Dr Marijana Dragosavac

MEng, MSc, PhD

  • Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering
  • UG Admissions Tutor
  • IChemE Representative

Research groups and centres

Publications
ORCiD Researcher ID Google Scholar
headshot of Marijana

Background:

Marijana Dragosavac graduated with an MEng degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Novi Sad (Serbia). She worked for a Danish company Aker Kvaerner (Vapour Recovery Systems) and a Serbian engineering company Worldtech both in the oil and gas industry before starting an MSc at the Department of Chemical Engineering in Serbia. This was followed by her work as a Teaching and Research Assistant at the same Chemical Engineering Department in Serbia. Marijana moved to the United Kingdom to start a PhD on Particle formulation using membrane emulsification at 含羞草视频. In 2011 she finished her PhD and for a year working as a Knowledge Transfer Associate for Micropore Technologies Ltd., Hatton, UK. In 2012 Marijana was appointed to a lectureship in Chemical Engineering here at 含羞草视频 and became a Senior Lecturer in 2017.

Qualifications:

  • 2011 PhD in Chemical Engineering, 含羞草视频, UK, Thesis title: Membrane Emulsification for engineered particle production, Supervisors: Professor R.G Holdich and Dr G.T. Vladisavljevi膰
  • 2008 M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Supervisors: Professor Milan Sovilj and Dr G.T. Vladisavljevi膰
  • 2004 MEng in Chemical Engineering, University of Novi Sad, Serbia. Supervisor: Dr Darko Krsti膰

Key awards:

  • Formulation Prize at 11th UK Particle Technology Forum, 含羞草视频, UK, 4-5 April 2012.
  • Best oral presentation at the PSA 2011 conference, Edinburgh, 5-7th September 2011.
  • Best poster presentation at the DIAMOND conference, York, 14-16. December 2010.

Outline of main research interests

My research expertise lies in the broad field of advanced particulate manufacturing, with a focus on manufacturing particulate material using the dispersion route in which dispersed liquid drops are polymerised as a way of tailoring the properties of the resulting material using novel operating techniques. I have established a national and increasingly international reputation specifically in:

  • Application of a new type of microfiltration membrane and new techniques for generating the shear on the membrane surface provides the possibility to generate larger droplets without the risk of droplet breakage.
  • Understanding at a fundamental level the factors that control particle size made using such techniques.
  • Continuous droplet production and, therefore, continuous particle production using a novel membrane emulsification system. This type of system is an ideal starting point for continuous particle production and it may be adapted to many different types of particles.
  • Control of internal structure and encapsulation of shear and temperature-sensitive compounds.

These topics are inherently connected to the major health and well-being, the future of manufacturing and environmental challenges that are anticipated to attract more funding during the next few years:

  • Production of highly uniform spherical inorganic particles with tuneable internal structure
  • Coacervation
  • Formulation
  • Surface functionalization
  • Microencapsulation
  • Controlled release
  • Membrane emulsification
  • Sorption and Ion exchange
  • Emulsions

Grants and contracts:

  • 2017-present PI, First Grant, Tailoring the micro- and meso-porosity of spherical silica particles using nano/microbubbles as templates, EPSRC, Agilent industrial collaborator, £100k.
  • 2015-present Co-I, Distinctive project, PI – Leeds University, EPSRC, Sellafield industrial collaborator, total value £4.9m, value to LU £160k.
  • 2014-present PI, Competitive - Graduate School Individual Studentship, LU, ~£56k.
  • 2013 PI, Competitive - LU Collaborative Research Initiative, AACME, £5k.
  • 2012 PI, Competitive - Leadership grant, 含羞草视频, £1.6k.

Teaching responsibilities:

  • Stagewise processes (CGA002)
  • Instrumentation and Control Laboratory (CGB014)
  • Literature review (CGC037 & CGC044)

Administrative responsibilities:

  • Admissions Tutor for Chemical Engineering undergraduate courses
  • IChemE Representative for the Chemical Engineering department

Selected publications:

Holdich, R., Dragosavac, M., Williams, B., Trotter, S. (2020) High throughput membrane emulsification using a single-pass annular flow crossflow membrane. AIChE Journal, 66(6). https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.16958

Pu, X., Wolf, B., Dragosavac, M. (2019) Generation of magnesium enriched water-in-oil-in-water food emulsions by stirred cell membrane emulsification. Journal of Food Engineering, 247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2018.11.022

Holdich, R., Schou, K., Dragosavac, M., Kellet, S., Bandulasena, H. (2018) A comparison of azimuthal and axial oscillation microfiltration using surface and matrix types of microfilters with a cake-slurry shear plane exhibiting non-Newtonian behaviour. Journal of Membrane Science, 550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2017.12.079

Morelli, S., Holdich, R.G., Dragosavac, M.M. (2017) Microparticles for cell encapsulation and colonic delivery produced by membrane emulsification. Journal of Membrane Science, 524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2016.11.058

Morelli, S., Holdich, R.G., Dragosavac, M.M. (2016) Chitosan and Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) microparticles produced by membrane emulsification for encapsulation and pH controlled release. Chemical Engineering Journal, 288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2015.12.024

Silva, P.S., Dragosavac, M.M., Vladisavljevi膰, G.T., Bandulasena, H.C.H., Holdich, R.G., Stillwell, M., Williams, B. (2015) Azimuthally oscillating membrane emulsification for controlled droplet production. AIChE Journal, 61(11). https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.14894

Santos, J., Vladisavljevi膰, G.T., Holdich, R.G., Dragosavac, M.M., Muñoz, J. (2015) Controlled production of eco-friendly emulsions using direct and premix membrane emulsification. Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2015.04.009

Full publication list

 

External links:

  • Nottingham University (Production of W/O/W emulsions)
  • Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council, Italy (Polycaprolactone multicore-matrix particle for the simultaneous encapsulation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds produced by membrane emulsification and solvent diffusion processes; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfb.2015.06.071)
  • Unicamp Campinas, Brazil (Palm oil encapsulation using membrane emulsification and spray drying)
  • Departamento de Engenharia e Tecnologia de Alimentos UNESP - Campus de São José do Rio Preto, Brazil (Microcapsule formation using complex coacervation)
  • Agilent, Ltd. UK (Inorganic particles)
  • Ashland ltd, UK (Complex coacervation)
  • Halcrest Ltd., UK (Complex coacervation)

External roles and appointments:

  • Fellow of Higher education (19/5/2015).
  • Member of the Bioencapsulation Group.
  • Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
  • Member of IChemE.

Invited lectures:

  • December, 2017: Continuous Encapsulation, Innovation in Encapsulation, London, UK.
  • November, 2017: Encapsulation by Membrane Emulsification, 3rd Latin Microencapsulation Conference, Temuco, Chile
  • September, 2017: Formulation by Membrane emulsification, 9th Microencapsulation school, Berlin, Germany
  • May, 2017: Encapsulation by Membrane Emulsification, 25th Bioencapsulation Conference
  • September 2016:  Formulation by Membrane emulsification, 8th Microencapsulation school, Cork, Ireland.
  • September, 2015: Formulation by Membrane emulsification, Summer School on the use of Membranes, Cetraro, Italy
  • October, 2014: Membrane emulsification, MSc program at AgroPariTech, France.
  • September, 2014: Encapsulation of oil in fish gelatin/gumarabic, 23rd Bioencapsulation Conference, Bratislava, Slovakia