Dr. Turton's main research interests lie in the area of particle coating and the application of this technique to the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. In particular, he has been involved in the quatification of the uniformity of particle coating obtained in fluidized bed batch coating operations. This research is particularly important when an active igredient such as a drug is applied (coated) onto the surface of large particles or tablets. The accurate prediction of the tablet-to-tablet variation obtained during a batch coating operation is essential to the production process. In the future, this work will be extended to the coating of tablets and particles in rotating drums or coating pans

     In addition, Dr. Turton has been involved in a number of projects in the area of process synthesis. Recently, he has been involved in developing process alternatives for the conversion of coal to higher alcohols and fuel additives, and currently is working on developing alternative, environmentally friendly ("green") process routes for existing chemical products.

     Dr. Turton is also lead author of the book "Analysis, Sunthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes" by R. Turton, R.C. Bailie, W.B. Whiting, and J.A. Shaeiwitz, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1997.

Sudsakorn, K., and R. Turton, Non-Unifromity of Coating on a Size Distribution of Particles in a Fluidized Bed Coater, Powder Technology, In Press, 1999

Cheng, X.X., and R. Turton, The Prediction of Variability Occurring in Fluidized Bed Coating Equipment Part 1: The Measurement of Particle Circulation Rates in a Bottom Spray Fluidized Bed Coater, accepted for publication to Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, 1999

Cheng, X.X., and R. Turton, The Prediction of Variability Occurring in Fluidized Bed Coating Equipment Part 2: The role of non-uniform Particle Coverage as Particles Pass through the Spray Zone, accepted for publication to Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, 1999

Walia, P., Stout, P.J., and R.Turton, " Preliminary Evaluation of an Aqueous Wax Emulsion for Controlled Release Coating," Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, 3(1), 103-113, 1998.

Sharma, K.R., and R.Turton, "Mesoscopic Approach to Correlate Surface Heat Transfer Coefficients with Pressure Fluctuations in Dense Gas-Solid Fluidized Beds," Powder Technology, 99, 109-118 (1998).

Saadevandi, B.A. and R.Turton, "The Application of Computer-Based Imaging to the Measurements of Particle and Voidage Profiles in a Fluidized Bed," Powder Technology, 98, 183-189 (1998).

Walia, P., Stout, P.J., and R.Turton, " Preliminary Evaluation of an Aqueous Wax Emulsion for Controlled Release Coating," Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, 3(1), 103-113 (1998).

Xu, M. and R.Turton, "A New Data Processing Technique for Noisy Signals", Powder Technology, 92, 111-117 (1997).

Benavides, F., Clark, N.N., and R.Turton, "The Design of Dense Fluidized Beds Subject to Uneven Slumping," Powder Technology, 92, 275-279 (1997).

Du, C. and R. Turton, "An Experimental Study of the Heat Transfer Between Fluidized Particles and an Oscillating Immersed Surface," Int. J. Heat & Mass Trn., 40, 10, 2351-2361 (1997).

Liu, W., N.N. Clark, and R. Turton, "Data Interpretation Techniques for Inferring Bubble Size Distribution From Probe Signals in Fluidized Systems," Powder Technology, in press (1996).

Kokkoris, A. and R. Turton, "A Model for the Prediction of the Rate of Attrition of Molecular Sieves Particles in Slugging Beds," Powder Technology, 84(1), 39-47 (1995).

Cheng, X.X. and R. Turton, "The Uniformity of Particle Coating Occurring in Fluidized Beds," AIChE Symp. Ser., 301(90), 142-151 (1994).

Shaeiwitz, J.A., W. B. Whiting, R. Turton and R.C. Bailie, "The Holistic Curriculum," Journal of Engineering Education, 83(4), 343-348 (1994).

McKain, D., N.N. Clark, C. Atkinson and R. Turton, "Correlating Local Tube Surface Heat Transfer With Bubble Presence in Fluidized Beds," Powder Technology, 79, 69-79 (1994).

Wayne, W.S., N.N. Clark, M. Gautam and R. Turton, "Pressure Field Measurement in a Bubbling Fluidized Bed", Powder Technology, 76, 331-336 (1993).

Du, C. and R. Turton, "A Theoretical Study of the Limiting Heat Transfer Coefficient in Fluidized Beds", Chem. Eng. Comm., 121, 99-123 (1993).

Clark, N.N., R. Seiss, and R. Turton, "Probe Measurements in Gas-Liquid, Gas-Slurry and Three Phase Systems," Flow. Meas. Instrum., 3, No. 7, 17-23 (1992).

Khan, T. and R. Turton, "The Measurement of Instantaneous Heat Transfer Coefficients Around the Circumference on a Tube Immersed in a High Temperature Fluidized Bed," Int. Jnl. Heat Mass Trans., 35, No. 12, 3397-3406 (1992).

Turton, R. and R. C. Bailie, "Chemical Engineering Design, Problem-solving Strategy," Chem. Eng. Education, 46, No. 1, 44-49 (1992).

Kokkoris, A. and R. Turton, "The Reduction of Attrition in Fluidized Beds by the Addition of Solid Lubricants," AIChE Symp. Ser., 87 (281), 20-31 (1991).

Du, C. and R. Turton, "Optimal Catalyst Distribution in a Binary Catalyst Packed Bed Reactor", Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 30, 286-291 (1991).

Renganathan, K. and R. Turton, "Improving Intermediate Product Yield in Simple Consecutive Reactions", Ind. Eng. Res., 29, 709-711 (1990).

Related links


Minimizing the Environmental Impact of Chemical Manufacturing Processes

Particle Coating

Design Projects Page

Particle Coating Laboratory
     > Hot Gas Desulfurization
     > Particle Coating in Fluidized Beds and Rotating Pans
     > Cement Agglomeraton