Message from the Director

The Supercritical Fluids Research Group at UNSW was founded in 1986 with the appointment of Professor Neil R. Foster to the Faculty of Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering. Neil was recruited from the CSIRO where he had spent 8 years investigating reaction engineering aspects of high termperature supercritical fluid processes for the production of liquid fuels. Initial research was undertaken by Honours students and progress accelerated when the first PhD student, Tony Wells, joined the group. The number of researchers increased rapidly, as did the diversity of projects that were undertaken. The initial focus of research was on fundamental properties of SCFs such as phase equilibria, solubility, and physical property measurement as it was evident that such information was lacking in the published literature. Subsequent research involved utilisation of tailored SCF systems and co-solvent studies as well as some environmentally related investigations. More recently the emphasis has been on novel applications of SCFs - particularly the formulation of novel drug delivery systems using a variety of precipitation techniques such as anti-solvent processing and RESS. Funding for the group, in excess of $13 million, has been equally sourced from government and industry, with some long-term research sponsors. The group's endeavours have resulted in 160 book chapters and papers in international refereed journals and 136 presentations at conferences and symposia.

For the last 10 years there has been a greater focus on incorporating the principles of Process Intensification & Sustainability into the Research & Development Programme and thus, 29 years after the establishment of the UNSW Australia SCF Research Group, we have re-branded our group name to more accurately reflect current activities and future directions.As of the 1^st August our team will operate as the UNSW Australia Process Intensification & Sustainability research unit - PrinSus 

Professor Neil R. Foster