Innovations in the design and scale-up of latex-based coatings technologies – SCALE-UP

The basic premise of SCALE-UP is that we use CFD to understand how the time scales for mixing change. This information can be combined with population balance equations (PBE) that allow us to calculate the local particle generation, coagulation and growth rates in order to understand how changes of scale impact the quality of product that we make. This project represents one of the first comprehensive efforts to multidisciplinary framework solve one of the most important challenges to process development: SCALE-UP.

Project just started

Project just started

Project just started

The properties of a latex are determined by a number of factors, including the monomers, stabilisers, initiators and buffers used in the process of interest. However, beyond the complexity of the processes and formulations that can be found, the one thing almost all latex products have in common is that they are made by carefully controlling the creation, growth, stabilisation and eventually coagulation of particles during different phases of the process. If mastered, both particle nucleation and controlled coagulation, either in the reactor or in post-reaction coagulators, can be used to increase particle size, narrow or broaden the particle size as desired, or create multiple particle populations , .

The creation of new products and the ability to take them to market quickly and efficiently implies the ability to scale-up production; be it a scale-up from the bench top in an R&D lab, or an expansion of current production with larger or more intensified unit operations. Typically, this is still done using a heuristics-based approach at a commercial scale. However, if we are ever to break with this traditional approach to scale-up (or the opposite action, scale-down, to perform trouble shooting and debottlenecking), we will need to take a multi-level, pluri-disciplinary approach, not least because phenomena need to be examined simultaneously at 3 different, but interacting length scales:

• Molecular scale (1-100Å): influences particle stability, system thermodynamics;
• Particle scale (10-1000nm): governs properties like stability and global viscosity.
• Macroscopic scale (0.1-10 m): mixing time and efficiency depends on viscosity.

These topics must be treated as an ensemble, otherwise synergy is lost and the approach is significantly less productive. We propose to use a unified modelling and experimental approach to achieve this objective. This will be done by defining the different tasks outlined in the accompanying proposal, with major emphasis being placed on:

• Design and build laboratory coagulators to develop coagulation strategies and support the development of the scale-up simulation platform.
• Development of a combined CFD/PBE framework. Computational fluid dynamic simulations are to be combined with population balance equations of particle formation.
• Experimental validation of simulations at different scales (1 – 300 litres) using well-designed experiments will be used to identify critical model parameters
• Development of a methodology for scale-up based on the identified CFD/PBE framework and results of laboratory and industrial scale tests.

The basic premise of SCALE-UP is that we use CFD to understand how the time scales for mixing change. This information can be combined with population balance equations (PBE) that allow us to calculate the local particle generation, coagulation and growth rates in order to understand how changes of scale impact the quality of product that we make. This project represents one of the first comprehensive efforts to multidisciplinary framework solve one of the most important challenges to process development: SCALE-UP.