Energy and water efficient continuous sterilisation of ABP from food wastes for AD based energy and material recovery C-TECH INNOVATION will develop an innovative and efficient sterilisation system incorporating high temperature ohmic heating technology to allow the safe, low energy processing of animal by product (ABP). Ohmic heating is a volumetric heating technology which can effectively process almost any pumpable fluid with extremely high energy efficiency (>95%). This technology will provide an improved method for the pre-treatment of materials entering AD systems by • reducing the requirement for water addition • improved energy efficiency in sterilisation • robust non fouling operation • continuous flow operation with effective microbial kill throughout the material Secondary benefits through integration into an AD system • increased energy recovery through onsite AD biogas production • safe recovery of materials for use in fertilizers (digestate) Disposal of animal by-products (ABP) is a challenge that exists at hundreds of locations in the UK. Around 50% by weight of all animals entering abattoirs is removed from the food chain and is classified as Animal by Product (ABP). Depending on the risk to human health this waste is classified as; very high risk (catergory 1), high risk (category 2) or intermediate risk (category 3). The current ABP regulations (APBR) stipulate recommended treatment times and temperatures for the classes of material, however Regulation 208/2006 allows for alternative methods of treatment for ABPs if a specified level of reduction in specific pathogenic organisms is achieved. The efficient sterilisation will be the key enabling technology for an economically viable recovery process as current methods are energy intensive and difficult to implement. The innovative sterilisation strategies used will also provide a preliminary hydrolysis of feedstock which will enhance and speed up digestion in the subsequent stages.

The principal objective of InterCityAir is to develop and test the feasibility of an outdoor air quality (AQ) sensing unit that could be linked to a city's traffic management system to improve flow and thereby reduce pollution hot-spots from queuing traffic. The InterCityAir project will develop, build and test the AQ sensing system against current monitoring standards and equipment. Protocols to integrate the AQ data with Chester city's Siemens STRATOS traffic management system will be established and trialled.The InterCityAir sensing units will be scalable to a city-wide network of AQ sensors to implement this integrated data platform across Chester, strengthen the local air quality management and improve citizen health by reducing air pollution build-up. The InterCityAir project will ensure the AQ data accesible is made accessible to a wider group of stakeholders as well as the public. The sensor network proposed will be scalable to ultimately provide higher resolution air quality data for the Chester area.

‘C-Flow PLT’ is a new design of electrochemical cell and plant, offering much higher capacities – 4x flow rates - than are possible with current stack designs. It is a modular pilot plant offering a step change in flexibility and reduced development costs for use by academic and industrial R&D users. Current designs are stack systems with multiple adjacent cells in an arrangement similar to a heat exchanger or filter press. There is an inherent constriction to the flow of electrolyte into and out of each cell in this design. This means that increasing flow rates lead to high pressure drops across the equipment and capacity is limited: capital costs are high. We will prove our concept of a very high flow rate electrochemical plant by designing and building a four cell system including test rig, and balance of plant, with a target linear flow velocity of 1ms-1 across the electrodes, corresponding to 75 litres/min of both anolyte and catholyte per cell. The flow rate is four times that of comparable current cell designs and is a step change increase in the operational capacity of electrochemical pilot plant, approaching production scale volumes but with a much smaller footprint and an order of magnitude difference in cost. The design is modular – each cell is contained in its own cassette. This allows flexibility of operation. Individual cells can be switched in and out of operation for maintenance with drybreak couplings and with no disturbance to other cells. It also allows easy scale up and addition of capacity. This project will prove the concept with a four cell system and test rig, designed for 300 litre/minute operation of both anolyte and catholyte and 4000Am-2 current capacity. The unit will be evaluated on three different chemical systems, demonstrating the usefulness for treatment of dilute systems (e.g. waste water), viscous chemical synthesis requiring high turbidity (and therefore flow rate), and synthesis requiring high volumetric flows.

Three UK technology companies, C-Tech Innovation, Ingenza and AM Technology have collaborated in the BIOCHEMIST project to develop new flow process techniques for bio manufacturing. The project integrated all aspects of bioprocess development from enzyme discovery and catalyst engineering, to process design, through to small footprint manufacturing of high value products. The CofloreTM Agitated Cell Reactor (ACR) is a dynamically mixed plug flow reactor and Coflore Agitated Tube Reactor (ATR) - an industrial tube flow reactor both developed by AMTech have demonstrated superior mixing and process control in bioprocess development starting from simple lab scale batch processes. The BIOCHEMIST project successfully implemented pug flow principles to chiral chemical manufacturing through benchtop plug flow reactors (ACRs); and on to the multi-litre production scale agitated tube reactor (ATR). A synthetic oxidation reaction developed by Ingenza for the production of chiral amino acid catalysed by a series of novel d-amino acid oxidases (DAAO) has been developed from lab to pilot scale process by C-Tech Innovation under batch and continuous conditions, and illustrates how application of the ACR and ATR reactors can facilitate process development by improved process control; ease of scale up; minimizing of interruptions in production; reducing reactor size; and the efficient and economic use of biocatalysts

The AlkH2 project aims to deliver a step change in the uptake of ultra-low carbon, green-hydrogen production achieved through technology breakthroughs in new low cost materials and manufacturing processes. Non-precious metal catalysts and highly durable alkaline polymer membranes developed by C-Tech Innovation and Newcell Technologies will provide the technological means for hydrogen production, while RE Hydrogen will design and build electrolysers using advanced manufacturing processes, at substantially lower cost than current market products. The technology developed within the project will result in a 5kW being demonstrated in a grid balancing services field trial with project partner Flexitricity. Furthermore, the key to the success of these demonstrations will be in their integration with renewable power generation, which shall be provided by Juwi Renewable Energies in the form of solar PV. Strategic partnerships will be developed towards commercial exploitation through global distribution channels with products targeting renewable hydrogen production and new applications for energy storage.