Computer Aided Formulation - CAF

Unilever, Syngenta and Infineum, together with STFC Daresbury and Novidec, have recognised the potential of mesoscale modelling to drive a radical change in speed of formulated product design for manufacturability and in-use performance. Although applications to both material and manufacturing process design have been demonstrated, modelling is not always on the critical path of commercial formulation development. Against a tough, highly volatile market environment, speed-to-market is critical, especially for companies that need to put on the market new products every year. Formulation-led product innovation is a key differentiator for success in competitive markets. The technical challenge is to develop predictive models that are simple and affordable yet accurate enough to enable novel product design. This will reduce the time to market and development costs of a new or reformulated product by between 50 and 80% leading to larger benefits for the UK chemical industry as a whole. Our consortium has identified the STFC Daresbury supercomputer, a major government investment into eScience infrastructure, as a key enabler.