Bangor University

Pilot Plant and Facilities at Bangor University

The BEACON capability based at Bangor University is separated over two sites: the main university campus and the Bio Products and Biorefining Technology Transfer Centre based at Mona on Anglesey.

These facilities house a range of key equipment and associated expertise to enable academic and industrial partners to develop  and demonstrate scale-up processes, taking laboratory research to economically viable industrial applications.

This includes a pressurised refining and pilot scale facility coupled with supercritical fluid and chemical/ analytical support.

AIMS

• Provide a flexible environment where plant biomass can be taken from mechanical and thermochemical processing through bioconversion to products such as transport fuels, platform chemicals and fine chemicals.
• Bridge the gap between laboratory and demonstration research and deliver an impact to the commercial sector with collaborative research and development.
• Develop processes, technologies and products from plant biomass that provide alternatives to products made from oil, delivering a positive impact on climate change.
• Develop a growing network of industrial collaborators and encourage academia to business and business to business research and technical development.
• Generate and exploit intellectual property in collaboration with our partners.
• Provide life cycle assessment support to better understand the most economic routes to new and existing products.

EXPERTISE/STRENGTHS

• Production of biocomposites
• Fibre based packaging
• Bio based plastics and packaging
• Isolation of bioactives and bio products such a plant waxes
• Isolation of bio based additives for e.g. the cosmetic industry
• Analytical chemistry
• Organic synthesis