Improvement of Technology for the Development and Production of Specialty Chemical Products

High-end chemical products, such as specialty polymers and pharmaceuticals, are important to provide a high quality of life. The effectiveness of these products is dependent on intensive development and consistent production. The focus of this project is developing new technology to improve both development and production of these products. To address product development issues, we are developing, modeling, experimental design and optimization tools that allow the rapid development of products. These tools will allow companies to optimally select raw materials, formulations and manufacturing conditions that lead to new and improved products at lower cost. Once a product has been developed, it needs to be consistently produced. To address this we are developing new control technology and software to eliminate discrepancies in the final product. Specifically, this is done by taking measurements during the early part of the production process and using them to automatically decide how to adjust the remaining production steps.

Faculty Supervisor:

Todd Hoare

Student:

Brandon Corbett

Partner:

Prosensus Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

Program: