Industrial placements are invaluable – to both undergraduate students and companies. Students are offered the chance to use their theoretical knowledge in real world technical applications, as well as gain transferable skills in working in industry and, of course, being exposed to a plethora of new scientific concepts and skills. For companies, in particular SMEs like Econic, we have the opportunity to work with motivated students from a range of backgrounds who bring new skills and creative ideas to a growing technical team.
One of our current industrial placement students is Tom Lynch, who is spending the fourth year of his Chemical Engineering degree at Loughborough University as a member of our Process Development team. Guided by our process development experts, Tom has played an instrumental role in the development of our downstream polyol processing and the transfer of these processes from the lab to pilot scale, as well as the generation of valuable data to help our customers efficiently scale their use of our technologies. Tom has found working in Econic’s continually developing environment to be most rewarding: “The smaller team size means that I’ve had the opportunities for more responsibilities and opportunities than those of my classmates who work at much larger companies, especially since I have been able to work on projects in both the lab and at the Customer Demonstration Facility.”
As we move closer to the commercialisation of our catalyst technologies, the downstream process development and transfer of our systems from the lab to plant scales are a vital step in helping our customers to realise the full potential of incorporating waste CO2 into their polyol and downstream plastics applications.
Get in touch to find out how we can help turn waste CO2 into added value for your business.
Author, Anthea Blackburn
Happy birthday to the UK’s first customer demonstration facility! 28 03 2019
It has been a year since we opened the doors to our customer demonstration facility in Runcorn – the very first of its kind in the UK – to demonstrate how our pioneering catalyst technology can create polyols using waste CO2. It would be safe to say that, in this time, a fantastic buzz has sprung up around the plant, not just from our fellow members of The Heath, but from across the plastics industry.
So far, we’ve had visits from 60 leading global companies within the polyurethane industry, as well as Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham, the Metro Mayors of Manchester and Liverpool. The team of 7 at the facility has been busy producing polyol samples for all of the interested parties, who are testing the added value that our technology will incorporate into their own downstream polyurethane applications – everything from CO2-based insulation foams, to coatings and elastomers.
Over the course of the year, activity at the plant has helped our pioneering catalyst technology move out of the lab and onto the factory floor, demonstrating the huge economic and positive potential of CO2 for manufacturers.
Importantly for polyurethane producers, our facility uses a conventional reactor design and widely-available downstream technology, which shows just how readily existing plants can be retrofitted to use our catalyst. But unlike existing plants, our facility enables manufacturers to create CO2-containing polyols at lower pressures and temperatures, which not only allows for much safer operation, but also leads to significant cost savings. Producing everyday goods from CO2 may have once sounded like science fiction, but our facility has demonstrated that it is now science fact.
In the coming months, the facility will continue to fire on all cylinders. We look forward to welcoming more customers to the facility to further demonstrate the economic, environmental and product potential of our catalyst technology and how easily the use of waste CO2 as a raw material can be adopted, and its advantages realised by the polyurethane industry.
Happy birthday, customer demonstration facility! Here’s to another fantastic year ahead.
Get in touch to learn more about our Customer Demonstration Facility and to find out how we can help turn waste CO2 into added value for your business.
Author, Anthea Blackburn
UK’s first carbon capture utilisation demonstration plant opens its doors 06 03 2018
The opening event was held on March 1st at The Heath. In attendance was John Lewis, Managing Director of SOG, pictured here with Dr Rowena Sellens, CEO of Econic.
Clean-tech pioneer Econic Technologies has opened a first-of-its-kind plant in the UK to demonstrate to customers how its innovative catalyst technologies can convert CO2 into polyols, which can then be used to make more sustainable polyurethanes for use in products such as automobiles, bedding and footwear.
The new plant is located in Runcorn, at The Heath, one of the UK’s leading independently-owned business and technical parks. It comprises all elements of the production process, integrated from reaction through to final product treatment, in a bespoke industrial unit. Opening its new plant at The Heath demonstrates Econic Technologies’ long term commitment to the North West following its relocation from London to Cheshire in 2017, with the company adding 12 new jobs across its two Cheshire locations since the move.
The new demonstration plant is an exciting step forward in Econic Technologies’ journey to help manufacturers unlock the positive potential of waste CO2. Until now, the creation of polyols from CO2 has been performed in plants at high-pressures and temperatures. Thanks to its new tunable catalyst technology, Econic Technologies’ plant will be able to produce samples of CO2-based polyols at lower, industrially relevant temperatures and pressures.
The launch of the plant comes just weeks after Econic announced that they had closed a major founding round which saw climate investment group OGCI Ventures coming on board alongside existing investors. As well as private capital investment, the demonstration plant has also received substantial European support through a Horizon 2020 SME Award. Rulande Rutgers, Head of Process and Product Engineering at Econic Technologies explains: “Securing such highly competitive public funding has been an important vote of confidence for Econic Technologies, and is allowing the company to accelerate development pace. Using some of this funding for the new demonstration plant is one way it is helping turn the potential of our catalysts into reality.”
Rowena Sellens, CEO of Econic Technologies, commented: “The demonstration plant is essential to helping our pioneering catalyst technologies develop as they move out of the lab and into the factory. As a company, we want to help drive the market adoption of polyols and our new plant provides an opportunity for us to encourage significant uptake in the industry. The interest from polyol manufacturers and downstream polyol users in the plant has been overwhelming already. We are extremely confident that once we start demonstrating what our technology can do, we will help catalyse a transformation in attitude when it comes to the positive potential of carbon.”
Econic Technologies’ catalysts enable manufacturers to reuse waste CO2, by allowing it to be incorporated as a feedstock, which offers not only a sustainable benefit by reducing the reliance on fossil fuels but also an economical benefit by enhancing margins. The company hopes that by 2027, 30% of all polyol production will take place using Econic’s catalyst technologies, which could save 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions each year – the equivalent to taking two million cars off the road.
For further information, please contact:
Alex Kane, Farrer Kane: +44 (0) 20 7415 7154 | alex@farrerkane.com
Max Jewell, Farrer Kane: +44 (0) 20 7415 7154 | maxjewell@farrerkane.com
For more information on Econic or to inquire about our catalyst technologies, please contact: Richard French, Business Development Director Econic Technologies | +44 1625 238 645
