Originally Published 12 June 2002

The CRI catalyst company, which is a member of the Shell group of companies, has entered collaboration with Warwick Process Technology Group in Warwick Manufacturing Group to develop a completely new process for the manufacture of large tonnages of an essential feedstock chemical. This project when completed will replace an existing process and will have a significant economical and commercial benefit to the company.

It is extremely rare that a chemical company enters into a collaborative research programme with a university to develop a strategic process and is therefore a great accolade for Warwick Process Technology Group. The business director of CRI catalyst company commented "We hope this is the beginning of a long association with Warwick Process Technology Group which has been able to acquire a large industrial skill base with which Shell is privileged to share".

Other recent news in the Warwick Process Technology Group includes the development of a process that turns wet waste from sewage farms and paper mills into a source of power. Dr Ashok Bhattacharya and his team are part of a Europe wide consortium that have solved the problem of how to extract very pure levels of hydrogen from wet bio-matter. This very pure hydrogen can then be used in "fuel cells" to power homes, factories and cars.

The research consortium has now received £2.5million in European funding to work up their lab based solution into larger prototypes. Eventually the research team's "plated membrane reactors" could be built as small industrial units, no bigger than a large room in some cases, and added directly to the sites of sewage plants or paper mills.