9.4 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity every year. This is equivalent to the annual electricity generated by three large gas power plants.
• Efforts to reduce consumption should focus on improving consumer awareness and behaviour to use appliances more efficiently

Microwaves account for the largest percentage of sales of all type of ovens in the European Union (EU), with numbers set to reach nearly 135 million by 2020. Despite this, the scale of their impacts on the environment was not known until now.

The study used life cycle assessment (LCA) to estimate the impacts of microwaves, taking into account their manufacture, use and end-of-life waste management. Altogether, the research team investigated 12 different environmental factors, including climate change, depletion of natural resources and ecological toxicity. They found, for example, that the microwaves used across the EU emit 7.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. This is equivalent to the annual emission of 6.8 million cars.

The research shows that the main environmental ‘hotspots’ are materials used to manufacture the microwaves, the manufacturing process and end-of-life waste management. For example, the manufacturing process alone contributes more than 20% to depletion of natural resources and to climate change.

However, it is electricity consumption by microwaves that has the biggest impact on the environment, taking into account its whole life cycle, from production of fuels to generation of electricity. In total, microwaves across the EU consume an estimated 9.4 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity every year. This is equivalent to the annual electricity generation by three large gas power plants.

The study found that, on average, an individual microwave uses 573 kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity over its lifetime of eight years. That is equivalent to the electricity consumed by a 7 watt LED light bulb, left on continuously for almost nine years. This is despite the fact that microwaves spend more than 90% of their lifetime being idle, in the stand-by mode.

The study’s authors suggest that efforts to reduce consumption should focus on improving consumer awareness and behaviour to use appliances more efficiently. For example, electricity consumption by microwaves can be reduced by adjusting the time of cooking to the type of food.

Waste is another major problem. Due to their relative low cost and ease of manufacture, consumers are throwing more electrical and electronic (EE) equipment away than ever before, including microwaves.

In 2005, across the EU, 184,000 tonnes of EE waste was generated from discarded microwaves. By 2025 this is estimated to rise to 195,000 tonnes, or 16 million individual units being sent for disposal.

, from the , explains: ‘Rapid technological developments and falling prices are driving the purchase of electrical and electronic appliances in Europe.

‘Consumers now tend to buy new appliances before the existing ones reach the end of their useful life as electronic goods have become fashionable and ‘status’ items.

‘As a result, discarded electrical equipment, such as microwaves, is one of the fastest growing waste streams worldwide.’

Another major contributing factor to the waste is a reduced lifespan of microwaves. It is now nearly seven years shorter than it was almost 20 years ago. Research shows that a microwave’s life cycle has decreased from around 10 to 15 years in the late 90s to between six to eight years today.

Dr Gallego-Schmid added: ‘Given that microwaves account for the largest percentage of sales of all type of ovens in the EU, it is increasingly important to start addressing their impact on resource use and end-of-life waste.’

The study also shows that existing regulation will not be sufficient to reduce the environmental impacts of microwaves. It recommends that it will be necessary to develop specific regulations for these devices targeting their design. This will help to reduce the amount of resources used to make microwaves and waste generated at the end of their lifetime.

Reference 

'Environmental assessment of microwaves and the effect of European energy efficiency and waste management legislation' Alejandro Gallego-Schmid, Joan Manuel F.Mendoza, Adisa Azapagic, Science of the Total Environment  

Energy

Energy is one of Swagֱ��’s research beacons - examples of pioneering discoveries, interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-sector partnerships that are tackling some of the biggest questions facing the planet. #ResearchBeacons