Archived Press Releases

Press Releases

Below are our archived press releases and news stories. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

News Archive

C-Tech Bolsters Consultancy Arm

C-Tech has recently increased its innovation and business consultancy capability as Justin Wrench has joined from Mouchel. Justin has worked on anything from financial and performance management systems, to mobilising large public sector partnerships. his specialist interests include project and programme management, business excellence, strategic management and organisational development.

Energy Savings from Microwave-enhanced Chemical Reactions

Microwave-enhanced chemistry has been used for a number of years by laboratory chemists, particularly in pharmaceutical discovery, to speed up chemical reactions. To date, the technology has been capable of producing only milligrams or, at most, a few grams of material. The Carbon Trust has targeted this ground-breaking project & awarded C-Tech a grant of £278,000 to demonstrate the potential of energy efficiency for a range of chemical reactions. C-Tech Innovation's expertise in microwave engineering will build and test a microwave-heated, continuous flow, laboratory system that is capable of producing kilograms of material per day. A key requirement of the reactor design is its scalability so that it can form the basis of industrial units that are capable of producing 100s of kilos (or tonnes) per day.

Advanced Fermentation Process for the Production of Bio-Butanol

The £560,000 project, BUTAFUEL, which has received an investment of £250,000 from the Technology Strategy Board, will speed up the development of an advanced fermentation process for the production of bio-butanol, a renewable liquid biofuel for transporation. For more information click hereThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Advanced Heat Engineering Gains CE

Arthur Barnard has joined Advanced Heat Engineering Ltd as Chief Executive. Arthur is an experienced business consultant and MD, having held a number of Board positions for blue chip multi-national companies in the UK, Europe and the USA. Arthur's specific knowledge of the commercial catering equipment market is of significant relevance to the development of AHE's RF oven and defrosting technologies, through sustained effort since joining AHE, has been busy developing relationships with large potential customers' heralding future success for this innovative project, which was a spin out from C-Tech Innovation Ltd.

C-Tech wins a Rushlight Award

The Rushlight Awards are new. They are designed to celebrate the significant achievements of UK and Irish technology, innovation and commerce in helping to address the key issues of climate change and waste management. These awards stand out as the only UK and Ireland wide awards for technology, innovation and commerce that have advanced society’s capabilities to live in a sustainable way.

C-Tech's award is for our unique WEEE Management Software Analysis Tool, which allows an economic assessment of end of life options for electrical and electronic items (from a cost perspective) to be made. The tool analyses all types of Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE). The tool is based on a waste hierarchy approach and represents a powerful method of performing cost comparisons between the various options for WEEE at product end-of-life. Ged Barlow, C-Tech's Managing Director said "We are absolutely delighted to receive this award which confirms the role we are playing in waste management technologies. It is a justifiable reward for the hard work we are putting into this area." In the Northwest?

Get into Knowledge 2 Innovate

Innovation is increasingly complex, requiring the co-ordination of a number of inputs. Because of this, our K2i team will works with you to assess innovation needs across your business and help you to address these needs. The Northwest based K2i programme offers three elements, all of which are free to participating companies. K2i is not prescriptive - you choose which element(s) best suit to your current innovation needs.  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Nanotechnology & Collaborative Projects at C-Tech

C-Tech Innovation is continuing to play a growing role in the development (via collaborative research and development) of scientific and technical advances in science and engineering. Collaborative partnerships can help cut the cost burden associated with bringing research to market when compared to funding research alone. In addition, C-Tech has already established collaborative links with local, national and international companies, in order to solve scientific and engineering challenges, and looks forward to tackling new challenges with both established and new partners.

Highly successful in many DTI & ongoing Framework projects, C-Tech is actively involved in a total of 16 projects and has recently entered into the contract negotiation stage in several FP7 proposals which will increase the number of partnerships already in place. Nanotechnology has the potential to change our economy and to improve our standard of living, in a manner not unlike the impact by advances over the past two decades by information technology. While commercial products are starting to come to market, some of the major applications for nanotechnology are five to ten years out. Consequently, government support for basic research and development in its early stages is required in order to realize nanotechnology's full potential and to maintain a competitive position in the worldwide nanotechnology marketplace. Two examples of nanotechnology based collaborative projects that C-Tech is active in are Saphir & Nanoglowa.

Special Adviser to the House of Commons

C-Tech Innovation has been invited onto the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee. Membership includes representatives of many of the UK's leading Universities, major blue chip companies and MP's and Lords with a professional interest in science. C-Tech is among the first SME's to be invited to join the committee, which is a primary focus for scientific and technological issues providing a long-term liaison between Parliamentarians and scientific bodies, science-based industry and the academic world.

The main aim is to focus on those issues where science and politics meet, informing Members of both Houses of Parliament by indicating the relevance of scientific and technological developments to matters of public interest and to the development of policy.

Knowledge to Innovate Launched

C-Tech Innovation and WM Enterprise have been successful in securing £2.9 million from the North West Development Agency to deliver its Knowledge to Innovate Programme (K2i). This 3 year programme is centered on embedding innovation in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Northwest region.

Companies in the NWDA's six priority growth sectors (see below) will be targeted although the programme is not specific and assistance is available to all North West SMEs.

• Biomedical
• Advanced Engineering & Materials
• Digital & Creative Industries
• Business & Professional Services
• Food & Drink
• Energy & Environmental

Technologies K2i offers a tailored programme of support in areas such as innovation leadership, innovation strategy and cultural change, all with the aim of integrating competitiveness of the SME sector. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Business 2 Business WEEE

Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is a complex waste stream that often requires several levels of reprocessing and recycling to ensure maximum value is recovered. To help ensure sufficient and suitable reprocessing capacity is available, London Remade, a leading adviser and consultant to London boroughs on the subject of recycling, has commissioned C-Tech to perform a study regarding the quantity of B2B WEEE generated in the capital.

For additional information about some of our initial findings, our economic analysis tool and how we can help you with WEEE analysis, contact David Gardner.

Economic Analysis of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

In light of the WEEE Directive C-Tech has developed an analytical tool that allows an economic assessment of end of life options for electrical and electronic items (from a cost perspective) to be made. The tool analyses all types of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE).

The basis for the assessment is the waste hierarchy approach developed as part of a previous DEFRA funded project and represents a powerful method of performing cost comparisons between the various options for WEEE at product end-of-life.

C-Tech is pleased to announce two new members to our team

Dr Karen Brace has joined as a Project Manager & has an electrochemical background. Karen has previously worked on a high throughput optical screen for electrochemically active materials and has also led industrial, FP6 and DTI funded research programmes on fuel cell catalysts and hydrogen storage materials using high throughput PVD, surface science and electrochemistry.

Pete Lomas joined C-Tech only last month as a Design Engineer. Pete graduated from Imperial Collage with a mechanical engineering degree and his main experience is in precision machining, injection moulding, casting, fabrication and rapid prototyping. C-Tech is delighted to introduce you to the latest members of our team. Dom Cupertino has joined C-Tech as a Project Manager.

New starters

Dr Dom Cupertino is a research chemist and has nearly 20 years experience in R&D in the chemical industry, firstly with ICI, working on projects ranging from solvent extraction for metal recovery, through to conducting inks and polymers. Latterly with the Avecia group, he worked in the growing area of plastic electronics, developing new organic semiconductors and materials for thin film transistors.

Dr Rachel James also joined C-Tech as a Project Manager in July. Rachel is a research chemist with experience working in R&D in the chemical industry. She worked for Avecia Ltd (more recently FijiFilm Imaging Colorants) in a range of areas including biocides and metal extraction. More recently, Rachel has worked within ink jet research managing research projects into novel ink jet dyes.

Microwave Furnaces Launched

C-Tech's European licensee for Microwave Assist Technology, Carbolite, has launched a range of laboratory furnaces, combining radiant and microwave heating, at two major European exhibitions. The furnaces, which are both chamber designs and have maximum operating temperatures of 1200°C and 1600°C, supply conventional radiant heat supported by microwave power, and were exhibited at Ceramitec and Achema in May 2006.

C-Tech's patented Microwave Assist Technology has been successfully used in numerous applications including sintering of ceramics, rapid de-waxing of moulds, and forming and curing of polymers. As well as proving to be a more costs effective process, cutting down on energy usage and operating costs, there are other processing benefits. More consistent product properties, reduced emissions and improved process yield can all be attributable to the process. The Carbolite furnaces represent a breakthrough in that equipment is now available 'off-the shelf'. C-Tech also has licenses for the technology covering America and the Far East. For more information click here.

Comm-Trak Launched

C-Tech has launched a new service called Comm-trak aimed at helping the UK's Universities to commercialise the Intellectual Property and technology which they have created.

C-Tech's Business Development Manager Paul Radage explained: "When a University academic comes up with a new innovation, which may have a commercial application, then typically a UK patent application will be filed by the University's Business Service or Ventures Dept, in conjunction with the academic. The academic is then allowed approximately one year to demonstrate the further worth of the patent by seeking commerical and industrial collaborations to exploit the technology. If at the end of this period, no such collaborations have been found then typically the patent will be dropped, before further costs is incurred". But a year is a relatively short time for an academic to successfully seek an exploitation partner, considering the many other pressures which University staff face. Now Comm-trak provides a rapid Commericalisation Road Map for academic detailing: An objective assessment of the potential for exploitation Market size Competitive position Potential routes to market Suggestions of companies and contacts as potential collaborators.   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Advanced Heat Engineering Ltd

Advanced Heat Engineering is a newly created company formed to exploit the considerable experience of C-Tech Innovation in the field of thermal engineering. Our experience includes: microwaves, radio frequency, ohmic heating and infra-red technologies, with a variety of uses including:- Drying & Firing of Ceramics Food Processing Rubber & Plastic Manufacture Plasma Systems, Surface Enhancements & Processing of Sewage.