Patrick Gordon
| Position | Alumni |
|---|---|
| College | Jesus |
| Qualifications/honours | MEng Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge, UK |
| Address | Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology University of Cambridge New Museums Site Pembroke Street Cambridge CB2 3RA, UK |
| pwg23@cam.ac.uk | |
| Research group | |
| Research project title | Developing greener cleaning fluids using fluid dynamic gauging |
| Supervisor | Dr Wilson |
| Advisor | Dr S Clarke (Chemistry) |
Research description
The removal of unwanted fouling or soil layers from process equipment is a long-established problem in the food processing sector, but it is also a well-known fact of life in the catering and domestic scene, where considerable amounts of time, energy, water and chemical species are expended on the task of washing dirty dishes. This cleaning process is far from simple: foodstuffs range from polymerised fats to carbonized starches, the interactions with the cleaning environment can be complex, and any detergent formulation must meet stringent domestic constraints (non-toxic, safe disposal).
This project employs the technique of fluid dynamic gauging (FDG) to establish a quantitative basis for comparing the effectiveness of different detergent formulations acting on key soil types. FDG measures both the thickness of a deposit, and its strength, in real time and in situ. In particular, a new scanning FDG is being developed, which will enable spatial distributions of cleaning behaviour (kinetics and strength) to be obtained. The project aims to link the macro and micro scales of domestic cleaning, with a view to the development of more effective, environmentally friendly detergents.
For further information on both FDG and the scanning FDG, please see the group FDG website.
I'd like to thank both P&G and the EPSRC for their funding of this project.