6/7/2011 - Tata Steel
New national innovation centre in Teesside orders equipment worth £2.5m
stahl und eisen - Orders worth £2.5 million have been placed for the hi-tech industrial equipment which will form the cornerstone of the new research centre being developed in Middlesbrough. The Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and Tata Steel have begun work to establish the national research facility after signing a Memorandum of Understanding last October. A recently appointed management team has placed orders for the specialist equipment and discussions with potential customers are well underway.
The facility will advance high-temperature technologies and cost a total of £5 million to establish. The technologists there will pioneer new ways of turning waste products into fuels and raw materials which are crucial for industries such as energy generation, construction, steel and waste management.
Orders have been placed for the pilot scale industrial plant – a gasifier and a pyrolysis unit. The equipment will be housed in an open access facility available to companies wanting to test or develop high-temperature processes and will enable testing and demonstration of technologies developed in the laboratory to prove they can work on a commercial scale. Facilities are also available to test the effectiveness of a wide range of materials in gasification and pyrolysis processes. The high-temperature pilot facility is being built at Tata Steel’s Teesside Technology Centre, in Grangetown, Middlesbrough. It is due to open next spring and is expected to employ at least 30 people by 2020.
CPI Director of Strategy, Dr Graham Hillier, said: "This innovative collaboration between CPI and Tata Steel will provide world-leading expertise, equipment and capabilities to enable the development and commercialisation of thermal processing technology. The new centre will play a leading role in developing technologies to support the low-carbon economy of the future."
The project is receiving £2.5m from One North East through the Tees Valley Industrial Programme. Tata Steel and the CPI are investing the remaining £2.5m.
Source: Tata Steel, London