New EPSRC Prosperity Partnership: Innovative Continuous Manufacturing for Industrial Chemicals (IConIC)

BASF SE Pilot plant facility | Credit: BASF

Emma Gregory, External Communications | BASF

2 min read22 May 2023 Partner content

A major consortium led by Imperial and BASF is to help make chemical manufacturing more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. The partnership on Innovative Continuous Manufacturing of Industrial Chemicals (IConIC) will pool their expertise to advance flow chemistry, a production technique in which the required reactions take place in continuous operation rather than in batches.

Imperial will receive £17.8 million from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and industry partners under the EPSRC Prosperity Partnership programme in a consortium of organisations from across the chemicals value chain.

The research will aim to help the chemical industry respond to a range of pressing challenges. Dr Christian Holtze, Principal Scientist Flow Chemistry at BASF, said: “From an industry point of view, we’re facing three major challenges that could mark a step change from the way the chemical industry has developed over the last 150 years: With climate change, industrial societies are striving for net zero. During the pandemic, we learned that our supply chains need to be more resilient. And the shortage of natural gas has clearly demonstrated our need for alternative feedstocks. To tackle these challenges, we will need to innovate novel production processes for future value chains in the chemical industry.”

BASF has a long-established strategic partnership with Imperial College.

Darren Budd, Commercial Director BASF UK & Ireland comments, “Our partnership with Imperial College London is an important collaboration and exciting for innovation within the UK. The connection between Business and Academia is essential as we learn so much by listening to each other.”

Full information from Imperial College London here