Research Overview
Generically, the research theme at the Department of Process & Chemical Engineering is Continuous Process and Product Improvement, focused on foods, pharmaceuticals and bioproducts. Research projects may deal with the further development of methods or basic scientific knowledge required to achieve this goal, or with applications of such methods/knowledge in specific situations.
Historically, the Department focused on (i) process control in the food industry; (ii) powder properties, storage and processing; (iii) physical properties of foods and (iv) analysis of variability and strategies for its minimisation. From this origin, it is well equipped in the analysis and studies of powders, which in the meantime has expanded from foods to bioproducts in general. The Department is the international co-ordinator of a Training Network of Excellence funded by the European Union in the area of powder technology, with some of the most eminent European research groups in this field.
Following a significant expansion in 1999, the Department has acquired significant expertise in the area of (i) storage, stability and shelf life evaluation of biological materials; (ii) process modelling and optimisation; and (iii) consumer product development. More recently, it consolidated applications in the areas of (i) product design engineering, and (ii) process and product development in the pharmaceutical area, with particular emphasis on quality engineering (handling variability and maximising conformity) and product formulation design.
