Evolvable Process Design (EPD)
Lead Research Organisation:
City, University of London
Department Name: Sch of Engineering and Mathematical Sci
Abstract
The aim of this research lies in the design and manufacture of an Evolvable Process Design (EPD) reactor platform such that 'evolved' chemical reactions can be investigated for the first time. This will be achieved by developing a novel engineering approach to the design and construction of a chemical reactor system that combines three crucial elements: (1) a chemical process system, (2) a feedback / GA-managed control system, and (3) chemical building blocks that can reversibly bind together. The development of this system will allow the selection of a chemical system that has the correct properties to allow evolution (i.e. ability to mate, produce off- spring, and live or die depending on the fitness landscape applied to the system). By combining these key three elements the EPD-system aims to utilise feedback and selection mechanisms based on spectroscopic properties of the system / molecules / materials being evolved. These reactors will be designed to examine chemical evolution, the proof of principle that this approach is viable and then the eventual extension to three key example areas including drug design, catalysis discovery and new materials discovery. This approach is of great relevance to the process industries since, by adopting an evolvable approach to the new molecules/material once the system identifies the route to climb the fitness landscape, the optimal process will be discovered at the same time. In other words, once you have your product you have your process . This will result in an order of magnitude change in the time-to-market of new products. The system will be designed to be intrinsically scaleable and continuous, meaning that scale of production will not be an issue. In addition to the process industries, reactor-based chemical evolution, has the potential to initiate a career study to simulate, or re-create, the fundamental chemical processes that are related to the emergence of life and complexity in chemistry.
People |
ORCID iD |
Tong Sun (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Hien Nguyen T
(2009)
Development of intrinsic optical fiber pH sensors for industrial applications
Nguyen T
(2016)
Intrinsic Fiber Optic pH Sensor for Measurement of pH Values in the Range of 0.5-6
in IEEE Sensors Journal
Raoufi N
(2014)
Fiber Optic pH Sensor Using Optimized Layer-by-Layer Coating Approach
in IEEE Sensors Journal
Wren S
(2014)
Preparation of novel optical fibre-based Cocaine sensors using a molecular imprinted polymer approach
in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical
Description | Development of a set of optical fibre chemical sensors to be incorporated into the chemical reactor platform, allowing for real-time monitoring of the chemical process |
Exploitation Route | Through wide dissemination routes, e.g. publications, workshops and conferences |
Sectors | Chemicals Manufacturing including Industrial Biotechology |
Description | The design of the set of chemical sensors has been published widely to the academic community and promoted to industry through conferences and workshops |
Description | Centre of Excellence |
Amount | $38,000,000 (AUD) |
Organisation | Australian Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | Australia |
Start | 09/2014 |
End | 10/2021 |
Description | EU FP7 programme |
Amount | € 477,058 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 12/2013 |
End | 12/2016 |
Description | National science foundation |
Amount | ¥1,000,000 (CNY) |
Organisation | National Natural Science Foundation of China |
Sector | Public |
Country | China |
Start | 04/2014 |
End | 05/2018 |
Description | international partnership |
Organisation | Australian Research Council |
Department | Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | International partnership with Australian Centre of Excellence via staff/student exchanges and joint funding applications |
Collaborator Contribution | Partnership with overseas Centres of Excellence to promote staff/student exchanges, joint funding applications and knowledge transfer. |
Impact | Two PhD students working on joint research programmes It is disciplinary: involving life sciences, biology, chemistry and engineering |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | smart contact lenses |
Organisation | Tongji University Hospital |
Country | China |
Sector | Hospitals |
PI Contribution | Development of smart contact lenses by integration of optical fibre sensors into contact lenses for monitoring eye pressure for early detection of glaucoma. The principal aim of this project is to develop a novel technological solution to address an important challenge recognized by the World Health Organization as the second leading cause of blindness globally: glaucoma. |
Collaborator Contribution | The hospital has provided unique clinical environment for extensive testing of contact lenses through in vitro and in vivo analysis of IOP in animal eyes, when fitted with smart contact lenses and subjected to controlled changes in IOP |
Impact | Funding support from National Natural Science Foundation in China and Royal Academy of Engineering in the UK It is multi-disciplinary: involving visual sciences, engineering, physics and chemistry |
Start Year | 2015 |
Title | OPTICAL SENSOR |
Description | An optical sensor (1) for pH monitoring in highly alkaline mediums, the sensor (1) comprising: a sensor body (3) that fluoresces when illuminated by light, the sensor body (3) being configured to exhibit a change in fluorescence in response to changing pH in highly alkaline mediums, the sensor further comprising means (5) for coupling the sensor body to a source of illumination. A system (11) is also disclosed, along with methods of synthesising pH sensitive polymerisable fluorescent coumarin dyes, and pH sensitive polymerisable fluorescent coumarin dyes. |
IP Reference | WO2012098242 |
Protection | Patent application published |
Year Protection Granted | 2012 |
Licensed | No |
Impact | This will make an impact on the construction industry by identifying corrosion problems at an early stage to save costing for maintenance and repair. |