Postgraduate

In Wrexham

Price on request

Description

  • Type

    Postgraduate

  • Location

    Wrexham (Wales)

  • Start date

    Different dates available

Overview of the programme This course trains graduates with a chemistry background specifically for a career in product development across a wide variety of industrial sectors including food and beverages, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, personal care, paints and inks.   Formulation is a vital activity central to manufacturing in a wide range of industries. Our MSc Formulation Science course encompasses polymer and colloid science, building understanding of the physical and chemical interactions between multiple components in today's complex formulations, and leading to a competitive advantage in undertaking Product Development and Quality Control.   The course is taught within the world-leading Centre for Water Soluble Polymers where staff have been helping national and multi-national companies solve their formulation problems for over 25 years.

Facilities

Location

Start date

Wrexham
See map
Mold Road, LL11 2AW

Start date

Different dates availableEnrolment now open

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Subjects

  • IT
  • Project
  • Skills and Training
  • IT Development
  • Systems
  • Product Development

Course programme

  • You will develop skills to design formulations for a wealth of industrial scenarios - from food, cosmetics and personal care, pharmaceuticals, paper production, inks and coatings, oil drilling and mining to name just a few.
  • In your Research Project you will interface with specialists from manufacturing industries and undertake a programme of experiments designed to develop the skills you want to learn.
  • On this course you will learn the trade secrets behind successful formulation - dealing with issues such as product stability (stabilising emulsions and dispersions), controlling flocculation, rheology (flow properties, mouthfeel, gelation), and overcoming compatibility issues with multi component systems. You'll be introduced to modelling, new trends in processing and high throughput formulation.

The course comprises 6 x 20 credit modules of taught content and a 60 credit Research Project. The taught element is delivered by a varied programme including lectures, seminars, and practical classes and may be studied on a full time or part time basis to suit you.

There is a strong emphasis on development of hands-on practical skills using a wide variety of advanced instrumentation.

Taught Modules

  • Advanced Materials Science
  • Chemistry & Technology of Water Soluble Polymers
  • Formulation Science
  • Product Formulation Case Study
  • Research Methods
  • Structure and Function of Industrial Biopolymers

The lectures and workshops are designed to train you in understanding interactions between polymer, solvent, and surfactant molecules with particles and surfaces. You will:

  • Review the range of formulation types found in various industrial sectors, and their components.
  • Master analytical techniques used to optimise product formulation, including measurement of molar mass distribution using gel permeation chromatography with multi angle laser light scattering (GPC-MALLS) and particle sizing techniques such as digital imaging and laser diffraction (to measure aggregates, flocs and emulsion droplets)
  • Discover Green Chemistry and eco-formulation- exploring a whole range of biopolymers extracted from natural resources….including antimicrobial polymers from shellfish waste, gelling agents from seaweed, and oligosaccharides from locally grown grasses.
  • Learn about man-made polymers and importantly, chemically modified biopolymers.
  • Measure the viscosity and rheology of liquid formulations and see how this can be interpreted to yield structural information on thickened systems and gels, and particulate systems including fillers, additives and dispersants.

A module in Research Methods provides training in all aspects of undertaking research, from project management, through data analysis and statistics to communicating your results and writing your dissertation to ensure you are well quipped to undertake your project.

Research Project

The course culminates in an industry-focussed Research Project. For full-time students this may be partly or wholly undertaken within a local manufacturing company. For part-time students the project provider may be your current employer. The Research Project gives you the opportunity to undertake a piece of novel research, and will often be based around solving a formulation problem for the project provider. It allows you to put into practice the knowledge and skills gained in the taught elements of the course.

Because of the individual nature of the research projects, no two projects are the same. Below are some of the titles of previous research projects undertaken by previous masters students in our department:

  • Aspects of Adhesive Bonding of Low Energy Polymers
  • The Effects of Surfactants on the Rheological Properties of Hydrophobically Modified Cellulose
  • Extensional Rheometry and Dynamic Light Scattering of Telechelic Associating Polymer Solutions
  • Simple chemical syntheses of polymer/silver nanocomposites
  • Phase Separation of Gum Arabic and Hyaluronan in Aqueous Solution
  • Shear and extensional Rheology of Electron Beam (EB) Curable Paint

The information listed in this section is an overview of the academic content of the programme that will take the form of either core or option modules. Modules are designated as core or option in accordance with professional body requirements and internal academic framework review, so may be subject to change.

Formulation Science

Price on request