DICE is a Nottingham-based project, funded by EPSRC & HEFCE, to strengthen UK research capacity at the Chemistry/Chemical Engineering interface, and to promote the broader collaboration between the two disciplines. The funding began in March 2006 and has led to the appointment of five new members of staff, four of whom are joint appointments between the School of Chemistry and the School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering.
However, the aim of DICE is to promote collaboration much more widely with the staff of the two schools acting as a model and a nucleus for research at this interface across the UK. Our aim is to lay foundations for a new generation of chemical processing which will contribute to the needs of the chemistry-using community forty years hence.
Our concept for this future look is ‘Process Plant 2050’. This will provide the environment to inspire creative research, and give an overarching context that will add value to individual research projects by combining their outcomes into a sustainable technology platform for the future. We also aim to widen the participation of young people in chemistry and engineering, to celebrate the triumphs of both disciplines and to improve public perception of chemistry and engineering via targeted public engagement.
Current projects and those which we intend to launch across the Schools of Chemistry and Chemical & Environmental Engineering within the remit of Process Plant 2050 include:
- New chemical reactions and catalysts
- New, renewable feedstocks
- Safer chemical products
- Low or zero-waste processes
- New reactor concepts, including structured reactors, multi-functional reactors, etc across scales from micro to commercial plant
- Process analytics and control
- More efficient use of energy, e.g. microwave technology, fuel cells,
- More effective use of solvents, e.g. alternative solvents (supercritical fluids, ionic liquids and water).
Please feel free to contact any of the staff working in DICE
The core DICE team are:
Dr Darren Walsh: Electrochemistry, Fuel cells
Dr Wim Thielemans: Materials from renewable resources, cellulose and starch nanoparticles
Dr Steve Liddle: Synthesis, Catalysis
Dr Pete Licence: Ionic liquids in vacuo
Dr Derek Irvine: polymerisation, scale-up, new reactor applications
The DICE project is led by Martyn Poliakoff CBE FRS, Mike George and Steve Howdle from Chemistry and Nick Miles , Sam Kingman and Ed Lester from Chemical and Environmental Engineering.
DICE was launched formally on Thursday Jan 10th jointly by the Presidents of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institution of Chemical Engineers. The event caused considerable interest and was very well attended. Click here for photos