Sustainable Technology and Manufacturing

Prof Hassan Shirvani, the project leader from our University, with colleagues Dr Habtom Mebrahtu and Dr Javaid Butt, were successful in securing Erasmus+ funding of €999,231, together with 10 partners from 6 countries including the UK, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, & Sweden.

The aim of the project is to bring Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) and Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) together by employing innovative methodologies for research and development, that includes the implementation of the first innovative industrial PhD path for SMEs.

SMEs are the foundation of Europe’s economy, yet just 22% of them are positioned towards innovation. In this perspective, HEIs can and should strengthen them. What’s required is a greater, more structured interaction among HEIs and SMEs and a higher ability of European universities to train industrial researchers and prepare them to deal with the unique cultural and research contexts of SMEs.

The GIENAHS project intends to contribute to the growth of innovation culture in European SMEs by developing a smart and common European standard of interaction, fostering a stronger collaboration between HEIs and SMEs through a new methodological approach, where they design industrial PhD pathways.

Hassan, Professor of engineering design and simulation, said during an interview on Italian TV:

This article originally appeared in the May 2018 issue of 'First', our Faculty Research Newsletter.

One way to protect our planet is to increase the efficiency with which we use our precious resources. In 2015 Dr Ahad Ramezanpour led the research project which designed a new valve for oil extraction. The aim of €4m EU funded REVersible Inflow control VALve (REVIVAL) project was to improve the efficiency of worldwide oil extraction.

Dr Ahad Ramezanpour led a €4m project to improve oil extraction efficiency which included a combination of companies and academics from the UK, Germany, Sweden and Norway. The objective of the programme in 2015 was to increase the rate of oil recovery from wells by as much as 25%. Currently, only 32% of worldwide oil reserves are extracted due to problems with water and gas seeping into wells. The REVIVAL project tested a newly designed Autonomous Inflow Control Valve (AICV) that immediately shuts off production at points where water and gas break through, but allows oil production to continue from other zones along the well. The AICV works thanks to the differences in viscosity of oil, water and gas. The presence of water or gas leads to a lower change in pressure, which automatically closes the valve. The valve is entirely self-regulating and does not require any type of control, electronics or connection to the surface. It also removes the risk, cost and requirement for separation, transportation and handling of unwanted fluids.

The Faculty of Science and Technology’s Engineering Analysis, Simulation and Tribology group led by Prof Hassan Shirvani secured the 390K euros for ARU on the project and research led by Dr Ahad Ramezanpour was focused on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to gain a better understanding of the flow phenomena, as well as design optimisation and calibration. The ARU Engineering group also contributed to the laboratory work being conducted by Norwegian company InflowControl AS, the inventor of the AICV valve, at the Statoil facilities in Norway.

Initial testing by Statoil showed a 20% increase in oil recovery rate; the aim of the project was to increase this to 25% and manufacture fully working prototypes. Following the project and manufacturing of the first products, three field test setup in Saudi Arabia, Norway and Canada are underway for commercialisation purposes.

It is worth noting that just a 1% improvement in efficiency to Norway’s North Sea oil fields would be worth 40 billion euros. From a global perspective, a 5% increase in recovery efficiency would yield as much oil as is expected from all future exploration efforts.

This article originally appeared in our 'First' - Annual Research Review 2015.

Echo2Eco gathered SMEs and research organisations from four countries (Norway, Germany, Ireland and UK) in a consortium whose aim was to develop a novel cost-effective acoustic absorber suitable for installation in energy-efficient thermal mass buildings. The two year project attracted €2.4 million of funding from the European Commission, under the FP7 Capacities scheme. Our University team Dr Alan Coday, Dr Carlos Jimenez-Bescos, Dr Silvia Cirstea and Dr Rob Toulson had significant input in the design, optimisation and testing of the new product, thus contributing to the successful completion of the project. The final meeting of the consortium, which took place at the end of January 2014, reviewed the latest test results which confirm the technical advantages of the proposed product. This research team have also been instrumental in filing for a European Patent Application.

View the final report summary entitled, 'ECHO2ECO A novel sound absorption technology to enable energy efficient construction techniques and promote the health and wellbeing of occupants'.

This article originally appeared in the March 2014 issue of 'First', our Faculty Research Newsletter.