Design of formulated products: Experimental component

Abstract

A systematic methodology for the design and verification of chemical-based products is proposed. By integrating modeling, and experiments, the search space is efficiently scanned to identify the feasible product candidates. The product design (or verification) problem consists of three stages: computer-aided design (Stage 1), which generates a list of feasible candidates, experimental planning (Stage 2), which generates a list of experiments and checks the available experimental set-ups, and experimental testing (Stage 3), which measures the necessary data and verifies the desirable attributes of the final product. The first stage (Stage 1) has been covered in previous publications, along with detailed case studies. The development of Stage 2 and Stage 3 is considered in this article and highlighted through two case studies involving the design and validation of an insect repellent lotion and a sunscreen lotion.

Design of formulated products: A systematic methodology

“…The results from the second-and third-stages are reported in the second part of this article. 17 Because of the nature of the design problem and the current availability of data and models, the decomposition based solution strategy was found to be useful and flexible in managing the associated complexities. It is well suited to problems of the type ''define target -match target''.…”

“…However, they can be validated by experiment in stage-3 of the methodology. 17 Additional efforts should be focused in tracing the relation between these factors and the target properties, because their inclusion in the computer-aided design could spare time and resources during the experimental validation.…”

“…41 A modification of this base case formula has been experimentally validated and further improved. 17 …”

“…The experimental validation of the designs of the waterbased insect repellent and the sunscreen lotion are presented in an upcoming publication. 17 That is, this article highlights the computer-aided design issues, and the second article highlights the experiment-based trial-and-error approach for product validation and modification ( Figure 1). …”

Robust chemical product design via fuzzy optimisation approach

“…Conte et al (2011) developed a virtual product-process design laboratory (virtual PPD-lab) in designing and verifying a formulated product which consists of active ingredients, solvents and additives. An integrated three-stage approach for design and verification of liquid formulated products has been developed in their work (Conte et al, 2012). The product design approach identifies feasible product candidates by using computer-aided tools to generate a list of potential molecules in stage 1, experimental planning which generate lists of experimental set-ups in stage 2, and experimental testing which verifies the desirable attributes of the final product in stage 3.…”