Videos

An overview of the range of activities taking place in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London.

In the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, we believe external partnerships are essential, mutually beneficially and exciting. We are looking for people and companies to participate in achieving our goals by offering their skills, networks and expertise. We believe in lifelong partnerships.

Carbon Capture and Storage is a vital technology for deployment in our efforts to keep global warming near to the much discussed 2˚C threshold.

Imperial College London has a history of expertise in CCS – because of this Qatar Petroleum, Shell and the Qatar Science and Technology Park began funding the Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre at Imperial College – a ten year project, finishing at the end of 2018, with $70 million (USD) in funding.

To make CCS globally commercial viable requires a detailed understanding of the character of the rocks in question; an understanding of the interaction between rocks and fluids at multiple scales; and the behaviour of fluids in a wide range of conditions.

The Centre brings together over 80 researchers and PhD students from nearly 30 different countries to provide expertise in all these areas. Nearly 50 PhD theses will have been completed by the end of the programme. The programme includes fieldwork in Oman, UAE, Spain and the UK to help better understand the reservoir geology in the Middle East supplemented with laboratory work including the first application of clumped isotopes to reservoir descriptions. There are also numerous researchers working on how fluids (e.g., carbon dioxide) flow through rocks of varying porosity and heterogeneity and we have built a dedicated imaging laboratory using X-Ray computer-aided tomography (CT) to observe the properties of carbon dioxide at reservoir conditions in an area of technology now known as “digital rocks”.

Qatar Carbonate and Carbon Storage Research Centre

Bradley Ladewig talks about the research in his group, in the Barrer Centre in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. 

Everything is made of molecules; and fluids are no exception. The motion of a fluid can be understood in terms of the collective motion of its molecules bouncing, jiggling, and flowing together. In this video, we take a look at the molecular origins of many well-known phenomena, including the flow of a fluid at the nano-scale, the collective motions which lead to turbulent-like structures, the formation of droplets, the impact of introducing chemicals like soap (a surfactant) and the molecular origins of bubbles in boiling phenomena.

Video by Edward Smith in collaboration with Omar Matar, Erich Muller, Richard Craster, Daniele Dini and David Heyes.

The Institute for Molecular Science & Engineering (IMSE) seeks to transform the way in which engineers, scientists and medical researchers build on scientific breakthroughs at the molecular scale to develop novel solutions to challenges faced by society and industry. Find out more

In this audio story, Professor Andrew Livingston gives listeners the low-down on membranes and how they are used to make many products we need in our daily lives. He also carries out ‘frontier’ research, where he is pushing the boundaries membranes usage forward. He and his team have developed membranes that are made from nanoscopic, twisted, fusilli-like material. He talks about how industries such as the oil and gas sector could be the big winners by adopting this technology, which in the future could cut their emissions and save energy.

Find out more at http://www.imperial.ac.uk/livingston-group

Professor Andrew Livingston, Director of the Barrer Centre provides an overview of the aims and hallmarks of the Barrer Centre. Find out more at http://www.imperial.ac.uk/barrer-centre/

Professor Andrew Livingston (Director, Barrer Centre), and Dr Bradley Ladewig (Theme leader, Barrer Centre) provide a short overview of the Barrer Centre, its objectives, uniqueness and why they're excited to be a part of this new world-leading research centre in separation materials, science and engineering. Find out more at http://www.imperial.ac.uk/barrer-centre/

The Livingston Group from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London perform research on the fabrication and application of molecular separation membranes with the overarching aim to reduce energy costs and increase efficiency of chemical separations in industry.
At Imperial Festival 2016 the group demonstrated the power of membranes to purify water by comparing the bicycle driven energy needed to purify water through distillation vs membrane purification ... the membrane bike won!

Members of Professor Andrew Livingston's group have developed ultrathin (<10 nm) synthetic membranes that can filter small molecules from organic solutes. These nanofilms are extremely permeable, yet very strong. Possible applications of the membranes include purifying organic mixtures in industries such as pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and oil refining. The research was published in Science.

Professor Klaus Hellgardt from the Department of Chemical Engineering and Dr Mimi Hii from the Department of Chemistry reveal how flow chemistry will change the way in which we manufacture everyday products. Posted online 15 May 2015.

In this video Dr Patrizia Marchetti, Research Associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering, challenges us to put purification techniques to the test at Imperial Festival 2015. Posted online 5 May 2015.

A video on the collaboration between Imperial College London and ESD Simulation Training as part of the Energy SmartOps project which is dedicated to finding more efficient ways of using compressors. Featuring interviews with Professor Nina Thornhill and Dr Sara Budinis from the Department. Posted online 16 January 2015.