School of Process,Environmental &Materials Engineering

Commemorative Brochure

100Celebrating

Years

1906 2006

100Celebrating

Years

1906 2006

Front cover illustration painted by James McKay

This brochure has been compiled by the SPEMECentenary Committee:

Gordon AndrewsAndrew BellChris HammondKirn JutllaSimon LawsonKaren InnisJames McKayKevin RobertsJudith SquiresJames Young

Published by Leeds University Press,University of Leeds,Leeds,LS2 9JT, UK

© School of Process, Environmental and MaterialsEngineering 2006

All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced without prior consent.

ISBN 9 780 85316 255 1

3

Commemorative BrochureThe School of Process, Environmental and MaterialsEngineering (SPEME) has come a long way in the last100 years and is now one of the largest integratedmultidisciplinary engineering schools in Europe. So, to mark our centenary, we have compiled this shortcommemorative brochure which looks back over ourhistory and then moves forward to the future.

We may be more familiar to you as theHouldsworth School of Applied Science, oryou may go back even further to theDepartment of Coal Gas and FuelIndustries (with Metallurgy). Whatever yourexperience we hope you enjoy reading thisbrochure.

Before we start our historical tour it isuseful to take a few moments to describethe key features of the School today.Housed in the Houldsworth Building theSchool forms part of the Engineeringquadrant of the University campus. With awide range of undergraduate degrees andtaught masters and research degreeprogrammes, world class research fromthree research institutes, plus extensiveindustrially-targeted short courses, this istruly a place where cutting-edge researchbrings the frontiers of science toundergraduate and postgraduate studentsand to scientific communities and industrythrough our publications and knowledgetransfer activities.

Our activities cover the broad disciplinesof aviation, energy and environment,materials science and process engineeringwith our research organised in threeworld-leading research institutes: the

Energy Resources Research Institute(ERRI), the Institute for Materials Research(IMR) and the Institute of Particle Science& Engineering (IPSE). We are also involvedin multi-disciplinary and collaborativeteaching and research; the Centre forComputational Fluid Dynamics and theParticles Centre of Industrial Collaboration(ParticlesCIC) also sit within the School asmultidisciplinary centres.

In the last Government ResearchAssessment Exercise (RAE) staff in theSchool achieved one of the highest ratingsof 5, confirming our status as one of theleading international centres for integratedprocess, environmental and materialsengineering. Our three world-leadingresearch institutes generate a substantialproportion of the University’s researchgenerated income by forging strong, long-term collaborative links with both nationaland multinational blue chip corporationsand other funding bodies.

This excellence in research, and our stronglinks with industry, ensures that our coursesare relevant, topical and of high quality,enabling our graduates to embark onenhanced career paths within organisationsall around the world.

100Celebrating

Years

1906 2006

IN THE LAST

GOVERNMENT

RESEARCH

ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

(RAE) STAFF IN THE

SCHOOL ACHIEVED

ONE OF THE HIGHEST

RATINGS OF 5,

CONFIRMING OUR

STATUS AS ONE OF THE

LEADING

INTERNATIONAL

CENTRES FOR

INTEGRATED PROCESS,

ENVIRONMENT AND

MATERIALS

ENGINEERING.

“

4

Our heritage – Looking back, the first 50 years

This new department was created as a

direct result of the proposal by the

Professor of Mining, GR Thomson, that

the teaching of fuel and metallurgy

should be added to that of mining, and

was strongly supported by the Professor

of Chemistry, A Smithells. The

Department was housed in a new

building to the rear of Colour Chemistry

on the University campus (now the

Estates Office Building) where it

remained until 1958. The Department

was highly innovative and modelled on

the German Schools of Applied Science,

with an emphasis on achieving enhanced

practical engineering excellence.

In 1910, the fledgling department was

endowed by the Institution of Gas

Engineers with a Professorship in

memory of Sir George Livesey, past

President of the Institute. WA Bone, who

became the first Livesey Professor, left

Leeds in 1912 to found the new

Department of Chemical Engineering at

Imperial.

Bone’s replacement as Livesey Chair and

Head of Department, JW Cobb, was then

instrumental in the subsequent rapid

expansion of the Department. During

this time HJ Hodsman was also

appointed as lecturer, becoming a long-

serving and much appreciated member of

staff who is commemorated by a plaque

in the School foyer. Other early members

of staff were HS Houldsworth who was

appointed in 1917 (more about

Houldsworth later) and GB Howarth

who left a legacy to the department, the

income from which is still used as a

hardship fund for students in ERRI.

AL Roberts was appointed in 1928 and

became the fourth Livesey Professor in

1946.

WA Bone: First Professor

The roots of our pedigree go back a long way, and infact pre-date 1906, as we have links to the foundingof the Yorkshire College of Science in 1874. However,it is from 1906, and the formation of the Departmentof Coal Gas and Fuel Industries (with Metallurgy), thatwe really mark our creation.

AL Roberts

“ THE DEPARTMENT

WAS HIGHLY

INNOVATIVE AND

MODELLED ON THE

GERMAN SCHOOLS

OF APPLIED SCIENCE,

WITH AN EMPHASIS

ON ACHIEVING

ENHANCED

PRACTICAL

ENGINEERING

EXCELLENCE

5

Chemical Engineering, a core activity

within SPEME, had evolved into a

nationally strategic discipline during the

early part of the twentieth century, but it

was not until 1942 that the first Chemical

Engineering degree course was developed,

during the tenure of the third Livesey

Professor DTA Townend. Strong practical

support for this came from the Institution

of Gas Engineers, the National Gas

Council, the British Commercial Gas

Association and Dr Charles Ratcliffe

Brotherton (the nephew of Lord

Brotherton). Lord Brotherton, the chemical

company owner, provided substantial

endowments to the University, notably the

Brotherton Library and collection.

The creation of a Chemical Engineering

degree had been recommended by a

sub-committee of the Livesey Advisory

Committee set up in 1941 to consider

alterations to the degree structure. In

addition to Chemical Engineering, the

committee recommended degrees in:

Gas Engineering, Metallurgy, and Fuel

Science. In 1946 the Charles Brotherton

Chemical Engineering Laboratory was

opened marking the launch of the new

Chemical Engineering degree.

100Celebrating

Years

1906 2006

AL Roberts

6

IN 1955 CONSTRUCTION

BEGAN ON WHAT WAS TO

BECOME THE

HOULDSWORTH BUILDING

OF TODAY – WITH A TOTAL

BUILD COST OF £900,000, IT

ALSO INVOLVED THE

DEMOLITION OF TWO PUBS!

“

7

In 1944, due to the growth in staff

numbers (nine academic staff and six

research staff) and the expansion of

undergraduate provision, the Department

was split into three divisions: Gas and

Chemical Engineering, Metallurgy and

Ceramics and Refractory Materials.

A separate degree in Ceramics was

established in 1950, the first of its kind

in the UK.

In 1944 Dr Brotherton endowed the

Brotherton lectureship and research

assistantship in chemical engineering and

donated £55,000 for the erection of a

new building, which was the genesis of

the Houldsworth building.

With ever increasing numbers of staff

and students, the original Victorian

Terraces and other buildings had proved

insufficient, and the need for newer,

more commodious accommodation

became increasingly self-evident.

In 1955, using the Brotherton donation

along with other funds from HEFCE and

industry, construction began on what was

to become the Houldsworth Building of

today – with a total build cost of

£900,000, it also involved the demolition

of two pubs!

100Celebrating

Years

1906 2006

8

Moving on – The later years, 50 to 100 yearsIn 1956 and before the new buildingwas completed, the Houldsworth Schoolof Applied Science was founded. The building commemorates Sir HubertHouldsworth who was first appointed tothe staff of the University in 1917, wasthe first Chairman of the National CoalBoard in 1947, and served theUniversity as Pro-chancellor from 1949to 1956.

The aim of the School’s foundation was to

establish departments for each disciplinary

constituent, each with their own Professor.

AL Roberts became the first Head of the

Department of Gas Engineering and

General Fuel Science. The Department of

Metallurgy was instituted immediately

with Norman Petch as its first Professor

and Head. Chemical Engineering followed

in 1958, with its first Brotherton Professor

and Head, Geoffrey Haselden, being

appointed in 1966.

Ceramics remained a part of Gas

Engineering and Fuel Science until 1965

when it became a department with Pat

Roberts as its first Professor. He was

succeeded in 1974 by Richard Brook.

In 1964 the Department of Mining was re-

organised as the Department of Applied

Mineral Sciences and shortly after (under

its Head Professor HJ King) elected to

become a fifth Department within the

Houldsworth School, although it remained

in a different physical location until 1997.

All of these structural changes, along with

changes in name, curriculum, and research

activities were made as a direct response to

the changing societal and industrial

environment, a forward-looking core

tradition that continues today.

Control, organisation and strategic

direction of the School was through

committee, with AL Roberts as its first

chairman. The practical work of allocating

lecture theatres, negotiating with Estates

and the day-to-day running of the school

fell to one man, Alan Pollard ‘Mr

Houldsworth School’, never seen without

his pipe!

In 1971, on Professor Roberts’ retirement,

Gas Engineering and General Fuel Science

became the Department of Fuel and

Combustion Science, with the new Livesey

Professor Alan Williams as its first Head

of Department.

Richard Brook: Professor of Ceramics 1974

9

The ‘cafe’

“ THE GUIDING PRINCIPLE

OF THE SCHOOL’S

FOUNDATION WAS TO

ESTABLISH

DEPARTMENTS FOR

EACH DISCIPLINARY

CONSTITUENT, EACH

WITH THEIR OWN

PROFESSOR.Alan Pollard

Sir Hubert Houldsworth

In 1968 the first MSc courses were

launched in Combustion and Energy

(joint with Mechanical Engineering and

Chemistry) and in Environmental

Pollution Control (the first such degree in

the World). These MSc developments

were very successful and have been joined

by a wide variety of other MSc courses

spanning all of our main research areas.

Chemical Engineering prospered and

grew through the 60s and 70s expanding

its research into the new areas of

computational process systems

engineering via the appointments during

this time of Colin McGreavy and John

Flower. In 1964 the department became

the first to purchase its own research

computer, an analogue Solartron 24

costing £326,000 with the computational

capabilities of a modern desk-top

calculator and, later in 1967, its first

digital computer a 16K IBM 1130.

Professor McGreavy became head in

1977, leading the department through the

next two decades with strong student

recruitment into the department.

There were many changes in name among

the five Departments up to the late

1990s. Fuel and Combustion became Fuel

and Energy, Applied Mineral Science

became Mining and Mineral Engineering

and the Departments of Metallurgy and

Ceramics amalgamated to form the

School of Materials with Dr Geoffrey

Pollard as its first Head. Throughout this

period the University grew rapidly with

the Houldsworth School contributing to

this with new degrees in Energy and the

Environment and in Fire Engineering.

In 1997, as part of a general trend of

universities throughout the UK towards

having a smaller number of larger schools

of study, the four remaining Houldsworth

departments were combined, under the

leadership of Professor PA Dowd, the

Professor of Mining Engineering, into a

single School of Process, Environmental

and Materials Engineering (SPEME) and

co-located within the Houldsworth

building. This, together with substantial

university investments in the new school,

led to the appointments of Richard

Williams as Professor of Mineral and

Process Engineering in 1999 and Kevin

Roberts as the second Brotherton

Professor of Chemical Engineering in

2001. Through this, activities and synergy

between minerals and chemical

engineering (previously in separate

buildings) were brought together for the

first time. Substantial endowment from

British Nuclear Fuels Ltd in the emerging

area of particle technology followed,

leading to the subsequent appointments

of Mojtaba Ghadiri and Simon Biggs to

additional chairs in the School.

Due to the modular approach to degree

programmes already established by the

University, a wide range of both single

discipline and increasingly

interdisciplinary degree courses could be

offered. The flexibility of degree

programme construction meant that the

School and University could be more

responsive to market demand (student

and industry) with wider options of study

10

Final year students measuring the creep of refractories at high temperature

Pilot Plant 1955

New IBM 1130 Computer

“ IN 1968 AND 1972 THE FIRST

MSC COURSES WERE

LAUNCHED IN COMBUSTION

AND ENERGY (JOINT WITH

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

AND CHEMISTRY) AND IN

ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

CONTROL (THE FIRST SUCH

DEGREE IN THE WORLD)

11

100Celebrating

Years

1906 2006

available than could be provided in a

fixed programme regime. From the

establishment of a single department in

1906 which expanded to teach several

disciplines, to the evolution of separate

defined departments we have now come

full circle to a unified and versatile

School.

In 2003, under Professor Mohammed

Pourkashanian as the new Head of

SPEME, teaching in the School was

re-organised into three broad discipline

areas; Aviation, Materials and Process

Engineering. The materials programme is

largely a continuation of the materials

programme of the School of Materials,

but the re-organisation of the

programmes in Fuel and Energy,

Chemical Engineering and Mining and

Mineral Engineering into Process

Engineering was much more radical,

designed to facilitate efficiency in delivery

and to enhance interdisciplinary teaching.

The Aviation degree, the first of its kind,

was introduced in 2003 and is one of the

most successful undergraduate

programmes in the University. It was

Peter Dowd’s enthusiasm that helped the

degree to evolve into a practical degree

with flying instruction, very much the key

to its popularity with students.

With the disappearance of separate

departments, separate discipline research

also came to an end. This was necessary

to take advantage of the benefits of a

multidisciplinary approach demanded by

the research that was being undertaken at

the frontiers of scientific discovery.

Indeed, research activity influenced by

industrial collaboration with real world

commercial considerations reiterated this

requirement.

So, alongside the fusing of the old

separate departments into one

interdisciplinary School for teaching came

the creation of three new interdisciplinary

research institutes: the Energy and

Resources Research Institute; the Institute

for Materials Research; the Institute of

Particle Science and Engineering.

Research within the Houldsworth School

had always been strong and of world-

class standard, and with the creation of

the three new Institutes, this tradition of

excellence and industrial involvement

became even stronger, drawing on the

considerable international renown and

expertise of the academic members.

Fuel science teaching laboratory

Graduation

The Duchess of Kentvisits the Brothertonlaboratory

12

Today and into the future – 2006 and beyond

EducationThe modular nature of our teaching has ensured that commonsubjects between the programmes in Aviation, Materials andProcess Engineering teaching can be used across the schoolproviding efficiencies in the delivery of teaching.

The advent of Aviation Technology degrees has resulted in anumber of changes to the curriculum available within theSchool as well as giving us new aircraft simulator facilities.These state-of-the art facilities are providing students with anexciting new range of projects which are taken as a part ofthese courses.

Materials teaching has also undergone significant change bothin programmes and modules as a result of changing studentdemand. Traditional programmes in Materials and Metallurgyhave been replaced with a general Materials Science andEngineering degree having variants in Sports Materials andBiomaterials. Recent improvements have included a change tomore problem-based learning within modules and an increasedemphasis on practical skills.

Within Process Engineering, there is now a largely commonfirst three semesters and the individual character of theconstituent subjects starts to develop in the latter half of thesecond year. The third and fourth years are then spent mostlyon specific material of relevance to the degree course chosen byeach student.

Postgraduate provision is also developing and, as is the casewith undergraduate provision, is reflecting changing trends,demands and a changing landscape. New and innovativeapproaches to teaching and learning and developments toenhance the student experience are at the heart of our thinking.

The Energy & Resources ResearchInstitute (ERRI)Under the direction of Professor Paul Williams, ERRI maintainsa thriving cutting-edge research culture, supported by state-of-the-art research facilities, which provides a vibrant researchenvironment. The ERRI team comprises six Professors, fourReaders, three Senior Lecturers and two Lecturers with 25 Post-doctoral Fellows and 40 PhD students.

The group is well established and internationally recognised.There are five main research areas within the Institute:• Combustion, flames, fire and explosion;• Advanced energy engineering; • Environmental pollution control, monitoring and modelling;• Renewable energy systems and future fuels;• Sustainable management of resources.

Our vision is: To be recognised for internationally leading

research in the sustainable development of natural resources,

the sustainable use of fossil fuels and the development of

renewable and future fuels.

Our strategy includes measures to increase our internationallinks through visits and hosting researchers so that existingcollaborations will be strengthened and new international linksfostered. Research grant funding will be used to support thedevelopment of our research equipment infrastructure. Therange of research reactors and equipment, advanced analyticaland diagnostic instruments that we build and expand willvastly improve the physical infrastructure for our research andcontributes to our aim to be a world-class centre for research inenergy and resources.

Energy and resource management is a major strategic researcharea for the UK, requiring integration and collaborationbetween the different science areas as well as recognition of theassociated socio-economic and cultural changes that will ensue.

We are leading interdisciplinary research via the University ofLeeds Interdisciplinary Institute in Earth, Energy &Environment. The Institute actively promotes knowledge transfer to industry and other stakeholders with more than 20industrially focused short courses, an activity which the

In 2006 the School is financially sound,total student numbers are healthy andresearch income is at an all time high andrepresents a major proportion of the Facultyof Engineering income. The outlook for thenext 100 years is looking great...

13

Institute plans to sustain and strengthen in thefuture. The Institute combines expertise in theareas of environmental impact, socio-economicsand public perception with the traditional areas ofengineering and physical sciences.

Such cross-university collaboration will beenhanced by the award of six Research CouncilUK (Roberts) Fellowships to the University ofLeeds to create a frontline interdisciplinaryresearch programme in the strategic area ofFuture Energy Scenarios. Six priority areas for therecruitment of high quality Fellows have beenidentified: carbon capture; CO2 sequestration &utilization; biofuels, transport, engine efficiency,emissions and health; carbon abatement and cleanfuel technologies; public awareness, infrastructure,and uptake of low carbon culture; the role ofmultinational enterprises in the migration to cleanfuture energies.

The Institute for MaterialsResearch (IMR)Under the direction of Professor Andrew Bell,IMR aims to undertake applications-drivenresearch on a distinctive range of engineeringmaterials, strongly supported by research intomicrostructural and nanochemicalcharacterization techniques. It embraces allapproaches to materials science & engineering,from fundamental studies and modelling throughto device fabrication, underpinned by the classicalprocess-structure-properties paradigm.

The IMR team comprises five Professors, twoReaders, two Senior Lecturers, two SeniorResearch Fellows and three Experimental Officerswith over 20 Post-doctoral Fellows and 25 PhDstudents.

Research activities cover three main establishedareas:• Functional materials – carbon, ferroelectrics,

photonics and sensors;• Metallurgy – steel, non-equilibrium processing;• Characterization and modelling – electron

microscopy and spectroscopy, ab initio andthermodynamic modelling.

Our vision is: To undertake internationally

leading research and postgraduate training in

selected fields within materials science &

engineering, serving the future needs of industry

and society.

The development of new areas related to the keyinterdisciplinary themes of energy, theenvironment and health is high on our agendaand already new work in environmentally-friendly extractive metallurgy, smart materials forlow-carbon aviation and nano-biomaterials ismaking an international impact.

Our research is supported by a range of sponsors.EPSRC awards include two prestigious PlatformGrants and a Basic Technologies programme.However, an increasing percentage of work isindustry funded, either directly or through DTIconsortia; interaction through KnowledgeTransfer Partnerships is also proving to be aparticularly effective method for influencingindustrial practice.

The currency of our research is witnessed by thenumber of funded research collaborations, forexample through international programmes withthe US, Germany, India, China and Singapore, orin leading the 80 member UK FerroelectricsNetwork. On average we welcome sixinternational visitors a year who spend betweenone and 12 months in the Institute to carry outcollaborative research activities.

The Institute has benefited from substantialinfrastructure investment over recent years, notonly to establish a pleasant, modern environment

IMR UNDERTAKE

INTERNATIONALLY

LEADING RESEARCH

AND POSTGRADUATE

TRAINING IN

SELECTED FIELDS

WITHIN MATERIALS

SCIENCE &

ENGINEERING,

SERVING THE FUTURE

NEEDS OF INDUSTRY

AND SOCIETY.

“

SPEME senior management team 2006

14

for our researchers, but to provide unique, worldleading facilities particularly in electronmicroscopy, laser processing of materials, crystalgrowth, mesophase carbon processing and rapidsolidification of alloys. The Institute is also one ofthe founding partners in the SuperSTEMcollaboration, a unique, aberration correctedtransmission electron microscopy facility based atthe Daresbury Laboratories, with chemicalcharacterisation capabilities of spatial resolutionapproaching 1Å.

The Institute of Particle Scienceand Engineering (IPSE)Under the direction of Professor Mojtaba Ghadiri,IPSE has developed an international reputation foracademic excellence, supported by a large team ofworld-renowned staff and significant industrialsupport and sponsorship.

The IPSE team comprises six Professors, twoReaders, two Senior Lecturers and three Lecturers,with 30 Post-doctoral Fellows, and 60 PhDstudents.

Research activities address the fundamentalengineering science of particulate, multiphase andstructured materials systems, together with theirdirect impact on modern societal need. We have agroup of about ten international visitors whosework is targeted towards a number of keyindustrial sectors with our primary methodologiesbeing based on our unique breadth of expertise inmeasurement, modelling and manufacture.

Our vision is: To be the world-leading centre in

particle science and engineering, and to be

recognised as such by our students and research

sponsors while achieving sustainable growth in

order to address future societal needs.

IPSE is based on the traditional disciplines ofChemical Engineering and Mineral Process

Engineering, and has expanded rapidly inPharmaceutical Chemical Engineering and theemerging area of Nano-Manufacturing,addressing the following general themes:• Colloid and Interfacial Engineering;• Multiscale and Systems Modelling;• Pharmaceutical and Fine Chemicals Processing;• Mineral and Waste Processing;• Powder and Formulation Engineering;• In-Process Measurement and Control of Process

Systems.

Research is strategically focused on three maintechnological domain areas: health andpharmaceuticals; household and personalproducts; nuclear waste processing. Our industriallinks are co-ordinated by three managers. Thedynamic nature of our research is demonstratedby the formation of eight spin-out companies,together with the operation of a number of largeresearch consortia with strong participation fromover 29 industrial organizations as well as 13academic institutions worldwide.

Approximately half of the Institute staff areVisiting Professors to International universitiesand IPSE itself has a large group of 24 VisitingProfessors. These are strategically appointed toreinforce our international links and to provide anadvisory contribution in emerging research areas.

As we move forward we will further enhanceour current capabilities in molecular engineering,nanotechnology and process analyticaltechnologies. This will be achieved via therecruitment of senior academics throughindustrially-sponsored chairs. A number of ourseeding activities have been very successful andhave already had technological and scholarlyimpacts, namely nanofluids, electroacoustictomography, and statistical methods applied toprocess analytic techniques and sensor dataprocessing.

IPSE HAS AN INTERNATIONAL

REPUTATION FOR ACADEMIC

EXCELLENCE, SUPPORTED BY

A LARGE TEAM OF WORLD-

RENOWNED STAFF AND

SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL

SUPPORT AND SPONSORSHIP.

“

100Celebrating

Years

1906 2006

And finallyAs we celebrate our centenary, we reflect on pastcharacters, their achievements, and their legacies.We can understand the changing circumstances of theworld in which they and the various evolutionary stagesof the constituents of SPEME found themselves.

The strategies which evolved and decisions which weremade, inform and influence our present circumstances.Underpinned by a tradition of excellence and worldclass academic achievement, we find ourselves in astrong position to push forward the frontiers of scienceand engineering.

Significant research and teaching links with industryhave been a key part of our history and of our currentresearch and teaching. It was most unusual 100 yearsago for universities to have such strong industrial links,but this has been a recurrent feature in many disciplinesat the University of Leeds, and the Houldsworth School(now SPEME) led the way.

Through our establishment of responsive undergraduateand postgraduate degree programmes, we are in aprime position to meet the needs of the highereducation market place, endowing our graduates withtransferable skills which contemporary industry andbusiness demands.

Our three world-class research institutes continue thetradition of their predecessors in developing newtechnologies, enabling new products, and reaching fornew horizons. With industrial involvement andcollaboration at levels envied by others, our future looksbright and full of opportunity.

The School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering

University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UKt +44 (0)113 343 2444

w www.engineering.leeds.ac.uk/spemeISBN: 9 780 85316 255 1

100Celebrating

Years

1906 2006