Professor Derek Geldart

Derek Geldart is Emeritus Professor of Powder Technology in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK, Visiting Professor of Chemical Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.: Visiting Professor of Powder Technology at the Universities of Leeds and Birmingham and Director of Powder Research Ltd., a company dedicated to providing training and consultancy services in powder technology.

After graduating from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in Mechanical Engineering, he studied for two further years for a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering. He then worked as a Chemical Engineer for six years in Research and Development for the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, in various locations, before joining the University of Bradford.

He started his research into fluidization in 1967 and was awarded a Ph.D. in 1971 for a dissertation which included a diagram for characterising powders according to their fluidization and aerated flow behaviour. This is now used world-wide, and is known as the Geldart Fluidization Diagram. He has a particular interest in fine powders such as cracking catalyst and has won major research grants from international oil, pharmaceutical, and chemical companies, and from other funding bodies such as EPSRC, EPRI, and IFPRI. He has more than 120 publications in books, academic journals, and conference proceedings and, at the 8th International Engineering Foundation Conference on Fluidization in 1995, he was awarded a medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the technology over the past 25 years. Professor Geldart, who is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, also acts as a consultant for many well-known companies in the UK, Continental Europe, and the USA. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Powder Technology, an International Journal on the Science and Technology of Wet and Dry Particulate Systems
His activities include:

• designing and monitoring experimental programmes to support the development of new plants processing powders as well as improvements in existing commercial units
• analysis and evaluation of data in fluid bed plants experiencing operational problems
• acting as an expert witness in patent cases
• running intensive two to four day courses within companies

Some recent publications:

J.L.R. Orband and D. Geldart “Direct measurement of powder cohesion using a torsional device” Powder Technology, (1997), 92, 25-33

S. M. Tasirin and D. Geldart "Dedusting of powders using elutriation from a fluidized bed” Powder Handling and Processing (1997) 9, No.1, 7-11

D. Geldart “Back to the Future- 40 years in fluidization” in Proc. 4th Japan Conf. on Fluidization, Dec. (1998), p.16-28

S. M. Tasirin and D. Geldart “Entrainment of FCC from fluidized beds- a new correlation for the elutriation rate constants K*" Powder Technology, (1998) 95, 240-247.

E.C. Abdullah and D.Geldart “ The use of bulk density measurements as flowability indicators” Powder Technology, (1999) 102, 151-165. Chung Lim Law S.M. Tasirin, W.R.W. Daud & D. Geldart. “The effect of vertical baffles on particle mixing and drying in Fluidized beds of groupD particles” China Particuology(2003)1,113-118