"Translating Research into Impact: My
Experience in Product Development and
Scale-Up"
Mohamed Ashar
drmdashar@[Link]
About me
• [Link] Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras, India.
• [Link]. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Leeds, U.K.
• Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Porto, Portugal (Joint collaboration
between University of Leeds & Porto University) Ranked top 2 FCT – Portugal Government
Scholarship.
• Over 8 years of experience in R&D, plant design, manufacture/product development, process
development and process scale-up.
• Experience with: Tetra Pak, Aramco, University of Sheffield
• Areas of expertise: Product/process development, CFD, scale-up, QA/QC.
• Statement of passion: bridging science and manufacturing.
What I’ll Cover
• Brief agenda:
• Project 1 - Silica and the big picture.
• Project 2 - Food Emulsion Optimization at Tetra Pak.
(mayonnaise production in TetraPak Pilot rotor-stator mixer).
• Relevance to Axitan.
• Q & A.
The problem to be solved : a big picture
Nanomaterials have a €20billion worth market.
Their demand is ~103-106 tonnes/yr.
E.g. Photocatalyst for water treatment.
Problems:
• Manufacturing is unsustainable (e.g. large waste per kg product),
• Limited in attainable nanomaterials properties ( e.g. mesoporosity).
BiS Silica synthesis (mg-g) can solve
these problems.
E.g. Silica for drug delivery can be made cheaply
& safely using bioinspired route.
Catalysis, adsorption, CO2 capture.
[Link]
Patwardhan & Staniland, Green Nanomaterials, IoP Publishing, 2019.
Conventional vs. Bioinspired silica
e.g. MCM-41: BiS silica (BIS)
• High surface area, uniform pore size • mild conditions/water based, rapid
• >$1,000/kg • ~$5-10/kg
Issues with scale-up! Scalable!
Trigger:
HCl
Oligomers
Polymeric
silica
Chemicals Time T By-product Cost
MCM-41 Toxic 2-6 d 120o & 600oC NOx & CO2 >£1000/kg
BIS Safe (water) <5 min 20oC NaCl ~£5/kg
Pilot plant –Silica Preparation
Silica preparation using Sodium Silicate, and PEHA (Pentaethylenehexamine), L-Arginine and mild acid.
PEHA as a Functional Additive in Silica Synthesis
Role: Functional additive/catalyst in sol-gel silica manufacturing
Functions:
PEHA is used as an additive in silica manufacturing—primarily for catalysis, structure control, pH
control, and stabilization. It doesn’t become part of the final silica product but modifies the process to
yield better-controlled materials.
Purification Stage
After purification samples (product) taken for analysis.
BET analysis – Porosity, Surface area
PSD
Project Outcome
Successful plant commissioning
Consistent and scalable silica production
Team collaboration with engineers and safety officers.
Scale-up of Silica
• Lab to Pilot plant level – continuous production.
Pilot
Plant
Silica formulation
Lab scale – bench top 5L Stirrer tank
Summary: Silica process flow
• Objective: Develop a 300 L Pilot plant continuous production of Silica.
• Role : Lead process design, operation (manufacturing) and scale-up
• My Role and Responsibilities :Designed the pilot plant process flow and layout along with the engineers .
• Documentation:
• Developed and implemented COSHH documentation
• Risk assessments for all major process steps and safety protocols
• Pilot plant commissioning performed – water and then Silica
• Raw materials testing and sourcing.
• Pilot plant commissioning and troubleshooting, SOPs
• QA/QC: physical and chemical characterization, benchmarking, GMP
• Troubleshooting
Bioinspired silica synthesis:
Preliminary results
Monomeric Oligomeric Polymeric
silica silica silica
Concentrations
100 200 300 100 200 300
350 400 350 400
Impeller speed (RPM) Impeller speed (RPM)
9
Tetra Pak Emulsification – Project Overview
• Objective: Optimize mayonnaise emulsification in a 250L
rotor-stator mixer.
• Role : Lead process design, operation and scale-up
• Responsibilities :Process development for mayonnaise
production of fine emulsion.
• Water
• Sugar
• Mayonnaise
Tasks – Process development
• Development of hydrodynamic model to simulate flow field
• Geometrical parameters
• Rotor-stator Mixer
• With/without baffles
• Different slot width
• Different stator design
• Operational parameters
• Re/flow rate
• Identify the different flow regimes determined by these parameters
• Segregated flow or chaotic flow induced by vortex – flow field charactrization
• Critical flow rate
• Laminar and Turbulent
Analyze tank flow field – Drop breakup position
monitored
Sample taken from different position and rheology
tested
Security Level /
Initials/YYYY-MM-DD 12
Summary - Velocity magnitude
Water Sugar
Mayonnais
e
Security Level /
Initials/YYYY-MM-DD 13
Task included
• Emulsification in a TetraPak Pilot rotor-stator
• Study of Bulk flow pattern around rotor-stator region (LDV & CFD) – 3 fluids
• Mechanism involved in Single droplet break-up
• Rheology measurement– 3 fluids
• Process development for fine emsulsion
• SOPs
• Stack holders- TetraPak, Chalmer Tech, FS dynamics
• Unilever, Heinz (commercial)
• Documentation
• QA/QC - GMP
• COSHH, Risk Assessment
• Safety
• Trroubleshooting
Thank You !
