Safe solid slurry detector is a new instrument which uses electrical process tomography to determine the density of solids flowing in dense phase hydraulic conveying

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

The principal aim of the research proposal is to develop a next generation multi-phase flow instrument to non-invasively measure the phase flow rates, and rapidly image the flow-field distributions, of complex, unsteady two- or three-phase flows. The proposed research is multi-disciplinary covering aspects of fluid mechanics modelling, sensor material selection and flow metering, process tomography and multi-variable data fusion. The new instrument will be based on the novel concepts of 3D vector Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) and the Electromagnetic Velocity Profiler (EVP). These will be used in conjunction with auxiliary differential-pressure measurements for flow density and total flow rate. It is our intention to be able to measure the volumetric flow rate, image time-dependent distributions of the local axial velocity and volume fraction of the dispersed and continuous phases, visualise flow patterns and provide an alternative measurement of volumetric flow rates in two and three phase flows. The project draws upon several recent advances in EIT technology made by the proposers' research teams. Together these potentially enable the development of an advanced flow meter intended to address some limitations of current multiphase flow meters, leading to improvements of the management of productivity in many industrial sectors such as petroleum, petrochemical, food, nuclear and mineral processing. Within the scope of this research, only flows with a conductive continuous liquid phase will be targeted. We will make use of advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) protocols for independent non-invasive validation of both the phase volume fraction and velocity distribution measurements. It is intended that the project will pave the way for the manufacturing of a next generation of advanced multi-phase flow measurement and rapid visualisation technologies.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

The Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil leak from the Macondo well into the Gulf of Mexico illustrate the twin compromises made when we exploit petroleum and its derived products: Firstly, the extreme environment where the leak occurred is a symptom of petroleum oil's finite supply and its increasingly expensive production. Secondly, chemicals and products made out of petroleum, including the 6.6 million litres of dispersants used to manage the spill, tend to be toxic and persistent in the environment. Biosurfactants are the various chemicals produced by nature to help change the surfaces that occur between things - for example, the stickiness forces in a new born baby's scrunched up lungs are weakened by biosurfactants and enable her to breathe in for the first time, and other remarkable things. Biosurfactants produced through fermentation have the potential to outperform traditional surfactants for many tasks, such as cleaning up after oil spills, decontamination ground left toxic by old factories, improving the quality of personal care products like face creams or household products like laundry powders. Not only this, they are also fundamentally more sustainable through their whole life from when they are made to to when they are disposed of. However, the cost of production of biosurfactants is currently far too high to make their widespread use possible - by weight they are ten or a hundred times more expensive to buy than gold. This is because the currently available fermentation production capacity is based around old reactor technology. This research will advance the process engineering science underlying the high cost of biosurfactant production and deliver a coordinated set of solutions which will enable commercial viability, and therefore more widespread exploitation, of biosurfactants.Based on this success, the research group will also work to apply this way of adding new engineering to reduce production cost to a wider range of what could be very useful biologically produced materials, chemicals and fuels and help make them become everyday things like petrol and washing powders are today.