Collaboration and innovation: in conversation with Dr Robert Sorrell from BP

Our partners 14th December 2016

The University of Manchester is the Hub for the BP International Centre for Advanced Materials (BP-ICAM). Could you tell us about this collaboration between academia and industry?

RS: Materials underpin everything we do in BP from Upstream Oil & Gas exploration and production through our Downstream businesses in refining, petrochemicals fuel and lubricants to alternative energy businesses in wind and biofuels.

That’s why we established the BP-ICAM in 2012 with a ten year, $100m investment involving four world leading universities – Cambridge, Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Imperial College and Manchester, where the hub is based.

The collaboration with academia enables us to apply leading edge scientific advances in characterisation, imaging, modelling and synthesis to the challenges we face in a range of differing operating environments.
This in turn helps improve our understanding of the performance of existing materials, as well as informing the development of the next generation of advanced materials for our sector.

Over four years into the initial ten year investment, are there any particular examples of BP-ICAM research success which you could highlight?

RS: I would highlight three examples. The first is the development of very flat thin membranes which have increased permeance over existing ones and offer a wide range of potential applications both in Oil & Gas and in other areas such as the medical sector.

The second is the development of a range of novel coatings that have the ability to self heal in-situ to repair localised damage and offer the potential to extend the lifetime of our operational assets.

The third is insights into fuel additive performance in internal combustion engines which have supported the recent launch of BP’s Ultimate fuel with Active technology and are informing the development of the next generation of automotive fuels and lubricants.

Why is it important for a company like BP to work with universities?

RS: Universities operate at the leading edge of science and offer an unparalleled level of capability in a number of key areas. Let’s take the example of characterisation and imaging. Universities like Manchester have access to the latest kit, indeed the equipment manufacturers often test prototype hardware and algorithms with them because Manchester have invested in the capability to make them leading world experts.

That means we can use cutting edge characterisation and imaging tools to get closer and closer to understanding the performance of materials across different length scales – from the atomic through the meso to the macro level. This fundamental understanding is helping us engineer improvements in the performance of existing materials like carbon steel as well as inform the development of new ones.

In other areas like modelling, universities have developed world class capability that is pushing the boundaries of materials selection and testing “in-silico” offering the potential to revolutionise the development of the next generation of materials.

How valuable are the EPSRC Centres for Doctoral Training (CDT) for BP’s recruitment and the UK’s skills base as a whole?

RS: The CDTs are key. They create a cohort of future scientists and engineers well versed in the challenges industry face. They also provide an excellent collaboration vehicle for addressing multidisciplinary challenges that span multiple sectors with the inbuilt ability to allow partners from different sectors to work together.

How does BP support innovation in its businesses?

RS: BP has over 2000 + scientists and engineers but we believe we can achieve far more in collaboration than we can on our own. To do this we have developed an innovation ecosystem that embraces a range of different partnerships from academic partnerships to ones with our supply chain partners, and customers. An integral part of this is our corporate venturing activity, which enables us to identify and partner with innovative start ups and SMEs where we are often the first customer.

Where can readers find out more about BP-ICAM?

RS: The BP-ICAM has a website which we would encourage you to visit to learn more. We also have a number of videos on YouTube with open access. Finally we are often involved in conferences and workshops, and are more than happy to talk to you face to face.