Doctor Bill Paterson

I continue to pursue research, in co-operation with Drs  Ian Wilson, Edward Ishiyama and David Scott.

Moving and fixed bed devices used as reactors and adsorbers:  experimental and modelling work.

David Scott and I have a backlog of work to publish in this area;  perhaps it will inspire new efforts.

Fluid dynamic gauging

Experimental study of fouling and cleaning often requires measurement of the thickness of a soft deposit. Many soft deposits are readily compressed, so we want non-destructive, non-contact techniques whose application does not require us to assume that the deposit is uniform in its properties. Ian Wilson, John Chew (now at Bath) and I continue to >develop our "fluid dynamic gauging" technique, whereby the surface of the deposit is exposed to a fluid jet sucked into a nozzle located close to that surface. The measured pressure drop/flowrate relationship yields the distance from the nozzle tip to the surface, yielding in turn the deposit thickness. Current applications include fouling of the outside of heat exchanger tubes by crude oil in turbulent flow, and the fouling of separation membranes by aqueous suspensions.

Mathematical Modelling.

With Ken Morison of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand we are  modelling the swelling of protein gels as sodium hydroxide diffuses through them, using a Maxwell-Stefan multicomponent diffusion  approach. 

Ian, Edward and I are commercialising our software for simulation of the fouling of the pre-heat trains of oil refineries. We are also publishing our recent work on the mathematical modelling of the ageing of fouling deposits.