Dispersion and Dissolution of Hydrocolloids

水胶体如淀粉、羧甲基纤维素、瓜尔胶、果胶和卡拉胶有许多工业应用，包括纺织和地毯印刷、造纸、食品、个人护理、家庭护理、制药和生物医学产品。它们广泛用于改变配方的流变学和质地，稳定微观结构和增强感官特性，并且越来越多地被研究作为高价值和高功能应用的输送系统中的药剂，例如制药，营养保健，食品，动物饲料，农化，家庭护理和化妆品行业的封装和控释。不可避免地，它们必须与水混合，以允许肿胀/溶解发生。然而，颗粒或包封物的表面在与水接触时会变得粘稠，这通常会导致聚集，从而阻止完全肿胀/溶解。当前建议的目的是开发能够确定最佳色散条件的通用数值模型。水与hc的相互作用非常复杂，外层凝胶层的快速形成会导致聚集，从而抑制内部毛细血管中的水流入孔隙，因此膨胀/溶解必须依赖于更慢的扩散过程。为了确定最佳的混合条件，该项目将模拟这些过程，从分子到工业规模。这种所谓的多物理场多尺度策略将涉及分子动力学、有限元分析、离散单元建模以及计算流体动力学和种群平衡建模。它将包括一个实验程序来测量水胶体的物理和机械特性，以及混合测量来验证模型。

Hydrocolloids such as starch, carboxymethyl cellulose, guar gum, pectin and carrageenan have many industrial applications including textile and carpet printing, paper production, foods, personal care, home care, pharmaceutical and biomedical products. They are widely used for modifying the rheology and texture of formulations, stabilising microstructures and enhancing organoleptic properties and are increasingly being investigated as agents in delivery systems for high value and high functional applications, such as encapsulation and controlled release in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, food, animal feed, agrochemical, household care and cosmetics industries. Invariably, they have to be mixed with water in order to allow swelling/dissolution to occur. However, the surfaces of the granules or encapsulates become sticky when in contact with water and this can often lead to aggregation that prevents complete swelling/dissolution. The aim of the current proposal is to develop generic numerical models that will be able to identify the optimal dispersion conditions. The interaction of water with HCs is extremely complex with the rapid formation of an outer gel layer, which causes aggregation that inhibits internal capillary flow of water into the pores so that swelling/dissolution has to rely on the much slower process of diffusion. In order to determine the optimal mixing conditions, the project will model these processes from the molecular to the industrial scale. This so-called multiphysics multiscale strategy will involve molecular dynamics, finite element analysis, discrete element modelling coupled with computational fluid dynamics and population balance modelling. It will include an experimental programme to measure the physical and mechanical properties of the hydrocolloids and also mixing measurements to validate the modelling.