Context and Long-term Goal Plastic waste is one of the great, global challenges facing society today. At present, limited end-of-life options mean that a significant majority of plastics are either dumped, landfilled, or incinerated, thus also contributing significantly to the wider climate crisis. The mission of UK-based SME Aquapak is to help facilitate the shift to a less polluting world, through the manufacture of novel polymer products which are both biodegradable and recyclable, yet maintain - or even exceed - the functionality of conventional plastics. The complexity of the twin-screw extrusion process used by Aquapak - which involves solid, liquid, and gaseous phases, evolving rheologies, and complex chemical kinetics - means conventional, empirical models are entirely inadequate. As such, scale-up and optimisation of these systems is a time-, cost-, and labour-intensive process, and the time to market for new products is considerable. The goal of the present project is to alleviate these issues through the co-creation of a new, digital approach to development, scale-up and optimisation. Through this approach, we will help widen and expedite the adoption of Aquapak's products and thus, in the long term, play a small but significant role in reducing plastic waste, and thus helping to fight the wider climate crisis. Project Aims and Objectives Due to the aforementioned complexity of Aquapak's primary process, a diversity of tools, skills and expertise is required to achieve our aims. To this end, we have assembled an interdisciplinary team of chemists, physicists, mechanical engineers and chemical engineers with expertise in nuclear and optical imaging, hydrodynamic and chemical kinetic modelling, spectroscopic analysis, and diverse machine-learning and artificial intelligence methods. Utilising these tools, we will: (1) Through the application of diverse experimental techniques - including x-ray and neutron diffraction, positron emission particle tracking, IR and Raman spectroscopy, hot-stage and scanning electron microscopy, and flash differential scanning calorimetry - gain a uniquely detailed, holistic understanding of Aquapak's twin-screw extrusion process, gaining direct insight into the dynamic, kinetic, and structural evolution of their products, and the dependency thereof on key process parameters. (2) Using the data from (1) as a basis, develop quantitatively accurate simulation models, incorporating both the dynamics and chemical kinetics of the process. (3) Using the models from (2), coupled to evolutionary algorithms developed by the applicants, develop a fully-automated workflow for the optimisation of Aquapak's processes so as to maximise throughput, scale up production and enhance efficiency. (4) To develop new products with enhanced functionality, applying the optimisation strategies of (3) to minimise the time from laboratory-scale testing to commercial-scale production. Applications and Benefits Through the development and adoption of a genuinely unique, digitally-driven approach to process optimisation and scale-up, enhanced by experimental methodologies and AI tools unique to the University of Birmingham, Aquapak stand to become world-leaders in the production of planet-friendly plastic products, placing the UK at the forefront of a vitally-important, burgeoning field. Thanks to the widespread desire for companies across the globe to enhance the sustainability of their products, Aquapak - and thus the wider UK economy - stand to gain significant inward investment. The future success of this partnership between two Birmingham-based institutions also stands to derive benefits on a local level, through the creation of secure, high-quality jobs in a region where 59.6% of households are considered to be deprived. Finally, by creating better end-of-life options for plastics, the project stands to elicit genuine impact on the global scale by helping to address the plastic waste crisis.

Amid an ever-increasing government and consumer interest in reducing plastic waste, the estimated global use of 15 million tonnes of plastic in the healthcare sector presents some unique challenges. While in the UK, the NHS already has plans to reduce unnecessary plastic waste as part of 'Delivering a Net Zero NHS', new practices and technologies will be required to achieve that target. Among the plastics used in the healthcare sector, the waste associated with plastic used in medical testing within both clinical settings and beyond, represents a large volume of plastic that presents unique opportunities for circularisation. This waste is currently mostly disposed of by incineration or disposal into landfill or, worse, directly in the environment, thus leading to environmental pollution. Circularisation of these plastics would result in significant reduction in plastic wastes, as well as providing large cost savings to organisations, such as the NHS. Medical testing plastics can be typically characterised into two very different ways. Those used in the clinic/laboratory, and the point of care (POC) rapid diagnostic kits used in personal and home tests. These different usage environments present very different challenges, that this proposal will address. Despite the reduction of personal/home medical testing as the COVID-19 pandemic abates, POC testing exceeds 400 million tests worldwide each year on account of their widespread use for diagnosis of diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS, as well as for home pregnancy tests and diabetic blood tests. Moreover, the use of POC tests is predicted to grow as we expand the range of low-cost testing for other diseases (especially in low to middle income countries), face new epidemics and pandemics (i.e. bird flu or monkey pox) and change the delivery of medical services towards virtual interactions between patients and healthcare practitioners, accompanied by increasing normalisation of home testing for illness. Similarly, the plastic waste generated in clinical settings, such as in the NHS, presents a growing concern, with new technologies and treatments highly sought after. In NHS England alone, diagnostic testing has reached record levels in 2022, again, strongly evidencing the need for treatment of these plastics. Given the lab-based setting though, these plastics may facilitate a different, perhaps simpler, route to circularity compared to personal diagnostic testing kits which are used by the public away from the clinical settings. To this end, this proposal is focussed on addressing the challenge of creating a circular economy for medical testing waste, both in clinical settings (i.e. hospitals, labs, etc) and away from the clinic, in homes and elsewhere. The research will not only create new solutions that are based on pioneering, novel fundamental science and engineering but it will also take a whole systems approach that incorporates an exploration of the economic, social and environmental challenges that it will be essential to address in order to create a sustainable circular economy for medical testing plastics.

This user-need CDT will equip graduates with the skills needed by the UK formulation industry to manufacture the next generation of formulated products at net zero, addressing the decarbonisation needs for the sector and aligning with this EPSRC priority. Formulated products, including foods, battery electrodes, pharmaceuticals, paints, catalysts, structured ceramics, thin films and coatings, cosmetics, detergents and agrochemicals, are central to UK prosperity (sector size > £95bn GVA in 2021) and Formulation Engineering is concerned with the design and manufacture of these products whose effectiveness is determined by the microstructure of the material. Containing complex soft materials: structured solids, soft solids or structured liquids, whose nano- to micro-scale physical and chemical structures are highly process dependent and critical to product function, their manufacture poses common challenges across different industry sectors. Moving towards Net Zero manufacture thus needs systems thinking underpinned by interdisciplinary understanding of chemistry, processing and materials science pioneered by the CDT for Formulation Engineering at the University of Birmingham over the past twenty years, with a proven delivery of industrial impact evidenced by our partner's letters of support and three Impact Case Studies ranked at 4* in the recent Research Excellence Framework in 2021. A new CDT strategy has been co-created with our industry partners, where we address new user-led research challenges through our theme of Formulation for Net Zero ('FFN0), articulated in two research areas: 'Manufacturing Net Zero (MN0)', and 'Towards 4.0rmulation'. Formulation engineering is not taught in first degree courses, so training is needed to develop the future leaders in this area. This was the industry need that led to the creation of the CDT in Formulation Engineering, based within the School of Chemical Engineering at Birmingham. The CDT leads the field: we won for the University one of the 2011 Diamond Jubilee Queen's Anniversary Prizes, demonstrating the highest national excellence. The UK is a world-leader in Formulation; many multinational formulation companies base research and manufacture in the UK, and the supply of trained graduates, and open innovation research partnerships facilitated by the CDT are critical to their success. The CDT receives significant industry funding (>£650k pa), supported by 31 industry partners including multinationals: P&G, Colgate, Unilever, Diageo, Devro, Fonterra, Samworth Bros., Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Nestle, Pepsico, Mondelez, GSK, AZ, Lonza, Novartis, BMS, BASF, Celanese, Croda, Innospec, Linde/BOC, Origen, Imerys, Johnson Matthey, Rolls-Royce/HTRC, JLR Lucideon and SMEs: Aquapak, CALGAVIN and ITS/StreamSensing. Intra and cross cohort training is central to our strategy, through our taught programme and twice-yearly internal conferences, industry partner-led regional research meetings, student-led technical and soft skills workshops and social events and inter CDT meetings. We have embedded diversity and inclusion into all of our projects and processes, including blind CV recruitment. Since 2018 our cohorts have been > 50% female and >35% BAME. We will co-create training and research partnerships with other CDTs, Catapult Centres, and industry, and train at least 50 EngD and PhD graduates with the skills needed to enhance the UK's leading international position in this critical area. The taught programme delivers a common foundation in formulation engineering, specialist technical training, modules on business, entrepreneurship and soft skills including a course in Responsible Research in Formulation. We have obtained promises of significant industry and University funding, with 67 offers of projects already. EPSRC costs will be 44% of the cash total for the CDT, and ca. £27% of the whole cost when industry in-kind funding is included.