Opening the door to university expertise
Collaboration between academia and industry is increasingly important and two Scottish organisations have been recognised for their achievements in this area.
When Livingston-based metal recycling company Caledonian Alloys needed access to chemical engineering expertise, they approached the local East of Scotland Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) Centre, who put them in touch with Heriot-Watt University. This led to the award of a KTP grant from the DTI, part of which was used to employ a recent graduate (the KTP Associate) who acted as the conduit between the University and the company.
The result was an extremely successful partnership, culminating in improved processes for the company, experience of the world of business for a Heriot-Watt graduate and a triple success at the national Knowledge Transfer Partnership awards in London.
Caledonian Alloys transforms revert – alloy material used in high performance component manufacture, such as turbine blades for jet engines – into material that can be re-melted to produce virgin alloys. Some of this is the swarf from the manufacturing process, while some is defective, redundant or withdrawn components.
“The cleaning process uses volatile organic compounds and the legislation surrounding their use is becoming tighter and tighter,” explains Dr Robin Westacott, Lecturer in Chemical Engineering in the University’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, who headed the project.
Caledonian Alloys used our expertise to help them optimise the existing cleaning process
“Caledonian Alloys used our expertise to help them optimise the existing cleaning process to minimise emissions but maximise throughput and quality and to design a whole new process.”
As well as working with the company to optimise the cleaning process over the course of the year project, the KTP Associate provided training for the staff, along with advice on the health and safety implications and the auditing of emissions.
“In a partnership like this the benefits for the company are obvious, but they are also significant for the University and, particularly, the graduate,” says Dr Westacott.
“It gives a graduate exposure to the world of business so they can see the potential applications of what they have learnt at university, which in turn makes them more attractive to potential employers.”
The triple awards – Winning Partnership, Engineering Excellence and the Best Partnership Programme – were well-deserved recognition of what was a very effective partnership.
Speaking after the award ceremony, Heriot-Watt University Principal Professor Anton Muscatelli said: “Partnerships are key to our development at Heriot-Watt and we greatly value the insight which working with such innovative companies can provide to our research programmes.”
Visit the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships website for further information