Rotor Stator Processing

制药工业中的复杂制剂用于递送活性药物成分（即，药物）给患者以提供药物效果和患者可接受的形式-因此，与制剂相关的制造与药物生产一样重要。这主要是通过批量处理-一个关键的一件处理设备在生产霜和软膏是使用转子定子高剪切均质器。这产生高剪切场，其产生分散相（例如油）在连续（且不混溶）连续相（例如水基）内的细乳液。本项目将结合计算流体动力学和实验来解决转子定子加工这些复杂材料的流体力学问题。这方面的一个关键方面将是考虑流体在其流变参数方面的复杂性以及其对根据液滴尺寸分布判断的最终产品质量的最终影响。

Complex formulation within the pharmaceutical industry is used to deliver active pharmaceutical ingredients (i.e., the drug) to patient to give both medicinal effect and in a format acceptable to the patient - consequently the manufacturing associated with formulation is as important as the drug production. This is dominated by batch processing - a key piece of processing equipment in the production of creams and ointments is the use of a rotor-stator high shear homogenizer. This creates a high shear field which creates a fine emulsion of a disperse phase (e.g. an oil) within a continuous (and immiscible) continuous phase (e.g. aqueous based). This project will address the fluid mechanics of rotor stator processing of these complex materials using a combination of computational fluid dynamics and experiments. A key aspect of this will be to consider the complexity of the fluid in terms of its rheological parameters and the ultimate impact of this on the final product quality judged in terms of the droplet size distribution.