91直播 researchers secure 拢1.3m to transform recycling of complex waste
The University of Manchester has been awarded over 拢1.3 million to develop technologies that could recover valuable materials from hard-to-recycle waste including disposable vapes and cars.聽
The聽three鈥憏ear聽project, REMOVE鈥慤M:聽REcovering聽MOlecular聽ValuE聽from Unrecycled聽Multi鈥憁aterials,聽funded by EPSRC and Defra聽will develop聽new technologies聽to tackle some of the most challenging waste products.聽
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.聽
Michael Shaver, Project Lead and聽Professor of Polymer Science聽at The University of Manchester, explains: 鈥淩ecycling to recover value from materials at end-of-life is a tantalising聽component聽of a sustainable future. However,聽multi-material products 鈥� vapes, cars, batteries, furniture 鈥� comingle a host of plastics, metals, glass,聽ceramics聽and 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聽facilitate聽the (re)integration of their components,聽materials聽or molecules into a circular economy.听听
鈥淒eveloping an economically聽viable聽and environmentally聽advantageous聽end 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.鈥澛�
The REMOVE鈥慤M project will take a fundamentally聽new approach, developing methods to break down these materials at a molecular level and recover valuable components that can be reused.聽
The work will combine聽expertise聽from across聽The University of Manchester, bringing together specialists in chemical recycling, catalysis, sustainability聽assessment聽and materials science.听听
The project will focus on four key areas:聽
Analysing waste streams to understand their composition and potential value聽
Developing chemical processes to selectively break down complex materials into valuable products聽
Separating recovered molecules efficiently while minimising environmental impact聽
Working closely with industry partners to translate discoveries into聽real鈥憌orld聽applications聽and聽accelerate their commercial application.聽
By targeting materials that current infrastructure cannot process, the team aims to complement existing recycling systems, rather than replace them.听听
A core aim of the project is to ensure new recycling approaches are technically聽feasible, economically聽viable聽and 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聽operate聽to reduce investment risk and support future recycling infrastructure.聽
Dr Kedar Pandya, Executive Director for Strategy at EPSRC said: 鈥淭his investment reflects our commitment to building a cleaner, more sustainable UK economy. By funding ambitious,聽collaborative聽and 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.鈥澛�
The project聽will be co-led by聽Dr聽Ciaran聽Lahive,聽Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellow in the Department of Materials;聽Dr聽, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering;聽 , Chair in Engineering Biology;聽, Professor of Chemical Engineering;聽and聽Dr聽,聽Dame Kathleen Ollerenshaw Fellow.听听
It聽builds on sustained work in this area聽by these researchers, including:听听
- Chemical Recycling of Polycarbonate Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Blends via Organocatalyzed Acetolysis,听颁丑别尘厂耻蝉颁丑别尘,听
- Recyclable Epoxy Composites Built with a Biobased Hardener,聽ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering,聽
- Environmental Sustainability Assessment of Supercritical CO2聽in Gel-spun UHMWPE Fibre Production,聽ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering,聽
- Defining quality by quantifying degradation in the mechanical recycling of polyethylene,聽Nature Communications,聽
- Untangling the chemical complexity of plastics to improve life cycle outcomes,聽Nature Materials Reviews,聽听听