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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number EP/V003070/2
Title Precise deposition of complex particles for structured functional products
Status Started
Energy Categories Not Energy Related 90%;
Energy Efficiency(Industry) 10%;
Research Types Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator Dr CL Hare

Sch of Engineering
Newcastle University
Award Type Standard
Funding Source EPSRC
Start Date 01 February 2022
End Date 30 September 2024
Duration 32 months
Total Grant Value £218,888
Industrial Sectors Manufacturing
Region North East
Programme Manufacturing : Manufacturing
 
Investigators Principal Investigator Dr CL Hare , Sch of Engineering, Newcastle University (99.999%)
  Other Investigator Professor JY Heng , Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London (0.001%)
  Industrial Collaborator Project Contact , Johnson Matthey plc (0.000%)
Project Contact , Freeman Technology (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract In the pharmaceutical industry, coatings have a very important place in manufacturing and product development. Solid dosage forms like tablets, pellets, granules etc. are typically coated in order to control the drug release within the body, and also to protect against external factors like moisture or attrition. This is often achieved through dry coating with fine powders, since this provides reduced environmental concerns (no volatile organic solvents emitted) and lower energy consumption (no subsequent drying or evaporation operations required). However, the dry coating process is wasteful in terms of coating powder used and energy input, since when the coating uniformity does not meet the requirement, the entire batch is disposed of. To mitigate this, an excess of coating powder is often used, with excessive energy input to ensure all solids are sufficiently coated. We aim to address these problems by determining for a given combination of substrates and powder coatings: (i) How is coating of a single powder layer influenced by particle properties? (ii) How should a mixer operate to provide uniform coating across the entire batch? (iii) What is the minimum energy input to ensure uniform product coating?In this research we will determine how coating is achieved on the fundamental, particle level, by controlling and manipulating the distribution of particle physical (size, shape) and surface (roughness, interface energy) properties and characterising the resulting coating quality. Coating powders are typically extremely fine and cohesive, and hence are prone to agglomerating to form large clusters. Industrial powder coating requires these coating powder agglomerates to be consistently broken down to single particles and precisely delivered to the host. We will establish how the process can be tailored to enhance the ability of the system to achieve this for any powder. By determining the underlying principles of powder coating, and the influences of material properties and process parameters, we will create a regime map for dry powder coating, which will enable industry to tune coating operations to minimise powder and energy use.
Publications (none)
Final Report (none)
Added to Database 19/10/22