| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/S69146/01 |
| Title: |
Computer-aided design & rapid prototyping of granulated products |
| Principal Investigator: |
Stepanek, Professor F |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Department: |
Chemical Engineering |
| Organisation: |
Imperial College London |
| Scheme: |
First Grant Scheme Pre-FEC |
| Starts: |
01 October 2004 |
Ends: |
30 September 2007 |
Value (£): |
117,059
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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The aim of this research project is to develop, validate, and demonstrate methods for computer-aided design and rapid prototyping of granules. Many products of the specialty-chemical, pharmaceutical, agrochemical, food, and consumer good industries have the form of granules - i.e. agglomerates of primary solid particles of ingredients held together by a binder. The formulation of a new granulated product involves the selection of ingredients, the design of granule parameters such as size, porosity, and ingredient distribution within the granule microstructure, and the choice of key granulation process parameters such as binder spray-on rate, in order to obtain properly structured granules. This research aims to develop an integrated approach to the design of granulated chemical products by combining three elements: (I) Computer simulation. methods for virtual granulation that allow computer-aided design of granule microstructure, (ii)- Rapid prototyping technique based on controlled deposition of droplets for the creation of arbitrarily complex 3-dimensional microstructures on an individual granule scale, and (iu) Bench-top granulation experiments for the preparation of granule samples on a small-batch scale and for determination of key granulation process parameters. The main research challenges are implementation of the 3D droplet deposition technique for the fabrication of individual granules, the validation and parameter identification of the computer models, and the linking of parameters that govern individual granule formation with operating parameters of the bench-top granulator. The research project will be carried out in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, it will last for 3 years and the contribution from EPSRC is 119,990.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.imperial.ac.uk |