Mixing and dispersion in surfactant systems

Surfactants and polymers are key ingredients in many complex formulated products, such as laundry detergents and shampoos. During the process of manufacturing these products the incorporation and mixing of the surfactants and polymers can lead to significant challenges. This is due to the complex nature of the phase change that the surfactant or polymer undergoes and the transient material properties of the dissolving material. The material are often soft solids with a non-newtonian rheology which is changing as the material 'dissolves'. This project will investigate the incorporation of surfactants into aqueous systems using a model system with the aim of developing: i) a detailed mechanistic understanding of the phenomena; ii) quantitative experimental techniques that capture the dynamics of phase change and degree of dispersion; iii) an integrated modelling and experimental methodology which will allow prediction of behaviour in industrial systems. The understanding and methods developed in the area will enable, rational and, rapid design, of new formulations and manufacturing processes across a wide variety of formulated product industries.

The impact and benefits will reach multiple stakeholders.

(i) CDT Students:- Will develop substantial technical and transferable skills enabling them to build a career and become leaders in industry or academia. In addition to a wide range of computational, modelling and experimental techniques, students will have many opportunities to develop team working, communication and problem solving skills. Students will have very strong career prospects with a wide range of options, including industry and public sector.

(ii) End-user partners:- Will gain access to a pool of at least 50 skilled graduates to innovate in their business and to realise direct impact from research outcomes: new products, processes, and tools. New or strengthened collaborations with academic partners will also follow.

(iii) Academic overseas collaborators:- will share new research outputs, stronger partnerships with Leeds, and knowledge exchange on tools and techniques: thus benefiting research outcomes and researcher training in both countries.

(iv) Other students:- Will have the opportunity to visit Leeds, whilst future students will have access to the new tools and techniques developed by the CDT for learning, thus inspiring new UG/MSc/PhD projects.

(v) Research at Leeds:- We will consolidate our critical mass of fluids-based research through the development of a "cohort of academics", as well as cohorts of students. New research outputs and new collaborations (across Leeds, with industry and overseas) will follow, and we will promote our large body of work coherently with external partners and to the media.

(vi) Other industry:- New tools, processes and techniques developed through research during the CDT will be disseminated via industrial as well as academic routes. We will pro-actively encourage new partners to engage with the CDT as it evolves.

(vii) The economy:- Skilled graduates are key to economic growth and ours will contribute to challenge areas such as energy, the environment, the health sector, as well as those with chronic skills shortage such as the nuclear industry. Innovation, typically in partnership with industry, will lead to economic benefits such as new products, services and spin out.

(viii) Society:- Research leading to new insights into energy, the environment and health challenges will lead to healthier, safer and more efficient environments for the public. Public engagement activities will raise the profile of Fluid Dynamics, and enable the public to understand its enormous breadth of application, and importance, to real world problems.

Evidence for impact creation comes partly from government sponsored reports pointing to the need for well-trained graduates in fluid dynamics, and also from the many letters of support we have received from our partners. In consumer products P&G tell us that "within our current product portfolio, fluids feature in 21 of our 24 one billion dollar brands (more than $1 billion sales) which include detergents, shampoos, fabric softener, dishwashing liquid, batteries, toothpaste and cosmetics". In engineering design Parker Hannifin believe that "the UK will need a greater number of graduates with complementary skills in high fidelity CFD and optimisation methods". There is a similar demand in the environmental sector. For example the National Oceanography Centre state that "in the coming years we expect to build our technical expertise in areas such as numerical methods, unstructured gridding and solvers, ocean dynamics, buoyancy driven flows and ensemble methods for uncertainty estimates", while HR Wallingford "expect to require access to expertise in relevant physical processes, compressible/incompressible flow, physical model scaling, numerical methods, multi-phase flow, atmospheric flows".