- Three awards for Plastic Energy’s world-first chemical recycling process
- GSK and Johnson Matthey each scoop two awards
- New categories awarded for 2020
- View the full winners list below
A world first process to sustainably chemically recycle contaminated plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled has won the top award at the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Global Awards 2020. This novel process could play a significant role in solving the global plastic waste challenge, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to alternative processes using fossil fuels to convert this waste to energy.
For the past 10 years, Plastic Energy has developed its own patented technology able to convert contaminated and mixed plastic waste – such as polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene – into a feedstock to produce virgin quality plastic, which is then manufactured and sold in food packaging by international leaders in the food industry. This technology has been supported by key figures in the plastic debate, including Sir David Attenborough.
Plastic Energy is currently upscaling its capacity from processing 20 tonnes per day to 60–75 tonnes per day, plus the company is developing additional projects worldwide. For this project, Plastic Energy won the Innovative Product and Sustainability categories, before it was crowned with the coveted Outstanding Achievement in Chemical and Process Engineering Award.
This year’s awards showcased incredible achievements across 20 categories, with the winners announced in a series of webinars from 2–19 November 2020 where finalists presented their projects and took questions from the online audience. This year three new categories were introduced to the awards programme.
GSK scooped the new Process Automation and Digitalisation Award and the Pharma Award for its new electronic batch tracker system that provides a single source of truth of automated data and analysis for its medicine supplies. The move from a manual to a fully automated system saw a 93% reduction in medicine batch write offs in the first half of 2020 and saved around £7m due to reducing inventory time, and preventing batch write offs. Significantly, another key benefit is that this new system reduces the environmental impact with lower levels of expired stock and preventing the need for processing replacements.
The University of Strathclyde was the first team awarded the Public Engagement Award. What started as a four-day one-off project in 2013, ReallySmallScience is now a self-sustaining year-round community programme engaging thousands of pre-school children to adults in complex scientific ideas, inspired by their own nanomaterials research, through hands-on engineering.
The team also runs a mentoring scheme pairing secondary school pupils with PhD researchers for mini-research projects to develop engineering skills and encourage equal career opportunities. These projects have also inspired international spin-offs in New York and Columbia.
Also new for this year was the Best Consultancy Award, which went to Engineurs for providing their clients in high carbon intensive industries with green technology solutions to reduce their carbon footprints.
Johnson Matthey won two awards. Its Swedish branch earned the Industry Project for optimising the processing of its formaldehyde technology and delivering 30% cost savings on capital expenditure to support its customers across industries including construction, textile automotive and packaging.
Meanwhile, its UK-based company took the Energy Award for its project Low Carbon Hydrogen – Catalysing Energy Transition. Johnson Matthey has developed an innovative process to help the UK achieve its zero carbon targets through a hydrogen-based energy system. Efficient carbon capture and storage within the production process is key to maximising the environmental improvement, and Johnson Matthey’s formidable catalyst and process design abilities are fully utilised in this process optimisation.
Advanced Analysis Australia won the Process Safety Award for creating a new software which automates a time-consuming process of more widely used analytical approaches for identifying the causes of boiling liquid expanding vapour explosions (BLEVE), cutting engineering time by 70% and speeding up analysis through more detailed and accurate data.
Following the devastating drone strikes on Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq Plant in Saudi Arabia in 2019, its process engineers developed novel process configurations and operating regimes, and re-used the infrastructure to restore the production of 5% of the world’s crude oil production within 10 days. For this they were awarded the Oil and Gas Award.
The individual awards went to Heather Williams in the Young Industrialist category and Xiamen University Malaysia’s Chew Kit Wayne in the Young Researcher category.
In her four years at WSP, Williams, a Process Engineer, has led many technical projects in energy and pharmaceuticals. This includes leading the process design and site analysis for a new pilot plant, developing a dynamic model required for the HyNet project (an integrated hydrogen and carbon capture and storage system in the North West of England) and a concept design study developing a batch model for the drug synthesis.
While working towards her own professional qualification, she also voluntarily supports other early career chemical engineers’ professional development through IChemE’s National Young Member Committee, which she established.
Chew, who won the national award at the virtual IChemE Malaysia Awards, was recognised for his leading research in bioprocess engineering design and renewable energy. In four years of academia, he has published more than 50 journal papers, three book chapters, presented at several conferences and collaborated with institutions locally and internationally.
IChemE President Stephen Richardson said:
“Chemical engineering’s contribution to society is visible in every home, school, hospital, factory and high street worldwide. To each of our winners, your remarkable work has been recognised by your peers at the IChemE Global Awards to commend you for the real impact you’re making in tackling some of the huge environmental, social and economic challenges we are facing.
“Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you all for your inspiring enthusiasm, commitment and professionalism.”
For more information on the IChemE Global Awards visit www.icheme.org/globalawards
Official winners of the IChemE Global Awards 2020
Outstanding Achievement in Chemical and Process Engineering Award
Winner: Plastic Energy
Best Consultancy Award
Winner: Engineurs, UK – Execution of Flawless Sustainability Projects
Highly commended:
ABB Energy Industries, UK – Consulting Services
Marsh JLT Specialty, UAE – Marsh MEA Energy & Power Risk Engineering
Biochemical Engineering Award
Winner: FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies, UK – SymphonX™ Bioprocess Equipment
Highly commended:
Proklean Technologies, India – Unique Biochemical for Pulp and Paper
University of Waikato, New Zealand – Biosynthesis and Recovery of Vitamin K
Business Start-up Award
Winner: The University of Hong Kong, China – Direct Thermal Charging Cell
Highly commended:
BioSimulytics, Ireland – Crystal-structure Prediction in Solid-state Pharmaceuticals
Poseidon Plastics, Green Lizard Technologies, UK; and Process Design Center, the Netherlands – Poseidon Plastics Enhanced PET Recycling Process
Diversity and Inclusion Award
Winner: WSP, UK – WSP PLEDGE
Highly commended:
Johnson Matthey, UK – Networked Teesside
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia – Double-layered Flame-resistant Shirt for Women
Energy Award
Winner: Johnson Matthey, UK – Low Carbon Hydrogen – Catalysing Energy Transition
Highly commended:
Cadent, Northern Gas Networks, Progressive Energy, Health & Safety Executive, Keele University and ITM Power, UK – HyDeploy
The University of Hong Kong, China and High Performance Solution, Hong Kong – Direct Thermal Charging Cell
Food and Drink Award
Winner: Biocatalysts and UCL, UK – Ultra Scale-down Accelerates Industrial Enzyme Manufacture
Highly commended:
Oxford nanoSystems, UK – We’re Cooler than You!
Industry Project Award
Winner: Johnson Matthey, Sweden – High Pressure, High Productivity Formaldehyde Production
Highly commended:
Dow Consumer Solutions – Process Intensification for Liquid Silicone Rubber
Dow Inc. – High Efficiency Ultra-high Viscosity WALOCEL™ M 120-01 Cellulose Ether
Innovative Product Award
Winner: Plastic Energy, UK – Closed-loop Chemical Recycling
Highly commended:
Dow Europe, Switzerland – Novel Polyethylene-based Recyclable Pouch
PETRONAS Research, Malaysia – Cryogenic Miniaturisation (Cryomin) Technology
Oil and Gas Award
Winner: Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia – Restoration of Critical Oil Processing Facility
Highly commended:
Hydrox Holdings, South Africa – Membraneless Electrolysis for Cost-effective Hydrogen Production
Saudi Aramco-EXPEC ARC, Saudi Arabia – NanoTags for Cuttings Depth Determination
Pharma Award
Winner: GSK, UK – Electronic Batch Flow Optimisation System
Highly commended:
North Carolina State University, Boston University, and Kraton Corporation, USA – Self-disinfecting Polymer Prevents Spreading of COVID-19
NovoNordisk Denmark; Aldaph SPA, Algeria; and Novo Nordisk Pars, Iran – FlexPen® Local Manufacturing Tehran and Blida
Process Automation and Digitalisation Award
Winner: GSK, UK – Electronic Batch Flow Optimisation System
Highly commended:
CPFD Software and ThermoChem Recovery International, USA – Digital Technology Enables Novel Waste-to-Fuels Process
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia – SA-4IRC
Process Safety Award
Winner: Advanced Analysis Australia – exploCFD
Highly commended:
ABB Energy Industries, UK – ABB Ability™ Augmented Field Procedures
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia – Hybrid Approach for Land Use Planning
Public Engagement Award
Winner: University of Strathclyde, UK – ReallySmallScience and Young Chemical Ambassador
Highly commended:
University of Leeds, Imperial College London, National Nuclear Laboratory, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Lancaster University, Loughborough University, Sellafield, University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, University College London, University of Manchester, University of Sheffield, University of Strathclyde and University of Surrey, UK – The DISTINCTIVE Consortium
Research Project Award
Winner: National Energy Technology Laboratory and West Virginia University, USA – Microwave Ammonia Synthesis
Highly commended:
Promethean Particles, BAE Systems, CAV Advanced Technologies, GKN Aerospace Services, London South Bank University, Opus Materials Technologies, PPG Industries, and TWI, UK – ICEMART
Seren Technologies and Queen’s University Belfast, UK – Path to Sustainable REE Separation Processes
Sustainability Award
Winner: Plastic Energy, UK – Closed-loop Chemical Recycling
Highly commended:
Dow Europe, Switzerland – Oriented Polyethylene for Recyclable Flexible Packaging
Dow Europe, Switzerland and H&S Anlagentechnik, Germany – The RENUVA™ Mattress Recycling Program
Team Award
Winner: Centre for Process Innovation, UK – CPI’s Process Technology Team
Highly commended:
Imperial College London and Sipsmith, UK – CE Imperial Lather
University of Leeds, Imperial College London, National Nuclear Laboratory, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Lancaster University, Loughborough University, Sellafield, University of Birmingham, University of Bristol, University College London, University of Manchester, University of Sheffield, University of Strathclyde and University of Surrey, UK – The DISTINCTIVE Consortium
Training and Development Award
Winner: Sellafield Ltd, Office for Nuclear Regulation, AWE Aldermaston, Dounreay Site Restoration, National Nuclear Laboratory, and Urenco Capenhurst, UK – Collaborative Training for Highest Hazard Plant
Highly commended:
CV Raman Global University of Odisha, India – Water Technology: India’s First Gold Medal
ExxonMobil Chemical and Esso Petroleum Company, UK – Virtual Reality Knowledge and Competence Verification
Water Award
Winner: AquaB, Ireland – High-efficiency Nanobubble Generation for Wastewater
Highly commended:
Saudi Aramco and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia – Oil Removal from Water
Trailblazer Technologies, South Africa – The ZIX-Zak Ion Exchange Process
Young Industrialist
Winner: Heather Williams – WSP, UK
Highly commended:
Joshua A Kelly – Biffa Waste Services, UK
Muhammad Faiz Bin Omar – Malaysian Refining Company
Young Researcher
Winner: Chew Kit Wayne – Xiamen University Malaysia
Highly commended:
Chuah Chong Yang – Singapore Membrane Technology Centre (SMTC), Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore
Vasileios Charitopoulos – University College London, UK
