P4G

Paste, Particle and Polymer Processing group (P⁴G)

Our interests lie in developing the understanding of processing of pastes, particles and polymers, and their flow behaviour in particular.  We rarely synthesize components: rather, we build from existing materials. We apply that knowledge to manufacture, at industrial scale, products with desired microstructure or function, or, equally importantly, to resolve problems encountered in processing such materials.

P⁴G was formed in January 2013 by the (friendly) merger of two of the groups in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology with an interest in structured materials and processing: the Paste and Particle Processing group (P³G) and the Polymer Fluids group . The group is led by Ian Wilson, Sarah Rough and Bart Hallmark. Retired staff David Scott, John Davidson and Bob Skelton also contribute.

A substantial part of the activities led by Prof. Wilson is related to studying the formation and removal of fouling layers on heat transfer and process equipment surfaces.  Dr Rough has a long-standing interest in particle technology, while Dr Hallmark enjoys simulating processes and flows from the meso- to the plant scale. There is much work on complex fluids, both visco-plastic and visco-elastic.

The group's activities range from fundamental theoretical, numerical and experimental investigations to applied and proof-of-concept studies. The research page gives a full listing of ongoing and past projects.

The group is part of the Microstructure Engineering Cluster within Chemical Engineering & Biotechnology.

• Group Members

• Publications

• Conferences and Meetings

• Internal Site

• P4G Research

• News Archive

• Links

• Fluid Dynamic Gauging

Recent News

• P4G at FCFP2018 The international conference on Fouling and Cleaning in Food Processing was held in Lund, Sweden, from 17-20 April. A P4G mini-reunion took place, with (from left) Jen-Yi Huang (Purdue University, USA), Phanida Saikhwan (Thammasat University, Thailand), Ian Wilson (still in Cambridge) and John Chew (University of Bath, UK) pictured enjoying drinks in the Hyproteck room garden with the cathedral spires in the background. PhD students George Cuckston and Rubens Rosario-Fernandes also attended.

• Paper published: Zhang, M., Li, X.K., Wilson, D.I., Yao, T.T. and Zhang, Y.Y. (2018) Influence of the dimensions of spheroniser plate protuberances on the production of pellets by extrusion-spheronisation, Adv. Powder Tech., 29, 1128-1141.
• Paper published: Liu, W., Wilson, D.I, Chen, X.D and Mercadé-Prieto, R. (2018) Quantification of the local protein content in hydrogels undergoing swelling and dissolution at alkaline pH using fluorescence microscopy, Food Bioprocess Tech, 11, 572-584.
• Congratulations to Sarah Rough, who has been awarded one of the university's Pilkington Prizes for excellence in teaching!
• Paper published: Zhou, K.X., Ionescu, A., Wang, E., Hoa, Y.N., Barnes, H.W., Christie, G. and Wilson, D.I. (2018) Paramagnetism in Bacillus spores: opportunities for novel biotechnological application, Biotech. Bioeng, 115, 955-964.
• Paper published: Al Ismaili, R.,  Lee, M.W., Wilson, D.I. and Vassiliadis (2018) Heat exchanger network cleaning scheduling: from optimal control to mixed-integer decision making, Comp. Chem. Eng., 111, 1-15.
• Paper published: Zhou, X.K.,  Li, N.,  Li, N., Christie, G. and Wilson, D.I. (2017) Assessing the impact of germination and sporulation conditions on the adhesion of Bacillus spores to glass and stainless steel by fluid dynamic gauging, J. Food Sci, 82(11), 2614-2625.
• Paper published: Patel, M.J., Blackburn, S. and Wilson, D.I. (2018) Modelling of pastes as viscous soils - lubricated squeeze flow, Powder Tech, 323, 250-268. 
• Paper published: Bryan, M.P., Rough, S.L. and Wilson, D.I. (2018) Measurement of the wall slip behaviour of a solid granular soap in ram extrusion, Powder Tech, 323, 76-85.
• Paper published: Bryan, M.P., Rough, S.L. and Wilson, D.I. (2017) Flow visualisation and modelling of solid soap extrusion, Chem. Eng. Sci., 173, 110-120.
• Paper published: Patel, M.J., Blackburn, S. and Wilson, D.I. (2017) Modelling of paste ram extrusion subject to liquid phase migration and wall friction, Chem. Eng. Sci., 172, 487–502. Audio Slides are available.
• Congratulations to Xu Ke Zhou and to Shiyao (Eric) Wang, who have both been approved for the PhD degree!
• The conference flyer for the Fouling and Cleaning in Food Processing 2018 meeting, to be held in Lund, Sweden, is now available.
• Paper published: Zhou, X.K., Wisnivesky, F., Wilson, D.I. and Christie, G. (2017) Effects of culture conditions on the size, morphology and wet density of spores of Bacillus cereus 569 and Bacillus megaterium QM B1551, Letters in Applied Microbiology, 65(1), 50–56.
• Paper published: Markl, D., Yassin, S., Wilson, D.I., Goodwin, D.J., Anderson, A. and Zeitler, J.A. (2017) Mathematical modelling of liquid transport in swelling pharmaceutical immediate release powder compacts, Intl. J. Pharm., 526, 1-10.
• P⁴G have left the building! We moved from the old Chemical Engineering building on Pembroke Street to 'new CEB' at Philippa Fawcett Drive on the West Cambridge site over the Easter break. There is daylight in the new labs!

• Paper published:O'Neill, R., McCarthy, H.O., Montufar, E.B., Ginebra, M.-P., Wilson, D.I., Lennon, A. and Dunne, N. (2017) Critical Review: Injectability of calcium phosphate pastes and cements, Acta Biomateriala, 50, 1-19.
• Paper published: Wilson, D.I., Polley, G.T. and Ishiyama, E.M. (2017) Twenty years of Ebert and Panchal—what next? Heat Transfer Engineering, 38(7-8), 669-680.
• Paper published:Lister,V.Y., Davidson, J.F., Sutcliffe S.J. and Wilson, D.I. (2017) Management of acute particulate fouling in a titanium dioxide reactor system, Heat Transfer Engineering, 38(7-8), 796-804.

• Entrepreuner Guy! P4G alumnus Salvatore Mascia has been awarded the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2017 prize for the best start-up company founded by an Italian entrepreneur. Salvatore is CEO of Continuus Pharmaceuticals, which he spun out of the MIT/Novartis centre for continual processing for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals. Sal did his PhD in the group and then moved to MIT to work with Prof. Bernhardt Trout. The photograph shows Sal (on the right) receiving his award from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

• Paper published: Bhagat, R.K., Perera, A.M. and Wilson, D.I. (2017) Cleaning vessel walls by moving water jets: simple models and supporting experiments, Food Bioproducts Proc., 102, 31-54.

• FDG Fest 2016 The annual gathering of Fluid Dynamic Gauging users was held at the Institute for Chemical and Thermal Process Engineering (ICTV) at TU Braunschweig, Germany, on 12-13 December 2016. The workshop was attended by researchers from ICTV, P4G and the Universities of Bath (UK), Granada (Spain) and Chalmers University (Sweden) as well as special guest Sophie!

News Archive

Vacancies/Studentships

 Academic collaborators within other groups at Cambridge include

• Dr (soon to be Prof) Stuart Clarke (Chemistry/bpi)
• Prof Stuart Dalziel (DAMTP)
• Prof Simon Redfern (Earth Sciences)
• Dr Walter Federle (Zoology)
• Dr (soon to be Prof) Michael Sutcliffe (Engineering)
• Martin Snead and Philip Alexander (Opthamology, Addenbrookes Hospital)

Active external academic collaborators

• Dr John Chew (University of Bath)
• Dr Wolfgang Augustin and Prof Stephan Scholl (Technical University of Braunschweig)
• Dr Ulrike Bauer (University of Bristol)
• Prof Jens-Peter Majschak (Technical University of Dresden)
• Dr Miguel Moyers-Gonzalez (University of Canterbury, NZ)

Sponsorship and funding comes from a range of sources, including the TSB, ESPRC and industry. This support is gratefully acknowledged: more information about sponsoring bodies is available on the Group Links page.

P⁴G also hosts the Fluid Dynamic Gauging website: this technique was developed within the P3G group.

The former P³G or Polymer Fluids Group websites can be viewed for more information.