University of Birmingham

<p>At the University of Birmingham our research leads to new inventions and fuels innovation and business growth. We produce 6,000 talented and highly employable graduates every year. We play an integral role in the economic, social, and cultural growth of our nation and our region. We generate over £1 billion of regional economic activity each year and support nearly 12,000 jobs.</p>
<p>We’re constantly making exciting breakthroughs - in medicine and engineering, energy and social science - and then making them available to the people who will benefit most. Some of the mechanisms that we use to support businesses and entrepreneurs include access to our intellectual property, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), a Business Club for SMEs, and free incubation space at Birmingham Research Park.</p>
<p>We know that the financial cost of generating the new ideas, technologies and processes to competitive advantage can be high. The University of Birmingham can help you in a variety of ways including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Contract research</li>
<li>Licensing intellectual property</li>
<li>Collaborative projects and partnership</li>
<li>Consultancy with leading academics in their field.</li>
<li>Accelerating Business-Knowledge Base Innovation Activity (ABIA)</li>
<li>Access to state-of-the-art equipment, testing and analysis</li>
<li>Business accommodation</li>
<li>Funding opportunities</li>
<li>Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP)</li>
<li>Recruiting University of Birmingham students to work for you</li>
</ul>
<p>Alta Innovations, the technology transfer organisation of the University works with businesses to licence intellectual property and bring the inventions of the University’s academics to market. The University has a significant portfolio of medical, biomedical, engineering and environmental patents which are available for licensing.</p>
<p>Whether you are a large corporate organisation or a small business, and whether you require a short term solution or have a long term project in mind, you can tap into the world-class expertise at the University of Birmingham.</p>
<p>We have an excellent team of enthusiastic Business Engagement Partners waiting to learn more about the challenges you are facing.</p>


<h1 id="background">Background</h1>
<p>Biofuels are made from renewable materials such as plants or algae, and offer an alternative to petroleum-based sources. However, many biofuels are costly to produce because the precursor product, bio-oil, must be processed before it is sent to the refinery to be turned into liquid fuel.</p>
<p>Bio-oils could form an increasing part of the transport fuel mix. Although the UK government intends to phase out petrol vehicles by 2040, biofuels could still be required for hybrid vehicles, as well as haulage, aviation and marine applications. The conversion of algae to crude bio-oil is attractive because it does not use food crops and is near carbon neutral.</p>
<h1 id="technology-overview">Technology Overview</h1>
<p>A research team at the University of Birmingham, in collaboration with the University of Illinois’ Prairie Research Institute, have identified and tested a new processing method through the use of a catalyst made from palladium metal and bacteria.</p>
<p>The bio-oil produced in the lab from algae contains impurities like nitrogen and oxygen, but treating it with palladium as a catalyst during processing helps remove those impurities to meet clean-air requirements. For the palladium to do its job, the bio-oil needs to flow past it during processing. Previous studies have shown that allowing the oil to flow through porous carbon particles infused with palladium is an effective method, but those carbon particles are not cheap. Therefore, researchers at the University of Birmingham, developed techniques for supporting an array of metal nanoparticles on bacteria, which act as a renewable catalyst support.</p>
<p>The team performed a variety of chemical and physical analyses to test the effectiveness of the new method and the results showed that their new processing treatment produced a liquid fuel that is comparable in quality to one made using the commercially produced catalyst. However, the more costly commercial catalyst has the added benefit that it can be used over and over without extensive processing, whereas this group’s palladium-on-bacteria catalyst would need to undergo processing to be reused.</p>
<p>The researchers at the University of Birmingham are currently working on developing recycled catalyst using second life bacteria from fermentation processes and precious metals extracted and recycled from road dust.</p>
<p><em>Further details:</em></p>
<p>The paper “<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016236117309912" title="Nanoparticles of Pd supported on bacterial biomass for hydroprocessing crude bio-oil">Nanoparticles of Pd supported on bacterial biomass for hydroprocessing crude bio-oil</a>” is available online. DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2017.08.007</p>
<h1 id="benefits">Benefits</h1>
<ul>
<li>Cheaper to manufacture than commercially produced catalysts</li>
<li>Sustainably sourced from discarded electronics, catalytic converters, street sweeper dust and processed sewage</li>
<li>Quality of liquid fuel is maintained</li>
</ul>
<h1 id="applications">Applications</h1>
<p>The production of biofuels is of widespread relevance across the transport industry, encompassing haulage, aviation and marine applications.</p>
<h1 id="opportunity">Opportunity</h1>
<p>The university is seeking partners for further development and commercialisation.</p>
