The University of Manchester has been awarded over \u00a31.3 million to develop technologies that could recover valuable materials from hard-to-recycle waste including disposable vapes and cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0three\u2011year\u00a0project, REMOVE\u2011UM:\u00a0REcovering\u00a0MOlecular\u00a0ValuE\u00a0from Unrecycled\u00a0Multi\u2011materials,\u00a0funded by EPSRC and Defra\u00a0will develop\u00a0new technologies\u00a0to tackle some of the most challenging waste products.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Recycling has the potential to recover significant value from materials at the end of their life, playing a crucial role in building a more sustainable future. However, while current systems are effective for simple, single materials that can be easily sorted and cleaned, they struggle to deal with complex, multi-material products.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Michael Shaver, Project Lead and\u00a0Professor of Polymer Science\u00a0at The University of Manchester, explains: \u201cRecycling to recover value from materials at end-of-life is a tantalising\u00a0component\u00a0of a sustainable future. However,\u00a0multi-material products \u2013 vapes, cars, batteries, furniture \u2013 comingle a host of plastics, metals, glass,\u00a0ceramics\u00a0and other materials designed to meet ever-increasing consumer demand for low-cost, high-performance, lightweight, aesthetically pleasing consumer goods. These staggeringly complex multi-materials are reaching their end-of-life with no strategy to\u00a0facilitate\u00a0the (re)integration of their components,\u00a0materials\u00a0or molecules into a circular economy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDeveloping an economically\u00a0viable\u00a0and environmentally\u00a0advantageous\u00a0end of-life for multi-materials is vital. However, to achieve this in a just manner, it is essential we understand economic, societal, and environmental outcomes, coupling systemic approaches to ambitious fundamental research.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The REMOVE\u2011UM project will take a fundamentally\u00a0new approach, developing methods to break down these materials at a molecular level and recover valuable components that can be reused.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The work will combine\u00a0expertise\u00a0from across\u00a0The University of Manchester, bringing together specialists in chemical recycling, catalysis, sustainability\u00a0assessment\u00a0and materials science.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The project will focus on four key areas:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Analysing waste streams to understand their composition and potential value\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Developing chemical processes to selectively break down complex materials into valuable products\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Separating recovered molecules efficiently while minimising environmental impact\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Working closely with industry partners to translate discoveries into\u00a0real\u2011world\u00a0applications\u00a0and\u00a0accelerate their commercial application.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
By targeting materials that current infrastructure cannot process, the team aims to complement existing recycling systems, rather than replace them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A core aim of the project is to ensure new recycling approaches are technically\u00a0feasible, economically\u00a0viable\u00a0and environmentally sustainable. Life cycle assessment and economic analysis will be integrated throughout to guide decisions and deliver real benefits for society. The project also aims to cut reliance on fossil fuels by recovering reusable chemicals, while generating insights into how waste systems\u00a0operate\u00a0to reduce investment risk and support future recycling infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Kedar Pandya, Executive Director for Strategy at EPSRC said: \u201cThis investment reflects our commitment to building a cleaner, more sustainable UK economy. By funding ambitious,\u00a0collaborative\u00a0and impactful research into recycling technologies, we are helping to tackle some of the most complex challenges in our waste system from collection through to currently hard-to-recycle material recovery. The research being undertaken, which is jointly funded by EPSRC and Defra, will support the long-term transition to a circular economy and creates the conditions for genuine economic and environmental benefit for the UK.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The project\u00a0will be co-led by\u00a0Dr\u00a0Ciaran\u00a0Lahive,\u00a0Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow in the Department of Materials;\u00a0Dr\u00a0Rosa Cuellar-Franca<\/a>, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering;\u00a0 Professor Marloes Peeters<\/a>, Chair in Engineering Biology;\u00a0Christopher Hardacre<\/a>, Professor of Chemical Engineering;\u00a0and\u00a0Dr\u00a0Shanshan Xu<\/a>,\u00a0Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u00a0builds on sustained work in this area\u00a0by these researchers, including:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n ‘;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The University of Manchester has been awarded over \u00a31.3 million to develop technologies that could recover valuable materials…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":985895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[16104,274090,748,393,4884,13,2465,75,22098,274092,274091,70,79906,65433,16,15,29191],"class_list":["post-985894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-advanced-materials","tag-beacon-advanced-materials","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-headlines","tag-manchester","tag-materials","tag-materials-science","tag-natural-sciences","tag-school-of-materials","tag-science","tag-science-and-engineering","tag-sciences","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-university-of-manchester"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116640964064337056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n