Cohort 5
Saathana Ambikaibalan
Title: Multiscale understanding of hydrophobic organic crystals for emulsion stability. 
Theme areas: Product Functionalisation and Performance, Product Characterisation
Academic supervisory team: Professor Anwesha Sarkar (School of Food Science and Nutrition), Dr Sepideh Khodaparast (School of Mechanical Engineering), Professor Michael Rappolt (School of Food Science and Nutrition) and Professor Andy Brown (School of Chemical and Process Engineering)
Industrial sector: Cosmetics, Fuel, Pharmaceuticals
Description: This project aims to understand the true stabilisation mechanism of plant wax stabilised W/O emulsions. This involves the understanding of crystal morphology of wax based oleogels, the importance of interfacial stabilisation vs network stabilisation and the crystal arrangement at the interface using single droplet measurements.
Connor Gibson
Title: Investigating the Influence of Impurities on LiFePO4 Crystal Structure and Electrochemical Performance.
Theme Areas: Product Characterisation, Process Modelling Between Scales, Product Functionalisation and Performance.
Academic Supervisory Team: Dr David Harbottle (School of Chemical and Process Engineering), Prof Kevin Roberts (School of Chemical and Process Engineering), Dr Anuradha R. Pallipurath (School of Chemical and Process Engineering).
Industrial sector: Material science and Energy.
Description: This project aims to utilise the iron sulphate co-product from the titanium dioxide industry. Understanding the impurities within iron sulphate and how they incorporate into LiFePO4 batteries, by looking at the crystal structure, organic phases synthesis procedures, how to model and manipulate the data to be incorporated into the growing battery industry as we switch to electrical power.
Harry Jones
Title: Reengineering Polymers: Flow Reactor Design for Monomer Recovery
Theme Areas: Product Functionalisation and Performance, Product Characterisation
Academic Supervisory Team: Dr Nicolas Warren (School of Chemical and Process Engineering), Dr Adam Clayton (School of Chemistry), Dr Keeran Ward (School of Chemical and Process Engineering)
Industrial sector: Polymer manufacturing, waste management, fine chemical synthesis
Description: My project aims to broaden knowledge around the process of depolymerisation for dealing with waste polymers. A robust continuous-flow photochemical reactor will be designed and manufactured for this purpose. Machine-learning based optimisation algorithms will be used to identify ideal conditions for the breakdown of (meth)acrylate polymers. Finally, the regenerated monomers will be used as feedstock for production of a pharmaceutical product.
Jerry Nayar
Title: Carbon Foam Catalyst Supports for Chemical Flow Applications
Theme Areas: Product Functionalisation and Performance, Product Characterisation
Academic Supervisory Team: Dr Robert Menzel and Dr Nicole Hondow
Industrial Sector: Agrochemical, Pharmaceutical
Description: This project aims to exploit the unique properties of macroscopic foam materials constructed from nanostructured carbons (such as graphene) for modern catalytic flow applications. To this end, the project explores different means of functionalizing highly porous, 3D-structured carbon foams with catalysts. These methods will focus on the formation of ultra-small metal nanoparticles within the foam’s pores and the immobilization of organometallic catalysts through strong non-covalent catalyst-support interactions. The aim of the project is to produce highly porous heterogeneous catalyst materials, that (i) exhibit improved precious metal utilisation, (ii) can be electrically stimulated, and (iii) are suitable for integration into modern continuous flow processes.
Michelle Willis
Title: Optimising Hybrid Vesicles for Enhanced Stability and Storage Requirements
Theme Areas: Product functionalisation and Performance, Product characterisation
Academic supervisory team: Professor Paul Beales (School of Chemistry), Dr Arwen Tyler (School of Food Science and Nutrition), Professor Ade Whitehouse (School of Molecular and Cellular Biology)
Industrial sector: Pharmaceutical
Description: This project focuses on increasing the stability of lipid nanoparticles used in vaccines enabling storage in higher degree temperatures though incorporation of a hybrid of a lipid and co-block polymer, with the aim of functional performance targeting Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus.