Equipments Details
Description
As fossil-based resources become increasingly more scarce, policies like the Net Zero strategy strive to attain a more sustainable production of fuels and commodities that replace conventional petrochemicals. At the same time, regulations are more and more restrictive concerning the use of auxiliary chemicals in their production, which makes it necessary to search for alternatives involving less harmful chemicals. For this reason, the exploration of greener chemical routes based on the transformation of biobased resources needs innovation to face the challenges that these novel processes pose.
In collaboration with the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, the Sustainable Commodity Chemicals through Enzyme Engineering & Design (SuCCEED, Ref.:BB/Y003276/1) prosperity partnership jointly funded by BBSRC/EPSRC and Shell Chemicals Ltd. deals with the conversion of biobased precursors to chemical commodities through advanced biochemical reactions. Within the project, at the JCB Hub we aim to scale up the proof of concept for production and purification of the products as well as conduct process design and simulation and viability studies through techno-economic analysis.
This lab contains a flexible miniplant for the continuous/semicontinuous production and purification of chemicals centred around a 4534 Parr pressure vessel (1.9 L) controlled by a 4848 temperature and stirring speed controller. The rig is supplied by different gases and analytical facilities include HPLC-MS and GC.