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terça-feira, 29 de maio de 2012

£7m research project for nanotechnology experts


A NOTTINGHAM company which makes things you can't see has received its second major boost within a matter of days.
Promethean Particles, which carries out research into the use of nanotechnology by industry, has a secured a European research project worth more than £7 million.
New deal: Ed Lester, of Promethean Particles will carry out research in partnership with a number of major businesses.
The announcement comes only days after the company, which is currently based at BioCity, heard it would receive a £500,000 cash injection which will help it drive growth and move into bigger premises.
In the latest deal Promethean will carry out research in partnership with a number of major businesses intended to develop the large-scale manufacturing of nano-materials.
Promethean is a University of Nottingham spin-out company which has developed a unique, patented process which allows the production of particles as small as a billionth of a metre which can be used to change the way materials behave and improve their performance.
Nanotechnology could be used, for example, to produce "self-healing" scratchproof paints and coatings, to make better composite materials and even in healthcare.
Promethean and the university have secured an EU-funded project worth approximately £7.7 million which is known as SHYMAN – Sustainable Hydrothermal Manufacturing of Nanomaterials.
Under the terms of the project, Promethean will spend the next four years ramping up its patented method of nanoparticle production on to an industrial scale.
But it will work with a number of large companies – among them automotive giant Fiat and the paints and coatings giant PPG – so that it is able to produce nanoparticles with specific commercial applications.
Promethean was based on the research work into nanoparticle production carried out by Professor Ed Lester, who mastered a process which uses hot pressurised water and simple metal salts to make inorganic nanoparticles.
Now technical director of the business, he said: "The SHYMAN project offers a great opportunity for us.
"It will enable us to develop the groundbreaking work that we have been doing in the manufacture of nano materials.
"We will also be working on new materials that have been identified as key future targets but which either cannot be made using conventional processes, or made in significant quantities.
"The consortium is founded on the principle that everyone in the value chain, from the producers of the nanoparticles through to the final product, has to be involved in the development of the technology.
"This will ensure that we develop products and solutions which have specific industrial applications."
The EU project represents another example of the university's long-term push to commercialise its research.
Mike Carr, the university's director of business engagement, said: "The work that Promethean is doing is a great example of how technology developed by researchers at The University of Nottingham can have potentially enormous benefits in industry.
"There is a wide variety of university technologies that businesses are able to develop under license from us."
The SHYMAN announcement comes only a week after Promethean revealed that it had secured a £500,000 investment from the E-Synergy Fund, which backs growing companies.
It will be used to help Promethean move from its current home at BioCity on Pennyfoot Street in Nottingham to the Highfields Science Park, where it will step up production to supply new customers in Europe, the United States, Japan and Korea.
Turnover is expected to quadruple this year based on its order book and future sales, while staff numbers should reach 10 by this time next year.