Member Article

£5m Thermal Technology Centre officially opened

A £5 million Thermal Technologies Centre has officially opened, providing an open access facility to pioneer new ways of turning materials such as biomass into high grade fuels and energy.

The Centre is a collaboration between the Centre for Process Innovation and Tata Steel and is one of only a few facilities in the world to provide leading expertise, assets and c apabilities to enable thrmal processing businesses to innovate new products and process.

The new centre strengthens the UK’s international competitiveness in developing products and processes for the process, energy, construction and materials, metallurgical and recycling and reclamation sectors.

The Thermal Technologies Centre currently offers two demonstration-scale assets: a multi-mode gasifier and a batch pyrolyser.

These enable the processing of biomass or other alternative feedstocks, plus end-of-use materials, to produce energy and low-carbon fuels.

These demonstration-scale assets are supported by laboratory-scale facilities, as well as a comprehensive analytical capability.

Gareth Fletcher, Director of the Thermal Technologies Centre, said: “The Thermal Technologies Centre is an exciting new development which will contribute to the strengthening of the UK’s competitiveness by supporting the development of new products and processes, and enabling the translation of innovation into commercial activity.

“It will permit the thermal processing industries to increase manufacturing efficiency, reduce energy consumption, lower reliance on raw materials and support the development of the UK’s low carbon economy.”

In addition to laboratory and demonstration-scale assets, the Thermal Technologies Centre offers services for customers seeking to investigate, develop and scale up thermal products and processes.

Dr Karl-Ulrich Köhler, MD and CEO of Tata Steel’s European operations, said: “This centre will give us the opportunity to work with like-minded organisations that are embracing the challenge of reducing manufacturers’ carbon footprint and their impact on the environment.

“It will be open to companies and researchers from around the world and will help strengthen Teesside’s globally competitive process industries. This collaboration reflects the strong commitment Tata Steel has both to the Teesside region, where we continue to employ 1,500 people, and to research and development in Europe.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .