Research
Paste, Particle and Polymer Processing group
Dr Michael Sargent undertook his PhD in the P4Group, studying instant coffee processing as a polymer melt. His research consisted of characterising the rheological properties of the melt, and then developing and validating a model for the dynamic behaviour of bubbles in a complex rheological fluid in response to changes of temperature and pressure. This research has applications particularly in extrusion processing to modify and control bubble size.
With the combusion group, Dr Michael Sargent has been researching the applications of continuous chromatography separation for diamines, by using a simulated moving bed with an ion-exchange resin, and controlling the sorption through pH control. The separation of diamines from amino acids was found to also be possible through two-phase aqueous separation and solvent extraction.
Biography
MEng, Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge, 2013
PhD, The extrusion processing of instant coffee for the purposes of creating a pressurised microstructure, University of Cambridge, 2018