MTC ZAS0009
Submission by the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC)
Background to the Manufacturing Technology Centre
The MTC, as part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, is enabling the UK to become a manufacturing hub with cutting edge technologies. It is a leader in translational research: taking an idea from academic research and making it cost effective for industry takeover and manufacture.
The MTC supports the industrial capabilities of a wide range of sectors. These include some of the UK’s innovation “crown jewels” such as aerospace, construction and consumer products. It supports businesses, ranging from SMEs to some of the world’s biggest brands to improve speed to scale.
Alongside its sites and technology, MTC is focused on ensuring Britain has the skills needed for the UK to reach its manufacturing potential. It has built an extensive apprenticeship programme and is a top 100 Apprenticeship employer according to the Department for Education in 2020.
The organisation is growing exponentially, expecting to reach £250 million in the next five years. This is not growth for growth’s sake. All of MTC’s profits are reinvested to further support and maximise the social value it can create.
The MTC’s Net Zero Strategy
Currently, the MTC is also creating its own Net Zero Strategy to reduce its carbon footprint internally, to become carbon-neutral by 2023.
How the MTC is aiding carbon reduction in the maritime and aerospace sectors
MTC utilises cutting-edge and world-leading technologies and provides the facilities to trial new manufacturing processes and techniques. This has seen MTC work on a range of demonstrator projects and R&D initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint in real-world applications across multiple sectors including construction and maritime.
The MTC is addressing the question of the environmental footprint of shipping and has supported the manufacturing sector in its work to deliver zero carbon propulsion systems using alternative fuels. The MTC is delivering practical solutions to deliver hydrogen fuelling systems to support offshore wind farms and their maintenance. This work is backed up by a feasibility study which we are working on with Bibby, analysing the future possibility for zero carbon fuelling of ships servicing offshore wind farms.
It is clear from our work in the maritime sector that UK capability and productivity is lacking in shipbuilding and the cost to regenerate in isolation would be prohibitive. Hence our vision is for ship to shore manufacturing activities for large structures which would be applicable to the upgrade of chemical plants, coastal defences, wind turbine and floating platforms as well as ships. We see this as a solution that could be delivered nationally through the High Value Manufacturing Catapult in collaboration with the existing shipyards.
The MTC, as part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, contributes significant R&D output on developments for the aerospace industry, too, alongside its work in product development. This includes aeronautics, avionics, manufacturing systems optimisation, materials processing, and supporting digital technologies. The aerospace industry has the ability to draw upon research activities in nearly all engineering related domains, including chemical, biomechanical and electrical. Our expertise in these areas has helped guide the insights below on exciting emerging technologies in the sector.
Questions posed by the EAC
What new technologies are there to reduce emissions from aircraft / shipping vessels and how close to commercialisation are they?
Aviation
In the aviation sector, there are three key development areas in which emerging technologies will be essential to achieve the UK’s net zero goals; alternative propulsion methods and fuels; disassembly and recycling of end-of-life aircraft and using secondary materials instead of raw materials.
The funding of research into alternative propulsion methods and fuels is essential. In particular, the MTC and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult have identified three emerging technologies that would benefit from development and investment. Government and industry should:
● Ensure the UK is at the forefront of delivering the next generation of low emission ultra-high bypass ratio (UHBR) turbofan engines;
● Lead on the development of hybrid gas turbine/electric propulsion systems;
● Lead on the development of all-electric battery and fuel cell propulsion systems.
Whilst the first two measures will still create some emissions and will not be completely carbon neutral in the long term, they can help to considerably decrease emissions in the short term to allow time for other technologies to be developed.
Another key area for development is the disassembly of end-of-life aircraft, which currently produces 4% of emissions in the sector. In the early 2010s, between 700 and 900 aircraft were retired annually, and this is predicted to increase to 1000+ per year for the next decade. This creates large quantities of potentially very high value waste – around 30,000 tonnes of aluminium, 1,800 tonnes of alloys, 1,000 tonnes of carbon fibre and 600 tonnes of other parts removed from old aircraft each year.
Airbus, through their partner Tarmac Aerospace, have stated that up to 90% of an aircraft is eligible for reuse or recycling, although they have not provided a breakdown. The challenge of moving to 100% reuse of the constituent parts of a decommissioned aircraft needs gaps in the supply chain and opportunities for decommissioned parts to be identified.
The secondary materials market needs to be enabled so that the materials from aircraft reaching end-of-life can either be re-used or recycled into raw material for new aircraft or used for other purposes. For future aircraft the way to enable this is through designing with disassembly and end-of-life in mind so that all equipment is made of sustainable materials that can be re-processed where possible and can be taken apart in a cost efficient manner.
As newer aircraft reach end-of-life, there will be increased demand for carbon fibre reprocessing, requiring technology up-scaling. The MTC has worked on the development of cutting-edge robots for disassembly that offer real promise to increase efficiencies in this space.
Maritime
In terms of the maritime sector, the MTC has been developing exciting technologies for the electrification of shipbuilding, including designing plans for a battery-powered ship which could be a useful technological step in helping the Royal Navy and defence sector achieve a sustainable future. This will need further investment in the long term to ensure the ships can be commercialised.
How should the Government’s net zero aviation strategy support UK industry in the development and uptake of technologies, fuels and infrastructure to deliver net zero shipping and aviation?
Reaching the UK’s ambitious net zero by 2050 target will only be possible if we rethink business as usual, especially in shipping and aviation, drive investment in new technologies and use this to promote change across our economy.
Through successful initiatives like the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, new investment and new thinking is already changing the way we travel, generate energy and manufacture new products, placing us firmly on the path to net zero. There is an opportunity here to use this work, and new investment, to drive new jobs, a new skills base, economic growth and place the UK as a world leader, exporting knowledge and new technologies globally.
The Strategy should therefore put these Catapult centres, and organisations like the MTC, firmly at the centre of the Jet Zero Strategy, utilising our facilities to test and pilot new technologies that will drive the sector towards net zero.
Perhaps the biggest challenge presented in the aerospace sector is sourcing and importing raw materials, which dramatically increases the size of the sector’s carbon footprint. At present, and unsurprisingly, the Government’s strategy focuses on aircraft use, which accounts for 80% of emissions – but there is a vital need to consider how we use, manufacture and acquire raw materials. The use of foreign sourced materials contributes towards the UK being the G7’s largest net importer of emissions per capita. Between 40-50% of aerospace grade steel is currently imported from abroad. Government action is needed to reduce the carbon footprint of the materials the UK needs and this can be done in a number of ways, for example by encouraging and incentivising British manufacturers to build domestic capability.
There is a need for regulatory action too, to propel change in both the maritime and aerospace sectors. There is no current legal obligation to recycle aircraft at end-of-life making aircraft recycling voluntary, for example. Legislative action to encourage recycling of materials and vehicles in both maritime and aviation sectors will be essential for creating a shift in supply chains whilst encouraging our international partners to do the same.
Crucially, it will be important to ensure the various sectors can work together and drive efficiency. For example, Hydrogen powered aircraft will never fly without refuelling infrastructure on the ground, which in turn needs to be ‘supplied’ through tube trailers or, more likely, pipelines which in turn need hydrogen production. This is where the MTC, as part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, can ensure the different sectors work together to achieve net zero.
What further action is needed by the International Civil Aviation Organization and International Maritime Organization to drive emissions reductions? What can the UK Government do to drive international action on emissions?
In terms of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Maritime Organization (IMO), both would benefit from intra-organisation collaboration with industry bodies and experts, including those involved with the supply chains such as the business members of the MTC. A collaborative body could be established so that channels of communication and regular feedback from industry are readily available.
The UK Government should use this new body or bodies to bring key organisations into the Net Zero Strategy and Jet Zero process. This could include putting together a board for consultation. This could consider funding allocations for the most promising innovative technology pilots utilising the MTC’s facilities to test new technologies.
We also anticipate that the Government will consult later this year on phasing out the sale of new non-zero emission capable ships in the UK and the Government should use the findings of this consultation to drive action on emissions in shipping internationally.
All stakeholders involved with ICAO and the IMO and the proposed Board should consider how to build a skills pipeline fit for the future, so we have the capable engineers necessary to build new technologies.
There must also be further consideration of the financial support that the Government could offer businesses to ensure all supply chains are sustainable which in turn will create thousands of green jobs.
Case studies from the MTC
Investigating the feasibility of laser cleaning of battery cells to improve efficiency, reliability and productivity
The MTC in collaboration with Electroflight, a technology and engineering services business which operates in the aerospace and defence sectors, conducted a project in 2021 looking into improvements in battery cell cleaning. As part of the project, the MTC developed new methods for cleaning battery cells and technologies to improve processes and to enhance the wire bond weld strength and bonding consistency.
Laser cleaning was identified as the most suitable methodology and in the first phase of the project, the MTC investigated the feasibility of laser cleaning battery cells to remove oxidisation and contamination. Following this, the project focused further on optimising the cleaning process on both old and new cell batches.
Following testing MTC identified an optimum laser power output to achieve targeted improvements in wire bond strength which resulted in a 130% increase in bond strength of the negative terminals and 40% increase for positive terminals. The optimised cleaned cells also showed significant improvement on repeatability and pull testing performance of the cells during the wire bonding process.
The MTC’s work improved the reliability and performance of battery modules whilst also improving cleaning speed and productivity. Another benefit was the enhanced wire bond strength and reduced variability which resulted in quality and safety improvements. Following completion of the project, the MTC introduced Electroflight to laser systems manufacturer IPG Photonics to support the adoption of onsite laser technology in-line with the findings from the MTC’s study.
Investigating the state of the art to determine current constraints and development opportunities for additive manufacture of electric motor components
Additive manufacturing (AM) has been identified as an enabling technology to produce power-dense electric motors in a repeatable and short lead time. Whilst additive manufacturing isn’t new, its application to end-use parts and tooling has become more prevalent only in recent years, and is now demonstrating its potential to change the way that products are designed and manufactured. In 2021 the MTC initiated a project to consider the wider implications of additive manufacturing for electric motors. The aim was to provide recommendations, based on existing limitations, for creating the next generation of electric machines.
With support from the National Centre of Additive Manufacturing (NCAM) and the MTC’s Electrification Steering Committee, the project team identified the key challenges faced in the conventional manufacture of motors along with the benefits that AM provides for each component of electric motors. Subsequently a research and development roadmap was created to progress the implementation of AM in electric motors. The MTC has since been able to propose new projects to address the challenges and constraints of using additive manufacturing in electric motors.
September 2021