A groundbreaking £22 million project led by Swansea University aims to revolutionise the UK’s steel supply chain, enhancing both the physical infrastructure and national security.
This timely project, called IGNITE, will explore how cutting-edge university research can accelerate industrial decarbonisation in the UK manufacturing industry. The primary goal is to deliver strategic, environmental and economic resilience for key strategic areas of the UK manufacturing economy including defence, transport and energy.
With the UK’s growing green steel demand outpacing domestic supply, IGNITE aims to boost domestic steel production, cut emissions and support low-carbon business models. It will develop smarter ways to manage, track and recycle the UK’s abundant supply of high-quality scrap whilst reshaping steel design and use to maintain quality and extend product life.
IGNITE stands for Indigenous Green-steel for Net-zero Innovation, Technology and Enterprise. It is led by Swansea University’s Materials Engineering Professor Cameron Pleydell-Pearce and funded by an £11M investment from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of their flagship Sustainable Manufacturing Research Hubs program. It is complemented by £11.9M in partner funding.
The project brings together partners across the supply chain, including steelmakers, scrap processors, steel users, policy makers and multidisciplinary university expertise. Its seven-year research program is designed to transform steel-intensive manufacturing.
Swansea University will lead the network in collaboration with the Universities of Leicester, Sheffield, and Warwick. There are over 30 strategic partners including British Steel, Network Rail, Nissan and Rolls-Royce.
Cameron Pleydell-Pearce of Swansea University, Hub Director, said:
"Steel has never been more important to the UK; it’s a key material in everyday life. If something’s not made of steel, it’s made using steel.
The IGNITE Hub will give us the opportunity to work with industry, supporting the resilience of the UK’s manufacturing sector on the road to net-zero. This groundbreaking project will benefit everyone who relies on and uses steel products.”
More information is available here