Michaelmas 2015
Monitoring the phase behaviour of complex systems – in food,
Contact: Dr. Juraj Sibik, Chemical Engineering Complex mixtures are widespread in many industries, ranging from food production (for example chocolate spread), to cosmetics to laundry products to heavy petroleum oils which often form as waxes. In many of these it is important to be able to predict reliably the shelf-life of the products, to…
Commercialising a process to biodegrade polyethylene
Contact: Dr. Paolo Bombelli, Biochemistry & Dr. Federica Bertocchini, Baky Ltd. Mentor: Dr. Mark Priest Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most common plastics used. The annual global production is approximately 80 million tonnes. A large fraction of these 80 million tonnes is then destined to be discarded into landfills and dispersed into the environment…
Finding the best market for low cost, efficient disruption of
Contact: Dr David lea Smith and Prof Chris Howe, Biochemistry Mentor: Adrian Swinburne The research team led by Prof Chris Howe has developed a solution to the high cost and energy requirement of processing algal biomass. While microalgae are used widely in a range of applications in industrial biotechnology, from production of bioactives such…
Lighting the developing world with solar-powered LEDs
Contact: Professor Humphreys, An Bao, Suman-Lata Sahonta, James Griffiths, Christopher Ren and F. Choi, Materials Science The Cambridge Centre for Gallium Nitride has pioneered research into the development of Gallium Nitride light-emitting diodes (LEDs) grown on silicon substrates. This makes them very low-cost and easy to include in products. Over 2 million of these…
Using the biogas ecosystem to alleviate the poverty of African
Contact: Mohan Ahad & Lester Membe, Claremont Innovations Biogas digesters are becoming more widespread in the developing world. Anaerobic digesters on various scales take compostable waste and produce biogas which can be used to generate heat and electricity, as well as high-quality fertiliser to improve the soil. Anecodotally, many communities actually value the fertiliser…
Developing a low-cost microscope for water testing
Contact: Tianheng Zhao & Alex Patto, Department of Materials Science & Department of Genetics & WaterScope Globally, 750 million people lack access to clean water, with 82% of people these living in rural areas. Waterborne diseases from bacterial pathogens have been estimated to result in over 2.2 million deaths per-year, including diarrheal, gastrointestinal diseases and…