Dr Daniel Backhouse
Research Fellow
Summary
Dr. Daniel Backhouse joined Prof. Paul Bingham’s research group in Sheffield Hallam University in 2018. Daniel's research focuses on reducing energy demands and CO2 release in the glass industry through development of waste streams into new raw materials. Daniel has experience of working closely with the glass industry and within academia, and has significant interest in silicate glasses, nuclear waste vitrification and glass development for industry.
About
Dr. Daniel Backhouse gained his Master's degree in Physics (MPhys) from the University of Warwick in 2010. He later joined the Nuclear FiRST Doctoral Training Centre at the University of Sheffield. During this time, he completed projects on 'Ceramic Immobilisation Options for Technetium' and 'Modelling of Calcium Aluminosilicate Glasses for Chloride Waste Immobilisation'. Following these projects, he undertook his PhD project, entitled 'A Study of the Dissolution of Nuclear Waste Glasses in Highly-Alkaline Conditions', receiving his Doctorate in 2017. From October 2016 to October 2018, Daniel was the Associate for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between the University of Sheffield and Superglass Insulation Ltd., a glass wool insulation manufacturer. The project focused on developing an optimised glass formulation (improved processing and product quality) for use by Superglass in production of their glass wool insulation products. This project was funded by Innovate UK through the KTP programme (KTP Number 10460). Daniel joined Prof. Paul Bingham's group in MERI in October 2018. He is working on the Enviroglass 2 project, which seeks to optimise ash from Biomass power plants in order to reduce the environmental impact of Glass manufacturing.
- Silicate Glasses and Glass-ceramics;
- Minimising the environmental impact of the glass industry;
- Optimisation of Glass compositions for use in the glass industry;
- Glass dissolution, with a particular interest in characterisation of secondary phases;
- Nuclear Waste Vitrification.
Teaching
College of Business, Technology and Engineering
Research
October 2018 – Ongoing: EnviroGlass 2 – Optimising biomass ash to reduce the environmental impact of glass manufacture Funded by Innovate UK This project, led by GTS and supported by British Glass (representing the 8 main UK flat and container glass manufacturers) and Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), creates a new consortium with Ashwell Biomass, Templeborough Biomass Power Plant, Power Minerals and Glassworks Services. This project brings together three industrial sectors (Glass, Ceramics, Biomass Energy) for the first time to develop new raw materials for glass and ceramics manufacture. This project builds upon outputs from IUK Energy Catalyst Feasibility Study (IUK: 132334) 'EnviroGlass Melting', which assessed a range of wastes as potential new raw materials in glass manufacture to reduce melting temperatures, CO2 emissions and costs. The project proposed here builds upon these findings to address the challenges identified, developing new raw materials and demonstrating suitability for glass (TRL=7) and ceramics (TRL=3-4) industries to improve productivity and reduce: (i) Energy requirements (up to 10%) (ii) Raw materials costs (up to 10%) (iii) UK landfill (up to 75kT/yr)
October 2016 - October 2018: Knowledge Transfer Partnership between University of Sheffield and Superglass Insulation Ltd. (KTP 10460) Funded by Innovate UK The project sought to enable Superglass to become an industry leader in glass wool insulation production. Initially, this was through thorough analysis of their glass composition and products. The main focus of the project was to develop a new glass formulation which would have enhanced thermal processing properties (lower liquidus temperature and viscosity) and would lead to products with enhanced properties (increased strength and hydration resistance, lower dust generation).
Publications
Journal articles
Scrimshire, A., Backhouse, D., Deng, W., Mann, C., Ogden, M.D., Sharrad, C.A., ... Bingham, P.A. (2024). Benchtop Zone Refinement of Simulated Future Spent Nuclear Fuel Pyroprocessing Waste. Materials, 17 (8). http://doi.org/10.3390/ma17081781
Bell, A., Backhouse, D., Deng, W., Eales, J., Kilinc, E., Love, K., ... Bingham, P. (2020). X-Ray fluorescence analysis of feldspars and silicate glass: effects of melting time on fused bead consistency and volatilisation. Minerals, 10 (5), 442. http://doi.org/10.3390/min10050442
Deng, W., Spathi, C., Coulbeck, T., Kilinc, E., Backhouse, D., Marshall, M., ... Bingham, P. (2019). Exploratory research in alternative raw material sources and reformulation for industrial soda-lime-silica glass batch. International Journal of Applied Glass Science. http://doi.org/10.1111/ijag.14775
Deng, W., Backhouse, D.J., Kabir, F., Janani, R., Bigharaz, M., Wardlow, A., ... Bingham, P. (2019). An ancient technology could help deliver decarbonisation. Glass International, 42 (7), 47-49. https://www.glass-international.com/issues/view/july-august-2019
Backhouse, D., Corkhill, C.L., Hyatt, N.C., & Hand, R.J. (2019). Investigation of the role of Mg and Ca in the structure and durability of aluminoborosilicate glass. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 512, 41-52. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2019.03.003
Backhouse, D., Fisher, A.J., Neeway, J.J., Corkhill, C.L., Hyatt, N.C., & Hand, R.J. (2018). Corrosion of the International Simple Glass under acidic to hyperalkaline conditions. npj Materials Degradation, 2 (29). http://doi.org/10.1038/s41529-018-0050-5
Conference papers
Cassingham, N., Corkhill, C.L., Backhouse, D.J., Hand, R.J., Ryan, J.V., Vienna, J.D., & Hyatt, N.C. (2015). The initial dissolution rates of simulated UK Magnox–ThORP blend nuclear waste glass as a function of pH, temperature and waste loading. Mineralogical Magazine, 79 (6), 1529-1542. http://doi.org/10.1180/minmag.2015.079.6.28
Edwards, R.S., Perry, R., Cleanthous, D., Backhouse, D.J., Moore, I.J., Clough, A.R., & Stone, D.I. (2012). Measuring elastic constants using non-contact ultrasonic techniques. AIP Conference Proceedings. http://doi.org/10.1063/1.3703238
Stennett, M.C., Backhouse, D.J., Freeman, C.L., & Hyatt, N.C. (2012). Ceramic Immobilisation Options for Technetium. MRS Proceedings, 1518, 111-116. http://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2012.1567
Edwards, R.S., Perry, R., Backhouse, D.J., Moore, I.J., Cleanthous, D., Clough, A.R., & Stone, D. (2011). Non-contact ultrasonic measurements of the elastic constants of magnetic materials. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 286, 012050. http://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/286/1/012050