Flow Process and r heology Centre (FP r C)

Prof Irina Masalova

Prof Rainer Haldenwang

The FPRC team members are Prof Veruscha Fester; Mr Andrew Sutherland; Dr Reinhardt Kotzé; Prof Raj Chhabra, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India (Adjunct Prof); Prof Samier Mukhopadhayay, AEL Mining Services (Adjunct Prof); and Prof Alex Ya Malkin, Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis (Adjunct Prof).

The centre was founded in 1995 and applies the fundamental principles and techniques of rheology to solve industrial problems, such as deformation and flow under different shear, material structure and process flow conditions. The group has produced more than 100 peer reviewed publications so far.

Its core activities include:

• Rheological characterisation and modelling of concentrated emulsions, suspensions, solutions and polymer melts and modelling of the phenomena of micro- and nano-structural evaluation involved in the mixing, pumping, transportation and storage processes of multiphase systems

• Ultrasound Doppler based in-line rheometry technique for enhanced process monitoring and control of industrial suspensions

• Modelling non-Newtonian flows in pipes, fittings, open channels and pumps

• Instrumentation systems to measure in situ concentration and particle velocity in settling slurry and coarse particle flow and visualisation in pipes and complex geometries masalovai@cput.ac.za haldenwangr@cput.ac.za

Highlights for 2014

A new five-year project has been initiated in collaboration with AEL Mining Services, headed by Prof Irina Masalova. It involves the fundamental study of the structure-property relationship of super-concentrated emulsion systems.

The two-year Water Research Commission funded project on pressure drop prediction for efficient sludge pipeline design was successfully completed. The project was headed by Prof Haldenwang with Prof Fester and Dr Kotzé being part of the team.

The rheological properties of 21 sludges from six wastewater treatment plants in the Western Cape were tested ranging in solids concentration between 2% and 7.8% using a tube viscometer enabling the collection of real headloss data in the pipes in laminar and turbulent flow. The effect of rheology on pressure drop predictions proved to be significant; engineers responsible for designing new wastewater treatment plants in the Western Cape now have access to a database of rheological parameters of the sludges. A new UVP-transducer which can measure non-invasively through a stainless steel pipe was tested with sludges for the first time. Being able to determine the rheology of sludges in-line and in real-time has huge potential for process control in the waste water treatment industry. The outcome of this work secured funding for the next two years to apply the in-line rheometry system for continuous and efficient polymer dosing control to optimise sludge dewatering.

Prof Chhabra from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, visited the group and presented a short course on Research Methods for Engineers to the postgraduate students of the faculty.

Researcher shortlisted for top innovation prize

Dr reinhardt Kotzé, a member of the flow-Viz spin-out project, has been shortlisted for the royal academy of engineering’s africa Prize for Innovation. The purpose of the africa Prize is to give recognition to innovators who use their engineering skills to address problems in Sub-Saharan africa. Dr Kotzé of CPUT’s flow Process and rheology Centre is one of the inventors of flowViz, a highly specialised industrial fluids characterisation system that improves process and quality control within a fluid production line.

During September, students and staff of the FPRC presented papers at a Southern African Society of Rheology (SASOR) conference in Stellenbosch.

Prof Haldenwang was elected President and Prof Fester Vice-President. Prof Masalova is also on the Executive Committee.

The group assisted the regional winners of the SA Youth Water Prize with materials to produce a prototype of their invention to compete in the National Competition.

The industrial system has an international patent pending and was co-developed by CPUT and the Swedish Institute for food and Biotechnology (SIK), which is part of the Technical research Institute of Sweden (SP). Prof Haldenwang from CPUT and Dr Wiklund from SIK are the co-inventors.

“The aim of flow-Viz is to replace time-consuming offline measurements in the quality control laboratory with continuous realtime and non-invasive process monitoring of industrial fluids that takes place directly in the production line,” said Dr Kotzé. “Currently, operators take fluid samples and conduct time-consuming laboratory tests to monitor product quality. flow-Viz is unique; there is no similar product in the world for opaque non-Newtonian fluids.” according to Dr Dr Kotzé pilot tests have been conducted on a wide range of products such as foodstuff and cement grouts, and two flow-Viz systems have already been set up in pilot plants in america and europe. “We have successfully verified that our prototype systems work well on a pilot plant scale. We are ready for upscaling trials, aiming at process monitoring and control applications in industry”, he said. Dr Kotzé and his colleagues plan to launch an international company with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. flow-Viz has already received considerable media exposure. as part of the competition, Dr Kotzé, along with the 11 shortlisted candidates, will receive six months of mentoring and training from top business and engineering experts. This will also be a good opportunity to link the product to industry and to obtain new customers. The shortlisted candidates will then submit a revised business plan for their innovations, and three finalists will present their products to a judging panel next year.

Dr Kotzé was interviewed by radio Sonder Grense (rSG) and KykNet, and news about the achievement has also been published in the argus and posted on several websites. “This competition is a good platform to market and expose the technology to a wider audience,” he said.