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Transforming nano-particles into sustainable consumer products through advanced product and process formulation

Final Report Summary - PROFORM (Transforming nanoparticles into sustainable consumer products through advanced product and process formulation)

The aim of the PROFORM project was to mobilise and bring together the expertise from different disciplines in order to develop an integrated approach for new processes and products that involve particle processing at the micro and nanoscales. Therefore, the main objective of the project constituted the development of next generation process tools and methodologies for the design and manufacture of goods containing nano-particles in a highly dispersed, functional and stable state. This required the development of fundamental understanding of the phenomena related to the processing of nanoparticles, specifically their dispersion in liquids. Consequently, the physical properties of dispersed nanoparticles products can be improved and waste can be reduced to achieve economic and environmental savings. The overall objective of the project has been met with the preparation of a design guide and the design of a software-based formulation adviser.

The project achievements are listed below:
- establishment of standard methods and protocols for characterising nanoparticles and their interactions with fluids;
- a database containing relevant physical properties of nanoparticles, used within the consortium;
- experimental results concerning the effects of processing conditions on the incorporation and breakup of nanoparticle clusters in liquids;
- results concerning the combined effects of the chemical composition of suspensions and processing conditions;
- assessment of the comparative performance of a range of process equipment;
- numerical models describing the dispersion of nanoparticles in liquids;
- numerical models for rheological properties of nanoparticle suspensions;
- validated simulation tools for the breakup of nanoparticle clusters using process devices investigated throughout the project.