CAREER: Quantification of the Powder-Liquid Interface via Multi-scale Granulation

粉末和颗粒在工业中被广泛使用和加工。 颗粒材料用于制药、农业化学品、洗涤剂和消费品。 尽管它们被广泛使用，但很少有工程和设计原则来指导颗粒的处理。 现有的模型是经验性的，并且特定于某些颗粒尺寸或形状。因此，迫切需要研究颗粒系统。 本研究将使用实验来深入了解颗粒-液体界面和性质-加工关系。 教育和推广活动将帮助学生做好在这一重要技术领域工作的准备，并增加妇女在科学和工程领域的参与。在这个CAREER奖项中，实用的复杂粉末配方的润湿和颗粒形成行为将通过静态单滴造粒实验进行量化。 单滴颗粒形成信息将用于放大到工业造粒机。 将材料性质（微观尺度）与工艺参数（中尺度和宏观尺度）和产品颗粒结构（中尺度）联系起来，将通过半经验模型和状态图提供一种科学手段，以设计和预测具有定制性质的颗粒。 在这里，将创建新的知识，并有可能根据粉液界面的表征沿着原进料和工艺参数来预测颗粒状产品的特性。 这项工作的目的是改变造粒过程，使造粒更广泛地应用和扩展到新的行业，如生物质和金属有机框架。 这项工作的两个新的科学更广泛的影响包括：（1）预测造粒路线的能力，以及（2）造粒应用于各种新的行业。 通过该奖项，从中学到研究生院的学生将参与和支持化学工程，特别是粒子技术研究，为学生在该领域的职业机会提供信息和准备。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Powders and particles are extensively used and processed in industry. Particulate materials are used in pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, detergents, and consumer products. Despite their wide use, few engineering and design principles exist to guide the processing of particulates. Existing models are empirical and specific to certain particle sizes or shapes. Thus, there is a critical need to study particulate systems. This research will use experiments to gain insights into the particle-liquid interface and property-processing relationships. Education and outreach activities will help prepare students to work in this important technological area and increase the participation of women in science and engineering.In this CAREER award, the wetting and granule formation behavior of practical, complex powder formulations will be quantified via static single drop granulation experiments. The single drop granule formation information will be used to scale-up to industrial granulators. Linking the material properties (micro-scale) to the process parameters (meso- and macro-scale) and product granule structure (meso-scale) will provide a scientific means, via semi-empirical models and regime maps, to design and predict granules of tailored properties. Here, new knowledge will be created with the potential to predict granular product properties based on the characterization of the powder-liquid interface, along with the raw feed material and process parameters. This work aims to transform the granulation process, allowing granulation to be more broadly applied and expanded to new industries, such as biomass and metal-organic frameworks. Two novel scientific broader impacts of this work include: (1) the ability to predict granulation routes, and (2) the application of granulation to a variety of new industries. Through this award, students from middle school through graduate school will be engaged and supported in chemical engineering, and specifically particle technology research, to inform and prepare students for career opportunities in this field.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.