Chemical Engineering April 2023 - 43

BSIC
surprisingly common issue we study
is how materials of the same specification
but made in different plants
or bought from different suppliers,
compare in handling. "
FIGURE 2. Academic research centers focused
on solids provide opportunities for companies to
solve real-world industrial problems
printing) is also a fast-growing area
that requires a great deal of solidshandling
know-how, since the starting
materials are often in powder
form.
In short courses, the two most
popular subject areas have always
been pneumatic conveying, and
discharge from hoppers and silos,
Bradley says. Companies come to
us to get a better understanding of
how to buy, manage and use these
technologies, he notes, but safety issues
- especially electrostatics, explosions,
silo failure and so on also
attract a lot of attention.
Bradley and Perdue's Paul
Mort both mention AM as an active
area of research, often for automotive
and aerospace applications.
" Powder quality is really critical to
finished part quality - a rogue particle
can cause a flaw in a part that
will scrap it - so we're doing a lot of
research in that area, " Bradley says.
Pneumatic conveying
Pneumatic conveying is a prominent
topic at bulk-solid research centers,
both in research and for education
(for a brief overview of pneumatic
conveying, see the article on pp. 44-
45). " In pneumatic conveying, a lot
of the work comes in simply blowing
the powder, measuring the relationship
between air flow, solids flow
and pressure drop in the pipeline,
then using this information to design
a new system, " Bradley says. " But a
At BSIC, Smith says pneumatic
conveying is also its most popular
continuing education short course.
" There are lots of variations in how to
do it, and it's relatively easy to grasp
the basic concepts of the process,
but it's hard to understand how to
troubleshoot, and often
difficult
to
work out why certain materials behave
in particular ways, " he says.
Reaching into the future
BSIC director Raju Dandu says the
megatrends of digital transformation
and sustainability are set to significantly
impact bulk-solids research and
education, and the educational and
industry communities must embrace
and incorporate these technologies.
" Digital technologies, such as design
and analysis, simulation software, artificial
intelligence, machine learning,
virtual reality, augmented reality and
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43
data analytics, are enabling researchers
to gain a better understanding of
the behavior of bulk-solids storage,
conveying, and handling, leading to
the design of more efficient systems. "
Additionally, Dandu says, " these technologies
are being integrated into
educational programs, providing students
with hands-on experience using
state-of-the-art tools for bulk-solids
research and systems design, as they
address problem-, project- and outcome-based
learning. "
The focus of the CPI on sustainability
is " driving the development of
new processes and technologies for
handling bulk solids that are more
energy-efficient, produce less waste,
consume less water, and have a lower
environmental impact, " Dandu comments.
" Educational programs are
also incorporating sustainability principles,
product- and systems-lifecycle
management and circular-economy
concepts into their curricula, providing
students with the knowledge and
skills needed to design and operate
sustainable bulk-solids systems. "
Both digital transformation and
sustainability " encourage a multidisciplinary
approach to bulk-solids
research and education, bringing together
experts from different fields, "
Dandu says, and are also " driving
greater collaboration between academia
and industry in the field of
bulk solids. "
n
Scott Jenkins
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Chemical Engineering April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering April 2023
