Professor Will Zimmerman

BScEng, MSc, PhD, CEng FIChemE

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Undergraduate Level 4 Director

Professor William Zimmerman
Profile picture of Professor William Zimmerman
w.zimmerman@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 7517

Full contact details

Professor Will Zimmerman
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Kroto LG16
North Campus
Broad Lane
Sheffield
S3 7HQ
Profile

I'm a graduate of Princeton and Stanford Universities in Chemical Engineering and the author of over 100 scientific publications.  Previously I was Director of the MSc in Environmental and Energy Engineering, and a winner in US and UK national competitions of five prestigious fellowships (2005-6 Royal Academy of Engineering Senior Research Fellow, 2000-5 EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow; 1994-99 Royal Academy of Engineering, Zeneca Young Academic Fellow; 1991-93 visiting professorships appointed by the French Ministry of Education at the Littoral University in Dunkirk in 1998 and 2005.

I was interviewed on my algal biofuels work on BBC Radio 4 “Material World with Quentin Cooper”.  My Royal Academy of Engineering SRF, entitled “Systems Biology and Chemical Engineering” has laid down a protocol for optimal experimentation for bioreactor model-building via inverse methods. I directed Microfluidics 2003, a workshop at CISM in Udine from which he edited a book on microfluidics, and is the author of two bestselling texts on multiphysics modelling.

Research interests
  • Energy efficient generation of microbubbles and their applications (particularly biofuels and bioreactors)
  • Plasma microreactors, especially low power consumption generation of ozone
  • Fluid dynamics of helical turbulence and mixing
  • Thin film dynamics and microrheometry
  • Computational modelling with inverse methods

Perlemax Ltd.

Perlemax Ltd, University spinout company, was founded to exploit his research and technological advances. Perlemax and Zimmerman have won the below awards/recognition:

  • 2009 IChemE Moulton Medal
  • 2010 Royal Society Innovation Award (Brian Mercer Fund) (Video)
  • 2010 CleanTech Open, AXA UK Global Ideas Champion
  • 2010 CleanTech Open, International Finalist, Global Ideas
  • 2011 Zayed International Future Energy Prize, Semifinalist
Publications

Books

  • Zimmerman WBJ (2006) Microfluidics: Theory, History and Applications. Springer Verlag. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Zimmerman WBJ (2006) Multiphysics modelling with finite element methods. World Scientific Pub Co Inc. RIS download Bibtex download
  • ZIMMERMAN WBJ (2006) INTRODUCTION TO COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS. WORLD SCIENTIFIC. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Zimmerman WBJ (2004) Process modelling and simulation with finite element methods. World Scientific Pub Co Inc. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

Patents

  • Zimmerman W & Desai PD (2020) Fluidic oscilator. WO2020208250 Appl. 11 Oct 2020. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Zimmerman WB & Steele JE (2016) Apparatus and method for the treatment of a substrate with ozone microbubbles. WO2016/203252 (PCT). Appl. 22 Dec 2016. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Zimmerman WB (2014) MASS TRANSFER PROCESSES WITH LIMITED SENSIBLE HEAT EXCHANGE. WO/2014/079993 (PCT). Appl. 30 May 2014. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Zimmerman WB (2014) BUBBLE GENERATION TO STRIP COMPONENTS OF A LIQUID. WO/2014/060740 (PCT). Appl. 24 Apr 2014. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Zimmerman WB & Rees JM (2013) RHEOMETER AND RHEOMETRIC METHOD. WO/2013/164587 (PCT). Appl. 07 Nov 2013. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Zimmerman WB & Lozano Parada JH (2010) PLASMA MICROREACTOR APPARATUS, STERILISATION UNIT AND ANALYSER. WO/2010/079351 (United States of America). Appl. 15 Jul 2010. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Zimmerman WB & Tesar V (2008) BUBBLE GENERATION FOR AERATION AND OTHER PURPOSES. WO/2008/053174 (Europe). Appl. 08 May 2008. RIS download Bibtex download