Projects

Our latest international Projects:

• Natural Malagasy Plant Dyes: With the Natural Malagasy Plants Dyes the international project team with researchers from the University of Antananarivo and from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences supported by Flexknit as project partner intends to develop a sustainable dyeing processes which is based on the sustainable use of Madagascar’s rich biodiversity. The projects team complements each other very well with knowledge about Malagasy dye plants, knowledge about the development of local natural dyeing processes and experience in industrial textile dyeing in Madagascar. The dye plants will be selected according a multi-criteria approach to preserve genetic resources and value traditional knowledge while sharing benefits fair and equitably and supporting industrial textile production in Madagascar with a local supply chain. Project leader: Prof. Dr. Achim Ecker
• NanoPAT – Process Analytical Technologies for Industrial Nanoparticle Production: Nano-scaled materials are abundant in different stages of industrial manufacturing. Physical and chemical properties of these materials are strongly dependent on their size. Characterisation of mean size, size distribution, and shape of nano-scaled particles is very critical for the quality and efficiency of manufacturing processes. Yet, conventional characterisation technologies still show manifold shortcomings which represent a major innovation obstacle for manufacturers of nanoparticles. The NanoPAT consortium aims at closing this gap by the demonstration of 3 novel, real-time nanocharacterisation Process Analytical Technologies (PAT), namely Photon Density Wave spectroscopy (PDW) - ZHAW involvement - OptoFluidic force induction (OF2i) and Turbidity spectrometry (TUS) including real-time data handling for digital process monitoring and product quality control. Those will be validated in 5 different industrial ceramic, polymer and mineral nanoparticles (zeolites in case of ZHAW) manufacturing and converting environments. This implies that innovating PATs will be paired with new data-analytical technologies in order to provide, for the frst time, a real-time analysis for manufacturing processes of particles in the nanometer scale with sub minute temporal resolution. The NanoPAT consortium consists of 14 members, representing instrument developers, process data and modelling experts, academic process researchers, industrial processing experts, as well as innovation and dissemination specialists. The consortium profits from the broad involvement of its members in EU networks and ongoing H2020 projects. NanoPAT will intensively contribute to enhancing the innovation capacity of the European nanotechnology sector. As a result, the NanoPAT real-time nano-characterisation technologies will have reached TRL 6, promising valuable improvements in terms of quality, productivity and sustainability for the process industries in the EU and beyond. Project leader: Prof. Achim Ecker
• ProPAT - Integrated Process Control SPIRE-1 2014 project coordinated by a Spanish innovative SME IRIS, with a total budget of approx. 6 million euros, and 16 partners aims to develop novel sensors and analysers for providing measurements on composition, particle size and local bulk properties, as well as more traditional but smart sensors for measuring other process parameters, such as temperature, flowrate, pressure, etc., and integrate them into a versatile global control platform for data acquisition, data processing & mining and User Interface in order to measure properties of process streams and products, accurately and in real-time. The platform also provides selflearning and predictive capabilities aimed for dramatically reducing overcosts derived from even slight deviations from the optimum process. ProPAT Partners are working together from academia to industry to improve resource efficiency in process industries. Our budget is approx. 400.000 euros for the next 4 years (01.01.2015-01.01.2019), and our leading scientist is Prof. Dr. Chahan Yeretzian, head of Centre for Analytical and Physical Chemistry who works together with Prof. Dr. Peter Lienemann, Dr. Ivana Kroslakova and Dr. Sebastian Opitz from ICBC and with Mathias Stucki, from the Center for Ecological Engineering. See the CORDIS webpage on ProPAT.
• IbD - Intensified by Design SPIRE-8 2015 project coordinated by a Spanish innovative SME IRIS, with an overall budget of 11 million euros and 22 partners from 11 countries, is pursuing the intensification chemical process involving solids. Intensification means dramatically smaller equipment leading to improved control of reactor kinetics, giving higher selectivity, reduced waste, higher energy efficiency and thus reduced capital costs, improved intrinsic safety, and response times. This becomes possible through the use of continuous processes, through efficient heat exchange systems and by implementing rigorous process control - proven technologies in the field of fluids, but new territory for processes including solids. The solid technologies are developed, tested and industrialized in cooperation with industrial partners from pharmaceuticals, chemical process engineering, ceramics, mining and metals. Our scientists contribute to the project with their miniaturized reactor technology and a new concept in measuring surface energies of solids. Our budget to carry out this research is 966.563 euros for the next 3 years (01.09.2015-01.09.2018). Our leading scientist is Dr. Christian Adlhart, head of Center for Functional Materials and Nanotechnology works closely with Dr. Andrei Honciuc endowed Metrohm Foundation Professor, and Dr. Peter Riedlberger from the Center for Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. See the CORDIS webpage on IbD.
• Sharebox - Secure Sharing SPIRE-6 2015 project coordinated by a Spanish innovative SME IRIS, with a total budget of approximately 6 million euros, and bringing 15 partners from 6 countries, aims to develop a secure platform for the flexible management of shared process resources in order to migrate to the energy and resource efficient zero-waste process industry of the future. Basically a cluster of companies and industries with symbiotic shared resources will be created and managed through the project. ZHAW will contribute in research on the necessary infrastructures that would be required for realizing industrial symbiosis, in particular efficient purification strategies to make exchange of materials possible. The platform will be validated in the filed using real industrial streams and process conditions and evaluated through a life cycle assessment, also performed at ZHAW. Our budget to carry out this research for the next 4 years (01.09.2015-01.09.2019) is 493.503 euros. Our leading scientists is Dr. Jürgen Ebert from the Center for Functional Materials and Nanotechnology, who collaborates with Dr. Christian Adlhart head of Center for Functional Materials and Nanotechnology and Mathias Stucki, from the Center for Ecological Engineering. See the CORDIS webpage on Sharebox.