P4G

Paste, Particle and Polymer Processing group (P⁴G)

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.

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. 

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.  Dr Scott enjoys mathematical challenges, particularly those associated with particle processing, 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

• 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 2106 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!

• The UK Fluids Network has established a Special Interest Group on 'Fluid Mechanics of Cleaning and Decontamination'. A number of P4G members and collaborators are involved in this SIG.
• Paper published: Feldung Damkjær, N., Adler-Nissen, J., Jensen, B.B.B. and Wilson, D.I. (2017) Flow pattern and cleaning performance of a stationary liquid jet operating at conditions relevant for industrial tank cleaning, Food Bioproducts Proc., 101, 145-156.
• Paper published: Magens, O.M., Liu, Y., Hofmans, J.F.A, Nelissen, J.A. and Wilson, D.I. (2017) Adhesion and cleaning of foods with complex structure: effect of oil content and fluoropolymer coating characteristics on the detachment of cake from baking surfaces, J. Food Eng, 197, 48-51.
• Paper published: Hallmark, B., Bryan, M.P., Bosson, G.E., Butler, S.A., Hoier, T.P., Magens, O.M., Pistre, N., Pratt, L., Ward, B-A.P., Wibberley, S.R. and Wilson, D.I. (2016) A portable and affordable extensional rheometer for field testing, Meas. Sci. Tech., 27, 125302.
• Paper published: Wang, S., Schlüter, F., Gottschalk, N., Scholl, S., Wilson, D.I. and Augustin, W. (2016) Aseptic zero discharge fluid dynamic gauging for measuring the thickness of layers of soft solids on surfaces, Chemie Ingenieur Technik, 88(10), 1530-1538.
• Paper published: Bhagat, R.K. and Wilson, D.I. (2016) Flow in the thin film created by a coherent turbulent water jet impinging on a vertical wall, Chem. Eng. Sci., 152, 606-623.
• Congratulations to Ian Wilson on becoming the Editor-in-Chief of Food and Bioproducts Processing (FBP). Read an interview with him regarding the role on the IChemE blog here. 

PhD awarded Madelena Lemos, visiting PhD researcher in P4G from Jan 2014 to June 2015 from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Porto, defended her PhD on 'Biofilm control approaches: alternative biocides and shear stress' successfuly on 14 June.  Pictured with Madalena are her examiners (Wolfgang Augustin, TU Braunschweig and Pr. Ligia Rodrigues, University of Minho) and her supervisors Manuel Minoes, Luis Melo and Ian Wilson. Congratulations Dr Madalena!

• Congratulations to Michael Sargent for winning a Best Talk Prize in the 2016 Graduate Conference [Link] 
• Paper published: Bazargan, A., Hadi, P., Rough, S. l., McKay, G. (2016) The preparation of pellets by the compaction of an aluminosilicate-based adsorbent from electronic waste, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 4 (2) 2322-2326.
• Paper published: Parkin, J., Widjaja,  K. S., Bryan,M. P., Rough, S. L., Wilson, D. I. (2016) Experimental validation of a dimensional analysis of spheronisation of cylindrical extrudates, Power Tech. 298 73-83
• Akin Ali and Ian Wilson, along with co-authors Glenn Ward and Zayeed Alam from Procter & Gamble, have been awarded the Distinguished Paper Award by the American Cleaning Institute for the best paper published in 2015 in the AOCS' Journal of Surfactants & Detergents.
• Paper published: Hallmark, B., Pistre, N. and Wilson, D.I. (2016) Characterisation of extensional rheological filament stretching with a dual-mode Giesekus model, AIChEJ, 62(6) 2188-2199.
• Paper published: Ali, A., Underwood, A., Lee, Y-R. and Wilson, D.I. (2016) Self-drainage of viscous liquids in vertical and inclined pipes, Food Bioproducts Processing, 99, 38-50.
• Paper published: Magens, O.M., Ishiyama, E.M. and Wilson, D.I. (2016) Quantifying the ‘implementation gap’ for antifouling coatings, Applied Thermal Engineering, 99, 683-689.
• [8 March 2016] Congratulations to Betsy-Ann Ward and Sam Wibberley for their CET IIB Research Project poster and presentation on 'Green Sticky Fingers', which came runner-up in the session on 1 March.
• [24 Feb 2016] University of Cambridge Featured News Article: Soft Solids and the Science of Cake. Features Wilson, D. I. and Hallmark, B.
• Paper published: Glover, H.W., Brass, T., Bhagat, R.K., Davidson, J.F., Pratt, L. and Wilson, D.I. (2016) Cleaning of complex soil layers on vertical walls by fixed and moving impinging liquid jets’, J. Food Eng, 178, 95-109.
• Paper published: Zhang, M., Yang, L., Jian F.X., Rough, S.L. and Wilson, D.I. (2016) Influence of plate surface protuberances on the production of pharmaceutical paste pellets by extrusion-spheronisation, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 109, 97-107.
• Paper published: Scott, D.M., Lu, G., Third, J.R. and Mueller, C.R. (2016) Axial dispersion of granular material in inclined rotating cylinders with bulk flow: Geometric model for 50% fill, Powder Tech., 290, 91-96.
• Paper published: Aouad, W., Landel, J.R., Davidson, J.F., Dalziel, S. and Wilson, D.I. (2016) Particle image velocimetry and modelling of horizontal coherent liquid jets impinging on and draining down a vertical wall, Exptl. Thermal Fluid Sci, 74, 429–443.
• Paper published:O’Neill, R., McCarthy, H. O., Cunningham, E., Montufar, E., Ginebra, M-P., Wilson, D.I., Lennon, A., Dunne, N. (2016) Extent and mechanism of phase separation during the surgical injection (extrusion) of calcium phosphate pastes, JoM: Materials in Medicine, 27, 29 [Open Access].
• Paper published: Lemos, M., Wang, S., Ali, A., Simões, M.V. and Wilson, D.I. (2016) A fluid dynamic gauging device for measuring biofilm thickness on cylindrical surfaces, Biochem. Eng. J. 106, 48-60 [Open Access].

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.