An important seminar held at Forth Valley College’s Falkirk Campus recently explored how the chemical industry decarbonises.
Organised by ScotCHEM - a strategic collaboration of seven Scottish university chemistry departments, promoting international research excellence, networking, training and knowledge exchange for Scottish chemistry – and IBioIC - a networking and support organisation that connects industry, academia and government to bring biotechnology processes and products to the global market – the event was held in the Antonine Suite on Friday 27 May.
The seminar brought together stakeholders to discuss how the chemical industry decarbonises or more importantly how it accesses feedstock for producing products from green carbon. At the moment the majority of carbon based products such as plastics, toothpaste and medicines come from oil and gas.
Mhairi Hay Forth Valley College’s Director of Curriculum for the Department of Engineering and Science, attended the event along with FVC Principal Professor Ken Thomson OBE.
Mhairi, said: “It was a pleasure for the College to host this event and it was fascinating. It is amazing how many products start their chemical life from compounds that came from hydrocarbons and it was fascinating to hear how the industry hopes to decarbonise in the future.
“Due to Forth Valley College’s expertise in Engineering and Science, we will be at the forefront of helping to educate the next generation of chemists, scientists and engineers, so it is vital for us to build strong relationships with ScotCHEM and IBiolC and we look forward to working with them again soon.”