Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/S00507/01
Title:	On-Line Characterisation of Particle Size in Sprays, Emulsions, Suspensions and Milling.
Principal Investigator:	Simmons, Professor M
Other Investigators:	Fryer, Professor PJ Azzopardi, Professor B Rowson, Professor N
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Chemical Engineering
Organisation:	University of Birmingham
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 January 2003	Ends:	31 December 2005	Value (£):	69,148
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Particle Technology
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Chemicals Food and Drink Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Energy No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
SummaryThe aim of this proposal is to purchase a Malvern Insitec EPCS particle sizer for use in a number of collaborative research projects in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham and the School of Chemical, Environmental and Mining Engineering at the University of Nottingham Online particle size measurement is important for a number of fundamental and industrial processes. The Malvern Insitec instrument has patented features which allow operation at higher concentrations of particles than for previous laser diffraction instruments which make it suitable for employment it a number of research areas.(i) The instrument will be used to determine the agglomeration dynamics of whey proteins under the action of shear and temperature, which is important ii understanding the mechanism of fouling in the food industry, i.e. in determining fouling kinetics for milk pasteurisers.(ii) Measurement of the size distribution and concentration of droplets entrained from liquid films in annular flow is an important fundamental problem with applications in process environments where two phases are present. The measurements are difficult as the environment is hostile, but the Principal Investigator has been shown that the Insitec instrument is highly suitable for this task. This will allow measurements to be made over a considerably wide range of concentration which will answer a number of unanswered questions.(iii) The energy requirement for the comminution of minerals has been shown to be reduced by the application of microwave energy; this is particularly important for small particles The use of a rapid online particle size analysis technique capable of measurements between 1-100pm would be highly beneficial to both current and future batch and continuous milling trials.
Key Findings
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Potential use in non-academic contexts
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Impacts
Description This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk Summary Date Materialised
Sectors submitted by the Researcher
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Project URL:
Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.bham.ac.uk