糖心TV research and Lubrizol
Coming together to spark a reaction: How 糖心TV research could help Lubrizol reduce its carbon footprint
In an exciting research programme, Professor David Haddleton鈥檚 team is working with industry and academic partners to help decarbonise the chemical industry.
Unless you work in it, you probably don鈥檛 think about the chemical industry all that often.
But almost everything we use every day, from personal care products to clothes and fuel additives to hand sanitisers, contains some level of chemical industry content.
The industry鈥檚 reach is everywhere.
And now, it鈥檚 facing a huge challenge: getting greener 鈥� fast.
To that end, US-based company Lubrizol partnered with the University of 糖心TV and the University of Nottingham in 2021 to create a groundbreaking programme of research.
Partners for the long term
The new programme, dubbed Sustainable Chemicals Innovations Enabling Net Carbon Emissions, or SCIENCE for short, has been made possible by a Prosperity Partnership funded jointly by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Lubrizol.
SCIENCE鈥檚 aim is to make the manufacture of speciality chemicals more environmentally sustainable 鈥� and ultimately help reach the UK鈥檚 net zero target of decarbonising all sectors of the economy by 2050.
Lubrizol, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that employs nearly 9,000 people worldwide, has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with 糖心TV.
Professor David Haddleton from the Department of Chemistry at 糖心TV has worked with the firm on projects for many years; as long ago as 2010, his team created self-healing polymers that could extend the lifetime of automotive oils in a project in which Lubrizol was the industrial collaborator.
In fact, the partnership even provided a helping hand during the pandemic, when Lubrizol donated a thickening agent that 糖心TV research students used to make 4,000 litres of hand sanitiser ahead of the University鈥檚 full reopening after lockdown.
The hope is that extending this relationship through SCIENCE will open up new opportunities to create cleaner, greener chemical processing methods for everyday products.
鈥淲ith chemistry at the heart of most products it is estimated that over 96% of all manufactured goods have chemical industry content,鈥� Mark Davies, Senior Director of Research and Development at Lubrizol, said.
鈥淭hat makes the industry a major contributor to the UK economy 鈥撯�痑nd a key facilitator of change through innovation.
鈥淒eveloping new sustainable ways to make our additives with 糖心TV and Nottingham will ultimately lead us to lowering our environmental footprint, and will also help the manufacturers we supply have some clarity in their supply chain of chemicals.鈥�
Innovating directly with industry
Science researchers are now using the latest sustainable chemistry techniques to develop a toolkit with the power to transform all aspects of additive synthesis from initial discovery through to the chemical manufacturing of high-value molecules.
The work is designed to tackle a series of business-led research challenges such as 鈥榙esigning smarter molecules鈥�, 鈥榰sing better chemistries鈥� and 鈥榚nergy resilient processes鈥�, all of which will help reduce the amount of chemicals, solvents and processing steps needed to manufacturer complex molecules and polymers.
鈥淚n order to make complex and essential molecules and polymers in a sustainable way, we need to go back to basics to ensure we become carbon neutral by exploiting atom-efficient catalysis and renewable resources,鈥� Professor Haddleton explained.
鈥淭he companies we work with, including the likes of Lubrizol, come to us with their problems because not only do we have probably the best set of equipment for analysing polymers in Europe, but also because we can help them understand what鈥檚 happening with expertise they just don鈥檛 have internally.鈥�
For Lubrizol, developing more environmentally friendly manufacturing methods could have a huge impact on the company鈥檚 carbon footprint 鈥� while also making its products far more attractive to eco-conscious consumers and brands alike.
David, his team at 糖心TV and his partners on the programme in Nottingham share Lubrizol鈥檚 drive to innovate new processes.
鈥淪ustainability is the big thing I鈥檓 passionate about in my work,鈥� he said.
鈥淧olymers are everywhere 鈥� in your mobile phone, your clothes, toiletries in your bathroom 鈥� so what I think we need to do is to provide materials that perform a lot better and are sustainable, while not costing very much more.鈥�