↑ Students in the Diamond Pilot Plant.
The Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering is thrilled to announce a major new integrated Pilot Plant which has opened in The Diamond.
The Diamond Pilot Plant (DiPP) features a world leading continuous powder processing plant – the first of its kind in any UK University.
This pioneering new facility will manufacture pharmaceutical tablets from blends of model active ingredients and excipients. DiPP will include key powder processes steps for formulated product manufacture such as crystallization, blending, granulation and tableting.
DiPP will spearhead industry driven research and learning for engineering students across the globe. Researchers will target industry based problems to understand the different mechanisms in modelling the whole continuous process.
Students will use the facility to test design models for individual unit operations and also use the integrated manufacturing process for open ended research and design projects, making sure they are industry ready after graduation.
There are also opportunities to use DiPP for training and continuing education for employees in the pharmaceutical industry and those industry sectors that manufacture formulated products.
“It is tremendous that our students can use this cutting edge technology in their education.”
Head of Department, Professor Jim Litster said: “The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing the most significant change in manufacturing processes in the last 30 years. It is tremendous that our students can use this cutting edge technology in their education at MEng, MSc and PhD level studies.”
“The new continuous powder processing plant emphasises the importance of complex particulate products, and formulated products more broadly, in modern chemical engineering – and we are reflecting this in our new curriculum. It is truly research-led teaching.”