£9 million research programme to reinvent chemical separation methods and significantly cut total global energy consumption begins

£9 million research programme to reinvent chemical separation methods and significantly cut total global energy consumption begins. A £9 million project to develop new chemical processing technology that could save hundreds of millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions has begun at UK Universities including The University of Manchester. The SynHiSel programme has received a total of £9m in funding, from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council , part of UK Research and Innovation, and from industrial and University partners. The project, the biggest of its kind to date, will investigate how to develop more efficient ways of separating chemicals - processes that underpin crucial parts of everyday life including clean water treatment, CO₂ removal and food and pharmaceutical production. It is estimated that these separations currently consume 10-15 percent of total energy usage, and that they could be made 10 times more efficient by creating new highly selective membranes. This could cut annual worldwide carbon dioxide emissions by 100 million tonnes and save £3.5 billion in energy costs. Professor Peter Budd, The University of Manchester said: "Both scientific ingenuity and engineering skill are needed in the development of new membranes and processes for sustainable and efficient separations.