Design Engineering
Showcase 2020

Big Atom

Student
Edward James
Team
Design Engineering
Supervisor
Dr Marco Aurisicchio
Role
Design Engineer
Sector
Sustainability

BIG ATOM is a clean-tech recycling company with a vision to create a Circular Economy for polymer materials.

Our mission is to convert plastic and rubber waste into secondary raw materials. We are designing technologies that improve the recycling processes and create a new life for hard-to-recycle plastics.

BIG ATOM’s innovations will drive down costs of waste disposal for the consumer and generate capabilities to process more waste streams more effectively.

Our first achievement has been building a tyre recycling business in the North West in England, where we shred & granulate tyres, ready for our development chemical plant.

We think big and are considerate of sustainability every step of the way.

Ultimately, we want to be part of something bigger: building a sustainable future, by creating a pathway to green polymer materials .

— Big Atom

Design Engineering Thinking and Skills

My industrial placement was at a London based cleantech start-up called Big Atom. They operate a tyre recycling facility in Ellesmere port and are begin to chemically regenerate the recovered polymers back into raw materials.

Role and Contributions

The projects gave me real world experience of; project management, structural engineering, industrial electrical & control systems, dataset analysis, website design, manufacturing standards & accreditation processes, commercial negotiations and asset financing. Most of the projects I was involved with I took from initiation (including ideation) through execution to operations handover. I enjoyed seeing the entire project lifecycle which developed ownership and passion for the projects

Summary

Overall, the placement was a success. My primary objectives were to develop my knowledge and contribute to the development of a company focussed on sustainability and Circular Economy. Both objectives were achieved.

— Big Atom

Comments

No comments have been posted on this project yet.

Outdated Browser

This website has been built using some of the latest web technologies. Unfortunately, your browser doesn't support these technologies. To update your browser, please visit Outdated Browser.