The continued impact of flooding on the built and natural environment has reached a breaking point for many communities. FP McCann identified the need to design sustainable drainage systems for these communities and to do so the company needed a new understanding of complex flow systems comprising multiphase flow (air, water, oil) coupled with discrete particle tracking. A Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) was the right solution.

Forming a partnership with Queen’s University Belfast leading academics, Prof Gerard Hamill and Dr Des Robsinson (School of Natural and Built Environment at Queen's) and KTP Associate, Muddasar Anwar, the main aim of the KTP was to develop this understanding, extending and embedding it across the company’s design sections, while simultaneously developing and establishing an advanced hydrodynamic separator. This state-of-the-art product will remove gross pollutants (sediment, hydrocarbons, rubbish) from stormwater runoff (from roads, car parks, industrial, etc.) before it enters nearby water courses, otherwise causing significant environmental damage and the subsequent detrimental impacts to the society.

Operating without any mechanical components or power sources, increasing sustainability, reliability and reducing lifetime maintenance costs, the separator excels at treating high flow rates, allowing the system to be installed in the main drainage line and continue performing during flood events – a demand which is becoming increasingly more important in the UK due to urbanisation and climate change.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) aim to help businesses to improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills within the UK knowledge base. This KTP project was co-funded by UKRI through Innovate UK KTN and Invest NI.

If you have an innovative idea for your business and would like to discuss whether a KTP could help take it forward, please contact us at ktp@qub.ac.uk