Transforming the Foundation Industries Research and Innovation Hub (TransFIRE)

“转型基金业挑战赛”介绍了六大基金业的背景；水泥、陶瓷、化工、玻璃、金属和纸张，每年生产2800万吨（占英国经济中所有材料的75%），价值520亿英镑，但也产生了英国10%的二氧化碳排放量。这些材料行业是所有供应链的根源，为工业部门提供基本产品，通常以垂直整合的方式。它们有许多共同的因素：它们是水、资源和能源密集型的，通常需要高温处理；它们共享研磨、加热和冷却等过程；它们产生大量的，通常是有害的废物流，包括热量；而且它们的利润率很低，容易受到能源成本变化和外国竞争的影响。我们的愿景是建立一个积极主动、多学科研究和实践驱动的研究和创新中心，优化金融机构内部和之间的所有资源流动。该中心将与这些行业所在的社区合作，帮助英国实现2050年的净零排放目标，并将这些行业转变为无污染、资源高效、有吸引力的现代制造业。TransFIRe是一个由来自12个机构、49家公司和14个非政府组织和政府组织的20名研究人员组成的联盟，他们在能源测绘、生命周期和可持续性、工业共生、计算机科学、人工智能和数字制造、管理、社会科学和技术转让等领域拥有专业知识。TransFIRe最初将专注于三个主要挑战：1 .传递最佳实践-应用“Gentani”：在整个fi中有许多相似的过程，例如粉碎，造粒，干燥，冷却，热交换，物料运输和处理。使用Gentani（执行流程所需的最小资源）的理念，本研究将在考虑资源效率（能源，水等）和跨部门环境影响（粉尘，排放等）的情况下进行基准测试并确定最佳实践，并横向共享信息哪里有淤泥，哪里就有黄铜——创造新材料和新工艺的机会。我们基础产业转型的关键将是开发智能新材料和新工艺，以实现更便宜、更低能源和更低碳的产品。通过支持基础研究和重点技术开发的结合，该中心将直接满足这些需求。例如，所有部门都有材料废物流，这些废物流可以用作工业领域其他部门的原材料，很少或不需要进一步加工。通过进一步对废物进行“升级回收”，开发新材料和利用创新加工技术产生的可替代副产品，从而减少对环境的影响，从而增加更多价值的潜力很大。这需要新的产业共生关系和关系，可持续和循环的商业模式和治理安排。3 .与社区合作——共同发展新商业和社会企业。整个行业产生了大量的热空气和水，为低等级的能源捕获提供了机会。与fi周围的社区合作，我们将确定共同选址倡议的潜力（区域供热，市场园艺等）。这项研究将突出平等、多样性和包容性的问题，从社会、环境、技术、商业和治理的角度调查潜力。该项目的附加价值来自350万英镑的实物支持，包括材料和设备，以及用于实际测试的制造场地，以及来自高等教育机构和合作伙伴的一些联系和一致的博士/工程博士。这种实物支持将提供更大的投资回报，并将研究结果强有力地嵌入到该行业中，并将其付诸实施。

The Transforming the Foundation Industries Challenge has set out the background of the six foundation industries; cement, ceramics, chemicals, glass, metals and paper, which produce 28 Mt pa (75% of all materials in our economy) with a value of £52Bn but also create 10% of UK CO2 emissions. These materials industries are the root of all supply chains providing fundamental products into the industrial sector, often in vertically-integrated fashion. They have a number of common factors: they are water, resource and energy-intensive, often needing high temperature processing; they share processes such as grinding, heating and cooling; they produce high-volume, often pernicious waste streams, including heat; and they have low profit margins, making them vulnerable to energy cost changes and to foreign competition.Our Vision is to build a proactive, multidisciplinary research and practice driven Research and Innovation Hub that optimises the flows of all resources within and between the FIs. The Hub will work with communities where the industries are located to assist the UK in achieving its Net Zero 2050 targets, and transform these industries into modern manufactories which are non-polluting, resource efficient and attractive places to be employed. TransFIRe is a consortium of 20 investigators from 12 institutions, 49 companies and 14 NGO and government organisations related to the sectors, with expertise across the FIs as well as energy mapping, life cycle and sustainability, industrial symbiosis, computer science, AI and digital manufacturing, management, social science and technology transfer. TransFIRe will initially focus on three major challenges:1 Transferring best practice - applying "Gentani": Across the FIs there are many processes that are similar, e.g. comminution, granulation, drying, cooling, heat exchange, materials transportation and handling. Using the philosophy Gentani (minimum resource needed to carry out a process) this research would benchmark and identify best practices considering resource efficiencies (energy, water etc.) and environmental impacts (dust, emissions etc.) across sectors and share information horizontally.2 Where there's muck there's brass - creating new materials and process opportunities. Key to the transformation of our Foundation Industries will be development of smart, new materials and processes that enable cheaper, lower-energy and lower-carbon products. Through supporting a combination of fundamental research and focused technology development, the Hub will directly address these needs. For example, all sectors have material waste streams that could be used as raw materials for other sectors in the industrial landscape with little or no further processing. There is great potential to add more value by "upcycling" waste by further processes to develop new materials and alternative by-products from innovative processing technologies with less environmental impact. This requires novel industrial symbioses and relationships, sustainable and circular business models and governance arrangements. 3 Working with communities - co-development of new business and social enterprises. Large volumes of warm air and water are produced across the sectors, providing opportunities for low grade energy capture. Collaboratively with communities around FIs, we will identify the potential for co-located initiatives (district heating, market gardening etc.). This research will highlight issues of equality, diversity and inclusiveness, investigating the potential from societal, environmental, technical, business and governance perspectives. Added value to the project comes from the £3.5 M in-kind support of materials and equipment and use of manufacturing sites for real-life testing as well as a number of linked and aligned PhDs/EngDs from HEIs and partners This in-kind support will offer even greater return on investment and strongly embed the findings and operationalise them within the sector.