The Sheffield Solar Farm has been analysing Met Office data in conjunction with solar panel efficiency data donated from real PV installations around the UK.

Solar PV technology is likely to become more important in the future, and may make a significant contribution to the UK’s energy economy. To make best use of it is is important to know how sunny it is in different places around the UK, and how well PV installations in those areas are able to convert this bonanza into energy.

The results are - that the amount of sun light in Britain has been increasing year on year, except in Scotland where it is becoming less sunny, and that 2011 was 10 per cent brighter than 2010. The sunniest place in 2011 was the city of Portsmouth on the South West Coast of England, whilst the least sunny place was Loch Maree in North West Scotland.

To contribute your PV data to the project visit:

Sheffield Solar Farm

For more background to this story:

University of Sheffield Press release

The Materials KTN and The University of Sheffield are organising this free one day seminar, held on 6 March 2012 at the University of Sheffield, UK, to highlight some of the current advances in the science, technology, engineering and design of advanced materials used in dental applications.

The event will include presentations from academic researchers, industrial representatives, clinicians and regulatory bodies. For those new to dentistry, presentations will cover information on the drivers that dentistry faces and how existing materials fall short.

With ample time for networking in the programme, this event will be a one-stop-shop for dental professionals and researchers to learn about new technological advances in the field of materials for dentistry whilst at the same time making new contacts.

A key goal for KTNs is to capture information on industry needs together with possible solutions. We will therefore be inviting attendees to provide input on various questions with a view to identifying potential R&D projects and the Materials KTN commits to support submissions to the Technology Strategy Board based on any R&D project identified on the day.

Further information and registration.

The Polymer Centre and Nanofactory are to attend the European Materials Research Society 2012 Spring Meeting in Strasbourg, France on 14-18 May.

The meeting offers an extensive programme of high-level research symposia, including contributions from some of Europe’s leading academic and industrial scientists. The Polymer Centre is proud to exhibit Sheffield’s capabilities and to showcase Yorkshire’s SME-based materials innovation alongside blue-chip companies and research organisations, and to participate in one the materials science community’s foremost events.

More information on the programme and how to register is available via the link below. We invite fellow participants to arrange 1-to-1 meetings with our team in advance; please contact Dr Joe Gaunt, our Business Development Consultant to do so.

E-MRS Strasbourg

Nanofactory

Dr Joe Gaunt

A device that can measure and predict how liquids flow under different conditions will ensure consumer products – from make-up to ketchup – are of the right consistency.

The technology developed at the University of Sheffield enables engineers to monitor, in real time, how the viscous components (rheology) of liquids change during a production process, making it easier, quicker and cheaper to control the properties of the liquid.

The research is a joint project between the University’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the School of Mathematics and Statistics. A paper describing the innovation is published today (Monday 24 October 2011) in the journal Measurement Science and Technology.

Dr Julia Rees from the University’s Department of Applied Mathematics, who co-authored the study, said: “Companies that make liquid products need to know how the liquids will behave in different circumstances because these different behaviours can affect the texture, the taste or even the smell of a product.”

The viscosity of most liquids changes under different conditions and designers often use complicated mathematical equations to determine what these changes might be.

The team from Sheffield has now developed a way of predicting these changes using a non-invasive sensor system that the liquid simply flows through. The sensor feeds information back through an electronic device that calculates a range of likely behaviours.

Dr Rees explains: “Measuring the individual components of a liquid’s viscosity is called rheometry. We can produce equations to measure a liquid’s total viscosity, but the rheology of most liquids is very complicated. Instead, we look at properties in a liquid that we can measure easily, and then apply maths to calculate the viscosity. The sensor device we have developed will be able to make these calculations for companies using a straightforward testing process.”

Companies developing new products will be able to incorporate the device into their development process, meaning there will no longer be a need for ‘grab samples’ to be taken away for expensive laboratory testing, providing cost and efficiency savings.

The device can be made to any scale and can even be etched onto a microchip, with channels about the width of a human hair. This will be useful for testing where only small samples of fluid are available, for example in biological samples.

Dr Rees’ team have developed a laboratory prototype of the system and are currently working to refine the technology and develop a design prototype.

Will Zimmerman, Professor of Biochemical Dynamical Systems in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Sheffield, worked on the project alongside Dr Rees. He says: “Because the microrheometer works in real time, materials, time and energy will not be wasted when processing flaws are detected. Conservation is one of the best ways to ‘green’ industrial processing with greater efficiency. Ben Franklin’s maxim, ‘waste not, want not’ is just as true today.”

University of Sheffield Media Team

Researchers from the University of Sheffield have led a new report that provides the first comprehensive technical and economic assessment of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) as a viable but poorly understood option for reducing carbon emissions.

The Centre for Low Carbon Futures released the research, which has found that rather than treating CO2 as waste, as is the case with carbon capture and storage (CCS), the CCU process converts it into commercially viable products such as bio-oils, chemicals, fertilisers and fuels. These could replace fossil fuel based products, further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improve waste treatment.

CCU is a process that uses waste CO2 as a chemical feedstock for the synthesis of other chemicals, as a chemical source of carbon for mineral carbonation reactions to produce construction materials, and as a nutrient and CO2 source to make algae grow and supply fuels and chemicals. However, the technology is in the research and development phase, it is not yet commercialised on a large scale and requires more investment.

Polymer Centre member Professor Peter Styring from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering led the research: ”The UK needs to invest in more research and development for carbon capture and utilisation and investors need to be made aware of the potential benefits of the technology so that barriers can be brought down. Our report shows that all CCU options could be relevant to the UK and given its business -oriented academic community, the UK could benefit from commercialisation of the technologies involved.

“The UK has set itself some challenging greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and in tough economic times cheap and effective solutions are needed to help meet such goals.”

Until now the favoured technology has been carbon capture and storage (CCS) where CO2 is captured from an industrial or power-sector source and stored in a geological formation. However, significant drawbacks have been shown in recent years. High investment costs, uncertainty over potential storage capacity, possibilities for leakage, increased public resistance and energy costs all mean that alternative and complementary options must also be considered.

Professor Styring continued: “The rate at which CCS projects are currently deployed and the emissions reductions they achieve may be insufficient to reach the 80 percent reduction in global CO2 emissions required by 2050. With such an urgent climate problem facing us, serious consideration must be given to alternative and complementary technologies such as CCU.”

The report highlighted that CCU can be profitable with short payback times on investment. The report also stated that despite this, the UK is behind most developed countries in terms of investment and focus on the technology with the majority of research funding directed towards CCS. For example, the UK is investing £1 billion in the first CCS demonstration project, but currently has no plans for investment in demonstration scale CCU technologies unlike in Germany, USA and Australia.

These countries have spotted the potential for CCU with the US spending US $ 1bn on research and the German government investing €118M in a project with Bayer to research the use of carbon dioxide as a raw material. The research shows that the UK could risk missing a significant opportunity to benefit from the commercialisation of this technology if it delays action.

The report includes some concrete policy recommendations to help accelerate research, development and deployment of CCU in the UK:

• Through a strategic policy group, investors could be made aware of potential benefits of CCU and barriers could be brought down
• Whenever CCS is proposed, the possibility of CCU should also be considered
• Internationally an IEA Implementing agreement on CCU could be founded
• A global Technology Roadmap should be initiated
• CCU could be included in the IPCC Best Practices for greenhouse gas accounting for national greenhouse gas inventories to the UNFCCC

The report is a collaboration between CO2Chem, a UK research council project aimed at developing a UK community towards a sustainable chemical feedstock supply by 2050, the University of Sheffield in the UK and Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN).

A unique collaboration between the worlds of fashion and science, led by the University of Sheffield and London College of Fashion, has seen pioneers explore how clothing and textiles can purify the air we breathe. The venture, entitled Catalytic Clothing, is asking the public to join the campaign for clean air; giving them the opportunity, at this early stage, to shape the technology that has the potential to transform our lives.

Employing existing technology in a new way, Catalytic Clothing seeks to explore how clothing and textiles can be used as a catalytic surface to purify the air. An exclusive film about the project starring Erin O’Connor with soundtrack by Radiohead is already going viral.

CatClo from Protein® on Vimeo.

The project is the creation of unlikely collaborators Professor Helen Storey MBE, a practising artist and designer at London College of Fashion, and Professor Tony Ryan OBE, a scientist at the University of Sheffield. It is hoped the fusion of fashion and science will produce extraordinary results.

With the shared purpose of tackling some of the world’s most pressing environmental problems and the desire to improve the quality of our lives and those of future generations, the radical idea for Catalytic Clothing emerged.

Professor Tony Ryan OBE, Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Science, University of Sheffield, commented: “Catalytic Clothing is a beautiful manifestation of a deeply technical process. We will engage the public in formulating its nature and application allowing us to develop something that is both user-friendly and technically excellent.”

Professor Helen Storey MBE added: “Catalytic Clothing is the most challenging, globally relevant project I have ever attempted. Behind almost all human advancement lies a science. Through my work, I try to share and involve the public with these possibilities.”

The need for this campaign has never been so vital and so apparent. In parallel with many countries around the world levels of air pollution in the UK have reached dangerously high levels. National estimates suggest air quality is a contributory factor in approximately 50,000 premature deaths. Whilst much is being done to tackle air quality at source, it was clear a radical solution was needed and Catalytic Clothing was born.

Project partner ECOVER, who seek to contribute to the process of creating economic, ecological and social change commented: “ECOVER is extremely excited about the potential of Catalytic Clothing to contribute to a more sustainable future. The idea that we could utilise our clothing to reduce air borne pollution is astonishing which is why we are excited about joining this campaign and seeing how the public respond to this radical idea.”

Thursday 6 October 2011
Hilton Hotel, Sheffield, UK

This one day meeting will focus on the industrial utilisation of biorenewable polymers. This will allow key business people from the plastics and packaging industry, and scientists involved in bioplastics research and applications development, to gain an overview of bioplastic processing and properties, focusing on commercially available bioplastics such as Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) and Poly Hydroxy Alkanoate (PHA).

REGISTER NOW!

Bioplastics conference details and registration form PDF (859kB)

Visit the conference site for more details:

Bioplastics Processing & Properties conference

The first international Project Sunshine conference, Shine, will take place from 13-14 September 2011.

This unique event will bring together academics, business people and policy makers in search of ideas, actions and products that will make a difference. A real difference.

A new kind of science conference. The global issues of food, energy and environmental change are complex and inter-connected. Integrated, flexible solutions, appropriate for different scenarios in different parts of the world, are needed. Solutions will involve individuals and organisations from across many areas of academia, business and the public sector: founded upon high quality science, interpreted by business and policy makers, translated into actions which make a difference.

• Cutting edge science from world-leading scientists and technologists
• The business and policy angle from major influencers across the world
• Brokering relationships which will move things forward

Please visit the Project Sunshine website for more information on the project and registration details for the Shine International Conference.

Nanofactory sponsorship enables delegates from Yorkshire and Humberside SMEs to receive a £100 discount off the registration fees of £199 before 1 July, £249 thereafter. Please contact the conference adminstrator, Shelagh Cowley, via the conference website to claim this discount.

Project Sunshine

Shine International Conference

Nanofactory

The University of Sheffield’s Medical Device and Healthcare Technologies Open Day on Thursday 30 June 2011 is for companies with an interest in developing technologies for medical or healthcare applications.

This free afternoon event will help you find out more about health related technology development at the University and how it can help your business. It will be a chance to hear from world-class researchers and leading figures from industry who will illustrate their routes to success in developing profitable medical technologies.

For more details on the event, please follow the link below or download the flyer.

www.sheffield.ac.uk/ris/post-project/kta

Flyer (PDF, 520kB)

Nano4Energy 2011 is the Nanotechnology KTN’s highly successful annual showcase of new developments in nano-enabled energy. This year’s meeting will be held at Leeds University on 28 June.

Nano4Energy 2011, sponsored by Nanofactory, aims to raise awareness of materials challenges in renewable energy, explore technology developments in nano-enabled energy, and stimulate networking between technology providers, end-users and investors.

Target Audience

• Technology providers seeking business opportunities
• End users seeking technologies
• Investors and professional services seeking updates and new contacts.

Poster Presentations

There will be a poster session running throughout the day. If you would like to promote your research, an abstract should be sent to Sean Kelly at Leeds University. If your application is successful, you will need to register as a delegate at the discounted price of £35 +VAT.

Partnering

NanoKTN will be operating a partnering service at the event during the lunch break. Delegates can submit a brief overview of their technology offering and their technology/partnering requirements which will be published on the event website, and also circulated to all registered delegates 2 weeks prior to the event, to enable you to easily identify potential partnership opportunities and pre-book up to 5 meetings. Register by 10th June 2011 to be involved.

Registration and more information

Details are available in the downloadable flyer below. Nanofactory sponsorship enables delegates from Yorkshire & Humberside SMEs to attend for free; please contact Sean Kelly at Leeds to register on this basis.

Nano4Energy flyer (PDF, 154 kB)

Nanofactory

Sean Kelly