Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/R012938/1
A systems approach to synergistic utilisation of secondary organic streams
Fellowship Award
- Fellow:
- Dr K Ng, University of Oxford, Engineering Science
- Grant held at:
- University of Oxford, Engineering Science
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Bioenergy
- Biorefineries
- Pollution
- Waste Minimisation
- Reuse of Waste Materials
- Design of Process systems
- Process Systems Modelling
- Abstract:
- Food and plastic wastes from industries and wastewater from food and pharmaceutical manufacturing plants contain significant amount of valuable resources. In the UK, a total of 10 million tonnes of food waste is generated (household: 71%; manufacturing: 17%; hospitality and food service: 9%; retail and wholesale: 3%), with a value of over #17 billion/year, involving 33 TWh of final energy demand and 20 million tonnes CO2 equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions. These wastes together with the embedded resources are currently under-utilised and are mostly sent to landfill. This can pose serious environmental hazards and pollution, affecting human health and ecosystems. If these wastes and resources can be recovered into useful products such as chemicals, fuels and energy, this would meet the soaring industrial and consumers' demand in the future. The current technologies and practices in the UK in treating, managing and disposing these organic wastes are not able to cope with the increase in waste generation due to rapid urbanisation. Conventional industrial practices take the resources from finite resources such as fossil fuels, turn them into products that we use for transport fuels, electricity, commodity chemicals, plastic bags, and dispose all the residues to landfill after processing. If these residues can be reused in the same manufacturing plant or sent it to another nearby processing plant, the imbalance in supply and demand of resources in the industry can easily be resolved. A holistic thinking of the needs and constraints in the urban area, industrial systems, waste management systems and ecosystems are crucial in addressing the complex problem effectively. Therefore, the objective of the proposed research is to explore the interaction between urban, ecological and industrial supply and demand, and make use of the relationship to enhance the reuse and recycling of resources. This also calls for technological advancement in industrial and waste management systems to transform wastes into value-added products. This research will look into multiple product generation and using a combination of technologies to achieve higher performances and reduce the unfavourable features as in the existing technologies, with the consideration of the sustainability impacts on economy, environment and society. The approach will streamline the transition from fossil to bio-based economy and transformation of industrial strategies in the UK towards sustainable production and consumption patterns.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/R012938/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Research Programme Fellowship
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Fellows
This fellowship award has a total value of £416,667
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DI - Staff | DA - Estate Costs | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £25,264 | £129,522 | £154,612 | £49,730 | £1,751 | £55,787 |
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