Current projects in the group
Our key focus is on sustainable methods of manufacture of molecules and materials. In this topic we are focusing on availability of data, on continuous manufacturing in pharma, and on process development methods. We work on automation of data generation, automation of models assembly, use of machine learning methods in chemical R&D. Our projects are supported by several companies in polymer, formulations, and pharmaceutical industries, by UKRI (EPSRC), National Research Foundation (Singapore), and Pharma Innovation Programme in Singapore (PIPS).
Key collaborations are with Prof. David Woods (statistics) at University of Southampton, Prof. Leroy Cronin (chemistry) at Glasgow University, with the groups of Profs. Matthew Gaunt and Jonathan Goodman, Dr Lucy Colwell (Chemistry @ Cambridge) with Prof. Pietro Lio on AI methods and Prof. Gabor Csanyi on molecular descriptors and hybrid modelling.
Our group is involved in the C4T project of CARES (http://www.cares.cam.ac.uk). The work package IRP1 of the C4T project is concerned with developing catalytic technologies for de-carbonisation of chemical industries. Specifically we are concerned with replacing conventional feedstocks with C1 and bio-waste feedstocks. Our active projects are on conversion of carbon dioxide, conversion of bio-waste into chemicals and methods of synthesis of catalytic support materials.
Our group is involved in the project eCO2EP between the University of Cambridge and Berkeley University' entities in Singapore, in collaboration with NUS and NTU. The project will develop a demonstrator mini plant integrating scaled-up electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to ethylene with product separation.
We were awarded three projects within Pharma Innovation Platform Singapore (PIPS):
C4 project is looking at methods of optimisation/development of multi-step processes in pharma.
D2K project is a collaboration with the group of Prof. Markus Kraft. The project will develop a full digital framework for automated experiments within a digital factory, developing an ontology of a Pharma plant.
Pfizer-flow project is a direct collaboration with Pfizer. This project is focusing on developing innovative flow chemistry solutions.
KEY
COLLABORATORS
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Prof. David Woods (statistics) at University of Southampton
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Prof. Leroy Cronin (chemistry) at Glasgow University
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Prof. Matthew Gaunt (Chemistry @ Cambridge)
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Prof. Jonathan Goodman (Chemistry @ Cambridge)
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Prof. Pietro Lio (Comp Sci @ Cambridge) on AI methods
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Prof. Gabor Csanyi (Engineering @ Cambridge)
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Dr Kedar Hippalgaonkar at NTU/A*STAR on HT for formulations
C4T
CARES
The work package IRP1 of the C4T project is concerned with developing catalytic technologies for de-carbonisation of chemical industries. Specifically we are concerned with replacing conventional feedstocks with C1 and bio-waste feedstocks. Our active projects are on conversion of carbon dioxide, conversion of bio-waste into chemicals and methods of synthesis of catalytic support materials.
We are involved in the Innovation Centre in Digital Molecular Technologies (iDMT). Within the Centre we are building new digital R&D infrastructure to support SMEs in England in the transition to fully digital manufacturing and research.
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We are leading the project "From Digital Twins to Real Time AI-supported Plant Operation". This is a collaboration with the group of Prof. Markus Kraft and the group of Dr Lianlian Jiang at I2R A*STAR institute. Our group is working on the physical models side of the digital twin system.
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We are leading the project "Automated evaluation of environmental impact of pharma manufacturing processes". In this project we are involved mainly via CDI Pte Ltd.
Spin outs from the group
Chemical Data Intelligence is working with large chemical reactions datasets using network science and machine learning tools. CDI proposes solutions for utilising bio-feedstocks/ bio-waste, developing routes for circular use of molecules, and addresses other sustainability challenges in early-stages reaction planning.
AM Ltd creates highly scalable and cost-efficient production solutions for manufacture of functional nanoparticles. We achieve this by by combining intensified processes with intelligent optimization strategies. From quantum dots to pharmaceutical crystallization, we provide complete support from materials R&D to process development and application formulation.