University of Bath aids £13.75 million chemical carbon project
20 May 2024
The University of Bath, a leader in the development of sustainable technology, is taking part in a £14 million collaboration to cut emissions in the chemical sector.
Worldwide, chemicals currently account for up to 6% of global emissions – more than twice the scale of the global airline industry, for example. Furthermore, its raw material are sourced from fossil fuel and there are issues around environmental pollution and low rates of polymer recycling.
At the same time chemical manufacturing is a vital contributor to the UK economy, employing more than 140,000 people and boasting an annual turnover of more than £75 billions.
In order to protect the future of the industry and boost sustainable chemical and polymer production, the Government has invested £13.75 millions, via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in the Sustainable Chemicals and Materials Manufacturing Hub (SCHEMA), whose partners include Bath university. A further £22 million will be committed in investment from Hub partners.
The SCHEMA Hub will be led jointly by professors Charlotte Williams from University of Oxford’s Department of Chemistry and Matthew Davidson from Bath’s Institute for Sustainability and the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath.
Other collaborating institutions include Liverpool, Cambridge, Cardiff and York universities, with academics from disciplines including chemistry, engineering, materials science, computation, environmental economics and law. They will seek to transition the sector towards integrating raw materials from air and biomass and plastics waste but also use renewable electricity-driven processes.
Said Davidson: “We are delighted to be a key partner in this new manufacturing hub. To deliver a sustainable chemical and materials manufacturing industry of the future is a huge challenge that requires a multidisciplinary and multi-partner approach, working closely across academia and industry.
“This substantial investment by EPSRC provides an exciting opportunity to develop the novel molecules, materials and processes that future manufacturing will need.”
Co-leader Williams said it was “imperative” that the chemical industry reached net zero emissions and sustainability given that so many essential downstream industries depend upon it. She added that the Hub would combine a wide range of academic expertise with companies from across the supply chain.
