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Prof Jim Jones PhD, MS, BE(Hons) 1st Class

Professor and Research Director

School of Food and Advanced Technology

Professor Jim Jones teaches into the Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering degree and is the Research Director for SF&AT. He conducts research across a number of fields, principally in thermal processing and particle technology. This includes current projects such as pyrolysis kinetics, pyrolyser design, life cycle assessment of biochar systems, mastication of food, coating of powders, spray-drying of emulsions, flow of food powders, volcanic pyroclastic density currents and lahars. Previous projects include agglomeration of milk powder, coating of high fat powders, granulation modelling, secondary nucleation of lactose, truck spreading of fertiliser, and ballistic modelling for topdressing.

Professional

Contact details

Ph: 06 356 9099 x 84142
Location: RD B2.90, Riddet
Campus: Turitea
Ph: 06 356 9099 x 84142
Location: 3B29, Block 3
Campus: Wellington

Qualifications

Doctor of Philospohy - University of Cambridge (1999)
Master of Science - The University of Idaho (1990)
Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honours - University of Canterbury (1988)

Research Expertise

Research Interests

I have a broad range of research interests that cover many aspects of chemical engineering science and interdisciplinary science. The following list is indicative and explains each field:

Pyrolysis kinetics - the heating of organic carbonaceous materials in the absence of oxygen to make a range of products, char, oil and gas. This includes biomass, biosolids and plastics.

Pyrolyser design - the design issues around safe design, safe operation and emission control of pyrolysis reactors.

Biochar - the char resulting from pyrolysis that is then sequestered in soil to remove carbon from the atmospheric carbon cycle and improve soil function. This includes manipulating the properties of biochar to deliver desired functions.

Charcoal - when the char is used for purposes other than biochar, e.g., fuel, reductant, adsorbent.

Granular flow - flow of materials such as pyroclastic flows, lahars, fertilisers (e.g. from topdressing aircraft), food powders (both in the powder flow properties and the design of blending equipment).

Solids handling - the design of the equipment that moves solids.

Mastication - modelling of food as it is chewed by humans. This includes the analysis of what it means to swallow safely.

Coating and encapsulation - spray-droplet coating of high fat powders, film coating of high-value powders and study of parameters influencing surface composition of food emulsions, slow release coatings for denitrification inhibitors.

Agglomeration, granulation and stickiness - agglomeration of dairy powders, granulation of dairy powders, stickiness of amorphous lactose.

Crystallization - secondary nucleation kinetics of lactose.

Jamming - important in solid object dispenser design, and in devices designed to move solids.

Thematics

21st Century Citizenship, Resource Development and Management, Design – for Commerce, Community and Culture, Health and Well-being, Future Food Systems

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Carbon Capture Engineering (excl. Sequestration) (090401): Chemical Engineering (090400):
Earth Sciences (040000):
Engineering (090000): Environmental Engineering (090700): Environmental Technologies (090703): Food Engineering (090802): Food Sciences (090800):
Geology (040300):
Heat and Mass Transfer Operations (091505): Interdisciplinary Engineering (091500): Non-automotive Combustion and Fuel Engineering (incl. Alternative/Renewable Fuels) (090405): Powder and Particle Technology (090406): Turbulent Flows (091508)

Keywords

The following keywords give a comprehensive guide to my interests. See the desciption of research to learn how they have been applied to particular projects.

Pyrolysis

Thermal Processing

Particle Technology

Granular Flow

Pyrolysis kinetics

Pyrolysis chemistry

Pyrolysis system design

Biochar

Charcoal

Biomass thermal processing

Plastics thermal processing

Biosolids thermal processing

Life cycle assessment

Carbon markets

Biofuels

Volcanic flows

Pyroclastic flows

Pyroclastic density currents

Lahars

Hopper flow

Hopper design

Ballistics

Fertiliser spreading

Mastication modelling

Coating

Encapsulation

Spray coating

Film coating

Powder surface composition

Surface chemistry

Slow release coatings

Agglomeration

Granulation

Stickiness

Crystallization

Secondary nucleation

Jamming

Dispenser design

Research Projects

Summary of Research Projects

Position	Current	Completed
Project Leader	1	15
Team Member	1	4