Transformational research

The iPRD was established to support the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industries by working with them to develop new processes and technologies to make chemicals more efficiently and cost-effectively. The team's aim is to establish iPRD as the automatic 'best partner' for innovative, collaborative research in the process chemical industries.

"The chemicals industry is worth some £5 billion so it's vital to the UK economy," says project leader, Professor Steve Marsden. "There are many pressures on the industry to innovate - economic, political, regulatory and environmental - and the iPRD aims to alleviate this by working with industry to find improved ways of producing chemicals."

The new £3.45m process laboratory - funded by Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development Fund - is the first of its kind in the UK, and brings together researchers from the Schools of Chemistry and Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering and industry. The project has also established a subscription-based industrial 'club' of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, fine chemical and technology companies, which collaborate with iPRD on a project-by-project basis.

"We're already working with different partners on various projects such as looking at methods of directly producing homogeneously-sized crystals to avoid secondary manufacture, new catalysis chemistry which replaces toxic feedstocks with benign alcohols, and developing manufacturing processes for specific products."

Further information

Professor Steve Marsden - S.P.Marsden@leeds.ac.uk