Prestigious fellowship for Cambridge engineer

Dr Julian Allwood’s new fellowship with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) will enable him, as part of a wider group of scientists, to look at ways that carbon emissions associated with metal forming can be cut. The fellowship is worth £1.42m and the application was supported by £2m of industrial commitment.

Dr Allwood (pictured) works as a senior lecturer with the Department of Engineering and his research focuses on novel metal forming processes and the impact of production on the environment.

8% of global carbon emissions from energy use arise in the production of steel and aluminium parts. Demand for the two materials is currently growing at 6% per year and is set to double within 35 years, yet in response to concerns about climate change we are aiming at a 60% cut in emissions by 2050. Dr Allwood is set to investigate how this can be made possible.

“Industry efforts to improve energy efficiency and increase recycling rates have both been effective, but the most optimistic forecasts suggest only a further 30% reduction in the emissions per unit output – which isn’t enough to meet the target.” Dr Allwood said, “The fellowship aims to find out how we could meet the carbon target for steel and aluminium.”

Dr Allwood will be working with academic partners in several countries and together they will look at future means of sourcing metal. The work that they do will then be examined with a consortium of 20 major global companies across the metal supply chain.

“Although all plausible scenarios will be examined, it is likely that a key element of a low carbon metal economy would be extensive re-use of metal without melting.” Dr Allwood added: “Therefore the fellowship includes exploration of several technological changes that would be required to support such re-use.”