Poster Session & Reception

Please join us for a poster session and reception featuring the research of junior scientists from academe (graduate students, post doctoral researchers, and untenured faculty). The posters to be presented are listed below:

Plasmonic Pervaporation for Sustainable Mixture Separation

Ty Austin, University of Arkansas

Membrane separation provides a potential alternative to distillation, which consumes roughly 40% of the energy used in the chemical and refining industries according to the United States Department of Energy, for separating liquid-liquid mixtures. While providing better separation, current membrane separation techniques are not as energy efficient as distillation. This work seeks to improve the energy efficiency of purifying solvents by coupling the effects of localized plasmonic heating on a membrane with pervaporation, a common membrane separation technique, using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) thin-films. Localized plasmonic heating results from the decay of a plasmon that was created when the resonant wavelength of light irradiates gold nanoparticles (AuNP). Preliminary results in a lab-scale, pervaporation system suggest that the combination of these two techniques may be able to facilitate a higher level of mass transfer or flux across membranes.   

Drop Impact, Granule Formation, and Granule Morphology: A Comprehensive Look at Single Drop Granulation

Tianxiang Gao, Arizona State University

Single drop granulation by a drop impacting onto a powder bed is of significant interest since it is the first step in any powder wetting process, including wet granulation. Particle parameters like particle size distribution and density; liquid parameters like viscosity and surface tension; powder-liquid properties like hydrophobicity and solubility; and operating parameters like bed porosity and drop height can all influence the formation mechanism and resulting granule morphology. Breakage and attrition behavior of dry granules is also important for further handling and processing, and we hypothesize that the morphology of granules, which is dependent upon the different formation mechanisms, will also influence the breakage behavior of granules. 

Comparison of DEM Force Models for Static and Dynamic Assemblies of Rod-Shaped Particles

Rohit Kumar, Purdue University

Several DEM normal force models for cohesion-less rod-shaped particles are compared under static and dynamic conditions.  Comparisons of the force, overlap, and contact duration frequency distributions are presented.  Differences are observed in the overlap and contact duration distributions, but the force distributions are nearly independent of the choice of force model.

Solvent-Free Particle Surface Modification using Amino Acid L-Leucine during Milling for Improved Dry Powder Dispersion

Kuriakose Kunnath, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Inhalation therapy requires the efficient powder de-agglomeration and dispersion in addition to a very fine particle size (<5 µm). Unfortunately, milling of pharmaceutical powders, which is required to achieve the right size range, leads to formation of large agglomerates with poor dispersion after inhalation. In this work, using KCl as a surrogate material, milling and surface coating was done in a Fluid Energy Mill (FEM) to produce particles suitable for inhalation. Several different coating materials were investigated and it was found that L-Leucine, a naturally occurring amino acid, offers similar powder dispersibility performance even at the fine particle sizes used in inhalation.

A Model-Guided Process Intensification Strategy for the Preparation of Sub-100 nm Drug Nanoparticles via Wet Stirred Media Milling 

Meng Li, New Jersey Institute of Technology

There is sustained interest in sub-100 nm particles of poorly water-soluble drugs as such small particles offer improved permeation through various biological barriers and result in rapid onset of therapeutic action. For fast production of sub-100 nm drug particles, yttrium-stabilized zirconia beads with a nominal size ranging from 50 µm to 800 µm were used in a baseline wet stirred media milling (WSMM) process, which was subsequently intensified with the optimal bead size by increasing rotor tip speed, bead loading, and suspension flow rate step-wise, as guided by a microhydrodynamic model. This study has demonstrated, for the first time, the use of small beads in an intensified WSMM process for faster production of sub-100 nm particles of two BCS Class II drugs while achieving reduced energy consumption and keeping metal (Zr) contamination low.

Impact Dynamics of Low-Velocity Projectiles on Wet Granular Media

Spandana Vajrala, Arizona State University

In this work, we use the Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) technique to study the impact of low velocity projectiles on wet, cohesive granular media with different packing fractions. Our motivation is to understand animal interaction on various sand terrains, and we aim to achieve this by observing different stages of interaction of solid projectiles with granular beds.