The Institute of Material Science and Technology (IMST) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and African Explosives Limited (AEL) recently signed their third threeyear research contract, which will, with associated academic activities, bring in more than R5million for the University as third-stream income.

Prof Paul Slatter, head of the Flow Process Research Centre said, “the main thrust of this project revolves around the science, engineering and technology of explosive emulsions. Besides the postgraduate students who qualified on the project, the first six years have shown that this emulsion system is scientifically and technologically unique”.

This is said to have enabled the project leader, Prof Irina Masalova, to present a number of papers internationally, as well as being invited to present lectures at top universities in Europe.

Prof Slatter said Prof Masalova’s work has led AEL to institute a number of production and delivery modifications to their emulsion explosives manufacturing processes, which has added considerably to their national and international competitive edge and profitability.

“In time, this will mean a safer and more accurate blasting practice for the South African mining industry – impacting positively on one of our major foreign exchange earning industries. Looking at the bigger picture, this industrial contract will form the nucleus of a major academic programme, which will draw in a multi-disciplinary team within the IMST, as well as establish long-term collaborations in Europe and North America,” said Prof Slatter.

He said the projected life-span of this much bigger and far reaching emulsion development programme is in the region of ten to twenty years, contributing significantly to the collective vision as a new university of technology.

Written by CPUT News
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A pump efficiency testing rig, designed and built by researchers based at the Flow Process Research Centre, will be used to test the characteristics of paper pulp waste fluids and sewage sludges in Stockholm later this year.

The centre, which is based in the Civil Engineering and Survey Department at the Cape Town campus, is tasked with researching problems that relate to the flow of industrial fluids.

The researchers have expertise in making precise measurements of the viscous characteristics (called rheology) of complex fluids, and then relating these characteristics to the flow of industrial fluids and pumping systems.

The test rig, which is currently being shipped to Stockholm , will be used by CPUT and Swedish researchers to test the characteristics of these fibrous suspensions.

It is envisaged that by characterising the flow physics, including the process knowledge and using adaptive technology, an optimised pumping system can be obtained, thus resulting in energy efficiency.

Prof Rainer Haldenwang, who is managing the project, said it is a collaboration between CPUT and Innventia, a company in Sweden that specialises in research and development relating to pulp, paper, graphic media, packaging and biorefining.

The project is sponsored by Tillväxtverket, a Swedish Agency for economic and regional growth via the DemoEnvironmental Program, which is a government funding agency in Sweden .

Prof Haldenwang, along with Dr Veruscha Fester and Richard du Toit of the Centre, will travel to Stockholm in September and conduct tests alongside their Swedish counterparts.

Prof Haldenwang said the project came about in 2007, when he traveled to Stockholm to visit Dr Richard Holm, a Swedish researcher who has expertise in fluid mechanics, rheology and pumping of fibre suspensions.

Dr Richard Holm, who works for Innventia, visited CPUT in 2006 to attend a conference hosted by the centre.

“We started discussing collaboration and then applied to a Swedish funding agency for R2 million, which we then received at the beginning of 2008,” he said.

Researchers expect that the project will assist them in determining improved design features of industrial pump systems.

“A very specific sludge test facility in Stockholm will be able to produce different types and concentrations of sludges required for the tests. It is envisaged that by understanding the flow properties of the fluids pumped and monitoring the pump performance it will be possible to run centrifugal pumps more efficiently thus saving energy,” he said.

Dr Oswald Franks, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, said the project is a great accomplishment.

“It’s not every day that we get to export devices like this to Europe , which is a developed continent,” he said.

Dr Franks said the project is in line with the university’s mission, which encourages researchers to collaborate with industry, both locally and internationally.

By Candes Keating

Photo: (top right)The team of researchers at the CPUT Flow Process Research Centre (left and bottom right) Details from the newly developed testing rig, that will be exported to Stockholm.

Written by CPUT News
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A pump efficiency test rig, designed and built by researchers based at the Flow Process Research Centre, was recently used to test the characteristics of sewage sludge and paper pulp waste fluids in Stockholm.

The centre, which is based in the Civil Engineering and Survey Department at the Cape Town campus, is tasked with researching problems that relate to the flow of industrial fluids.

The researchers have expertise in making precise measurements of the viscous characteristics (called rheology) of complex fluids, and then relating these characteristics to the flow of industrial fluids and pumping systems.

The test rig, which was shipped to Stockholm earlier this year, was used by the researchers to test the characteristics of these fibrous suspensions.

The team, Prof Rainer Haldenwang, Dr Veruscha Fester and Mr Richard du Toit recently returned from Stockholm, where they spent several weeks conducting tests.

Prof Haldenwang said: “It took us only two days to assemble the rig and to do the water tests, showing that the rig is truly portable, despite its physical size.”

He said the portability of the test rig and ease of reassembly stems directly from Mr du Toit’s unique modular design of the test loop and its support structures.

“Without him it would have taken much longer,” said Prof Haldenwang.

The team’s host and project partner in Stockholm, Dr Richard Holm, who works for Innventia, a paper pulp research institute, was also impressed that the facility was operational in such a short time.

A research facility at Hammarby Sjöstadverk in Stockholm, operated by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute and the Royal Institute of Technology, supplied centrifuged sludge.

Two types of sludge (lysed and unlysed) from another water treatment plant, were also tested to determine their viscous properties. In total, eight sludges and three concentrations of fibre suspensions were tested over a period of three weeks.

Prof Haldenwang said one significant achievement was finding the characteristic pump curve for fibre suspensions in laminar flow, which is a huge point of debate in this area of research and rarely obtained experimentally.

The project sponsors, which include the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and Tillväxtverket, a Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, were impressed by the amount of test work completed.

They were also pleased to witness the efficient pumping of very viscous slurries by centrifugal pumps at a much lower pumping power than is often the case in industry. The sponsors indicated that they would like to see the results implemented in industry.

Prof Haldenwang said the results of the tests are invaluable for further research.

He said they are now planning to conduct an audit of the type of pumps and energy usage in local sewage treatment plants, and to demonstrate how knowledge of the viscous properties of sludge can be used to monitor and control pumps for optimum use of energy.

By Candes Keating

Written by CPUT News
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From manufacturing satellite components to food supplements, CPUT innovators are making their mark in industry.

The institution’s leading innovators recently shared their success stories at CPUT’s Innovation Fund Board meeting, held at the Bellville Campus.

The board was established in 2008 and is tasked with identifying research that can be commercialized and providing researchers with the funds needed to take their ideas one step further.

This year innovators from the French South African Institute of Technology, the Functional Foods Unit, the Biocatalysis and Technical Biology Research Group, the Flow Process Research Centre and the TIA Adaptronics Advanced Manufacturing Technology Laboratory, showcased their innovative activities.

LIFT OFF: The TIA Adaptronics Advanced Manufacturing Technology Laboratory is manufacturing unmanned aerial vehicles systems. They have also started a company

Of these units, several have registered patents while other has started new companies that manufacture and sell speciliased products, both locally and internationally.

Director of the Technology Transfer Office, Prof Gary Atkinson-Hope says the board was particularly impressed with the range of innovations presented and the exhibitions that were on display.

“In general, the technological specialisations and complexities of products presented demonstrated uniqueness with commercialisation prospects and some are already in the market place,” says Atkinson-Hope

This year several up and coming innovators also presented their innovative ideas to the board, with the hope of clinching funding which will help them to commericliase their products or register patents.

Written by Candes Keating
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