During hot-rolling, the steel industry has no means of determining microstructure development in real-time. Offline analysis of coil-end samples is slow, destructive and does not allow monitoring and control of material properties throughout a production run. Research at the University of Manchester has resulted in the development of a new non-contact system (ROMA), exploiting a novel multi-frequency electromagnetic technique to monitor material microstructure during forced cooling. An important benefit is that it can measure from 0-100% transformation. This collaboration will transfer knowledge to Siemens and enable commercial exploitation by reference-site installation on the Tata Steel hot-strip mill at Port Talbot.

Historically, the discovery, development and application of metals have set the pace for the evolution of human civilisation, driven the way that people live, and shaped our modern societies. Today, metals are the backbone of the global manufacturing industry and the fuel for economic growth. In the UK, the metals industry comprises 11,100 companies, employs 230,000 people, directly contributes £10.7bn to the UK GDP, and indirectly supports a further 750,000 employees and underpins some £200bn of UK GDP. As a foundation industry, it underpins the competitive position of every industrial sector, including aerospace, automotive, construction, electronics, defence and general engineering. However, extraction and processing of metals are very energy intensive and cause severe environmental damage: the extraction of seven major metals (Fe, Al, Cu, Pb, Mn, Ni and Zn) accounts for 15% of the global primary energy demand and 12% of the global GHG emission. In addition, metals can in theory be recycled infinitely without degradation, saving enormous amounts of energy and CO2 emission. For instance, compared with the extraction route, recycling of steel saves 85% of energy, 86% GHG emission, 40% water consumption and 76% water pollution. Moreover, metals are closely associated with resource scarcity and supply security, and this is particularly true for the UK, which relies almost 100% on the import of metals. The grand challenge facing the entire world is decoupling economic growth from environmental damage, in which metals have a critical role to play. Our vision is full metal circulation, in which the global demand for metallic materials will be met by the circulation of secondary metals through reduce, reuse, remanufacture (including repair and cascade), recycling and recovery. Full metal circulation represents a paradigm shift for metallurgical science, manufacturing technology and the industrial landscape, and more importantly will change completely the way we use natural resources. Full metal circulation means no more mining, no more metal extraction, and no more primary metals. We will make the best use of the metals that we already have. We propose to establish an Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre, CircularMetal, to accelerate the transition from the current largely take-make-waste linear economy to full metal circulation. Our ambition is to make the UK the first country to realise full metal circulation (at least for the high-volume metals) by 2050. This will form an integral part of the government's efforts to double resource productivity and realise Net Zero by 2050. We have assembled a truly interdisciplinary academic team with a wide range of academic expertise, and a strong industrial consortium involving the full metals supply chain with a high level of financial support. We will conduct macro-economic analysis of metal flow to identify circularity gaps in the metals industry and to develop pathways, policies and regulations to bridge them; we will develop circular product design principles, circular business models and circular supply chain strategies to facilitate the transition to full metal circulation; we will develop circular alloys and circular manufacturing technologies to enable the transition to full metal circulation; and we will engage actively with the wider academic and industrial communities, policy makers and the general public to deliver the widest possible impact of full metal circulation. The CircularMetal centre will provide the capability and pathways to eliminate the need for metal extraction, and the estimated accumulative economic contribution to the UK could be over £100bn in the next 10 years.

The UK Foundation Industries (Glass, Metals, Cement, Ceramics, Bulk Chemicals and Paper), are worth £52B to the UK economy, produce 28 million tonnes of materials per year and account for 10% of the UK total CO2 emissions. These industries face major challenges in meeting the UK Government's legal commitment for 2050 to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 100% relative to 1990, as they are characterised by highly intensive use of both resources and energy. While all sectors are implementing steps to increase recycling and reuse of materials, they are at varying stages of creating road maps to zero carbon. These roadmaps depend on the switching of the national grid to low carbon energy supply based on green electricity and sustainable sources of hydrogen and biofuels along with carbon capture and storage solutions. Achievement of net zero carbon will also require innovations in product and process design and the adoption of circular economy and industrial symbiosis approaches via new business models, enabled as necessary by changes in national and global policies. Additionally, the Governments £4.7B National Productivity Investment Fund recognises the need for raising UK productivity across all industrial sectors to match best international standards. High levels of productivity coupled with low carbon strategies will contribute to creating a transformation of the foundation industry landscape, encouraging strategic retention of the industries in the UK, resilience against global supply chain shocks such as Covid-19 and providing quality jobs and a clean environment. The strategic importance of these industries to UK productivity and environmental targets has been acknowledged by the provision of £66M from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to support a Transforming Foundation Industries cluster. Recognising that the individual sectors will face many common problems and opportunities, the TFI cluster will serve to encourage and facilitate a cross sectoral approach to the major challenges faced. As part of this funding an Academic Network Plus will be formed, to ensure the establishment of a vibrant community of academics and industry that can organise and collaborate to build disciplinary and interdisciplinary solutions to the major challenges. The Network Plus will serve as a basis to ensure that the ongoing £66M TFI programme is rolled out, underpinned by a portfolio of the best available UK interdisciplinary science, and informed by cross sectoral industry participation. Our network, initially drawn from eight UK universities, and over 30 industrial organisations will support the UK foundation industries by engaging with academia, industry, policy makers and non-governmental organisations to identify and address challenges and opportunities to co-develop and adopt transformative technologies, business models and working practices. Our expertise covers all six foundation industries, with relevant knowledge of materials, engineering, bulk chemicals, manufacturing, physical sciences, informatics, economics, circular economy and the arts & humanities. Through our programme of mini-projects, workshops, knowledge transfer, outreach and dissemination, the Network will test concepts and guide the development of innovative outcomes to help transform UK foundation industries. The Network will be inclusive across disciplines, embracing best practice in Knowledge Exchange from the Arts and Humanities, and inclusive of the whole UK academic and industrial communities, enabling access for all to the activity programme and project fund opportunities.

The decarbonisation of industrial clusters is of critical importance to the UK's ambitions of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. The UK Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge (IDC) of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) aims to establish the world's first net-zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040 and at least one low-carbon cluster by 2030. The Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) has been formed to support this Challenge through funding a multidisciplinary research and innovation centre, which currently does not exist at the scale, to accelerate decarbonisation of industrial clusters. IDRIC works with academia, industry, government and other stakeholders to deliver the multidisciplinary research and innovation agenda needed to decarbonise the UK's industrial clusters. IDRIC's research and innovation programme is delivered through a range of activities that enable industry-led, multidisciplinary research in cross-cutting areas of technology, policy, economics and regulation. IDRIC connects and empowers the UK industrial decarbonisation community to deliver an impactful innovation hub for industrial decarbonisation. The establishment of IDRIC as the "one stop shop" for research and innovation, as well as knowledge exchange, regulation, policy and key skills will be beneficial across the industry sectors and clusters. In summary, IDRIC will connect stakeholders, inspire and deliver innovation and maximise impact to help the UK industrial clusters to grow our existing energy intensive industrial sectors, and to attract new, advanced manufacturing industries of the future.