Chemical Engineering April 2023 - 42

can provide funding, expertise, opportunities
for practice-based teaching,
and real-world challenges to academic
researchers, " Dandu explains.
" As a result, educational programs
are incorporating and sustaining interdisciplinary
research and training,
leading to inter- and intra-departmental
activities, such as developing
interdisciplinary courses, creating interdisciplinary
degree programs and
introducing interdisciplinary faculty
appointments. " Graduates of such
programs are " better equipped with a
broader understanding of bulk-solids
systems and the ability to work effectively
across different fields to meet
industry workforce needs, " he adds.
Addressing industrial issues
Because only a relatively few engineering
graduates have a specialized
knowledge of solids, and because
large companies have, for the most
part, phased out in-house R&D laboratories
with a focus on powders and
solids, academic research centers in
bulk solids have taken on a critical
role in supporting both education
and collaborative research.
" A significant part of BSIC's role is
to provide continuing education focused
on solids-handling processes, "
comments Smith. And for research,
no other public entities are studying
solids handling, " so there's no overall
'go-to' place for technology improvement, "
he says. Much of the research
funding at BSIC and other centers
comes from companies that are experiencing
manufacturing challenges
and looking to solve a problem in solids
handling or processing.
Of Wolfson Centre, Bradley says
most of its consultancy services to industry,
whether for new plant design
or troubleshooting, use techniques
and knowledge generated in Wolfson's
own research projects. In addition,
the center runs short courses
and conferences to present findings
and educate interested parties.
" And quite a few of our Ph.D.
students are sponsored by companies
who use or make powders, or
powder-handling equipment, and
that can be a great way to generate
not just new knowledge, but also an
expert for their team. " Bradley says.
" Applications knowledge for solids
handling is the bottleneck, " says
BSIC's Smith. A lot of the knowledge
is gained case by case, he adds, and
BSIC is trying to share information
with processing companies.
Examples of how research centers
have helped solids-industrial clients
are as varied as the solids themselves.
BSIC's Smith talks about how BSIC
often helps with process scaleup. In
one example, a company changed
product recipes, and the alteration
worked well at laboratory scale, but
caused problems at full scale. BSIC
staff worked to figure out what was
needed to make the large-scale process
work with the new recipe.
Other examples of industrially relevant
research conducted at BSIC
include an analysis of fluidization of
powder to improve a bagging operation,
research to identify strategies
for reducing product degradation
during conveying operations; projects
to improve understanding of
abrasion resistance; dust safety and
others, Smith says.
At Wolfson, Bradley says research
projects related to handling food
products and ingredients are a constant
source of work at the center,
and pharmaceutical materials are
also common. Troubleshooting and
re-engineering of plants that handle
biomass and waste materials as
feedstocks has been one of the main
growth areas at Wolfson in recent
years. " These are very challenging
materials to handle and a lot of projects
have huge failures that result
from failing to do enough work to
make sure the handling equipment is
properly suited to the feedstock they
will handle, " Bradley says.
One recent research project at
Wolfson involved developing a " Virtual
Formulation Laboratory, " aimed
at companies designing powder formulations,
often in food and pharma,
but in other areas as well. " This has
produced a software tool that formulators
can use to predict how a potential
new formulation will behave in
manufacturing, based on information
about the ingredients. Then they can
see if it's likely to be problematic, and
try out adjustments to the formulation
to make it easier to manufacture, all
from the desk, " Bradley explains.
Additive manufacturing (AM; 3D
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