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Education

Graphs without numbers

For some MSc students completing their studies this week, the graduation ceremony will not mean the end of their stay in Delft. One student who will be staying on to live and work in the Netherlands is Cristhian Almeida Riviera, from Ecuador.

He studied chemical engineering and is now starting his PhD-project.

%I want to prove to myself that I can do it,” Almeida says, justifying his choice for staying in Delft and starting a PhD-project. %Moreover, it%s a challenging topic and I want to contribute to science.” Almeida, whose graduation thesis examined the behaviour of aspartame granules in a dryer, will continue his studies in process system engineering.

Another reason for staying, however, is his wife, whom he met six years ago in Quito. %We were both studying at the National Polytechnic School in Quito,” Almeida recalls. %When I moved to Delft, we decided that she should also come to Delft. We got married a year and a half ago and now she%s now a MSc student here.”

For Almeida, getting to the Netherlands wasn%t just a matter of walking into a travel agency. First, he had to join a national contest that would select only one chemical engineer to go to Holland. Almeida was chosen because of his high marks and language skills. %I felt really privileged to be chosen,” he says.

Aspartame, the substance that Almeida researched in his thesis, has been produced and used worldwide as a sweetener for many years. DSM wanted to be able to predict the production of aspartame granules by means of computer simulation. %During the production of aspartame granules, the substance is dried and broken in turbo dryers,” Almeida explains. %During this process the temperature of the material increases and the moisture content decreases. Eventually, the material falls apart into granules.”

Secret

One of the projects main aims was to be able to predict the behaviour of the material%s qualities while in the dryer. But this was difficult to achieve, because comminution and drying processes occur simultaneously and interact with one another. Almeida: %Until now, predicting exactly what would happen during granulation was mainly based on empirical postulates, supported by some rules of the thumb, rather than on application of basic principles. Discovering these principles was what made it so challenging for us.”

In order to predict the behaviour, Almeida made, together with Professor Brian Scarlett, Daan Verkoeijen (a PhD-student) and Dr. Gabrie Meesters (DSM), a computational model based on mass, heat, momentum, and the population balances performed in each particle. %In order to do this, we divided the dryer into zones. We then obtained sets of differential expressions for moisture, temperature and particle size as a function of location along the dryer.”

Almeida is not allowed to exhibit any of the machines he used during his graduation project, however. %My project was part of a secret joint research project between TU Delft and DSM. DSM has the equipment, the dimensions of which are a secret. During my final presentation, I was only allowed to present graphs, without numbers.”

For some MSc students completing their studies this week, the graduation ceremony will not mean the end of their stay in Delft. One student who will be staying on to live and work in the Netherlands is Cristhian Almeida Riviera, from Ecuador. He studied chemical engineering and is now starting his PhD-project.

%I want to prove to myself that I can do it,” Almeida says, justifying his choice for staying in Delft and starting a PhD-project. %Moreover, it%s a challenging topic and I want to contribute to science.” Almeida, whose graduation thesis examined the behaviour of aspartame granules in a dryer, will continue his studies in process system engineering.

Another reason for staying, however, is his wife, whom he met six years ago in Quito. %We were both studying at the National Polytechnic School in Quito,” Almeida recalls. %When I moved to Delft, we decided that she should also come to Delft. We got married a year and a half ago and now she%s now a MSc student here.”

For Almeida, getting to the Netherlands wasn%t just a matter of walking into a travel agency. First, he had to join a national contest that would select only one chemical engineer to go to Holland. Almeida was chosen because of his high marks and language skills. %I felt really privileged to be chosen,” he says.

Aspartame, the substance that Almeida researched in his thesis, has been produced and used worldwide as a sweetener for many years. DSM wanted to be able to predict the production of aspartame granules by means of computer simulation. %During the production of aspartame granules, the substance is dried and broken in turbo dryers,” Almeida explains. %During this process the temperature of the material increases and the moisture content decreases. Eventually, the material falls apart into granules.”

Secret

One of the projects main aims was to be able to predict the behaviour of the material%s qualities while in the dryer. But this was difficult to achieve, because comminution and drying processes occur simultaneously and interact with one another. Almeida: %Until now, predicting exactly what would happen during granulation was mainly based on empirical postulates, supported by some rules of the thumb, rather than on application of basic principles. Discovering these principles was what made it so challenging for us.”

In order to predict the behaviour, Almeida made, together with Professor Brian Scarlett, Daan Verkoeijen (a PhD-student) and Dr. Gabrie Meesters (DSM), a computational model based on mass, heat, momentum, and the population balances performed in each particle. %In order to do this, we divided the dryer into zones. We then obtained sets of differential expressions for moisture, temperature and particle size as a function of location along the dryer.”

Almeida is not allowed to exhibit any of the machines he used during his graduation project, however. %My project was part of a secret joint research project between TU Delft and DSM. DSM has the equipment, the dimensions of which are a secret. During my final presentation, I was only allowed to present graphs, without numbers.”

Editor Redactie

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