SUWIC Research Laboratories at Harpur Hill

Large-scale combustion, gasification, fluidised bed, burner and explosion test facilities

SUWIC's field station at Harpur Hill near Buxton is one of the few university facilities in the UK where large-scale or hazardous experiments can be performed.

Manned by our very adept technical staff, the site is fully supplied with services, together with a comprehensive workshop and fourteen laboratories (30m x 10m), of which six are dedicated to SUWIC's research.

Collaboration with outside bodies has always been a feature of work at the site and this currently includes Shell Research, BP Exploration and the Health and Safety Laboratory.

Current work at Harpur Hill, for example, concerns:

• Development of ultra-superheated steam gasifier
• 1MW burner test facility
• Pyrolysis tests of waste and biomass
  
• Research on underventilated fires involving analysis, new CFD codes and large-scale experiments
  
• The mobility of solids in multiphase pipe flow and separators
• Intensified-action separators for the oil-production industry using full-size vessel sections
• Experiments on a pilot-scale rotating fluidised bed incinerator.

The secure site is located next to the Health and Safety Executives laboratories.

For safety reasons, access is by appointment only through the appropriate member of SUWIC staff.