MercuryLab

MercuryLab is a Netherlands-based company that provides advanced virtual prototyping software and consultancy for the design and optimization of bulk solids handling machinery, with a particular focus on industrial mixing processes. The company was spun off from the University of Twente in 2015 by Professor Anthony Thornton (CEO) and Associate Professor Thomas Weinhart (CTO), who had previously founded the discrete particle simulation code MercuryDPM in 2009. MercuryDPM was developed specifically for segregation problems and forms the technological foundation on which MercuryLab's commercial products are built. The core problem MercuryLab addresses is that the handling of granules, powders, grains, and other bulk materials is essential to most modern industries, yet the design and maintenance of bulk handling systems is a complex task full of many often unforeseen pitfalls. The unpredictable behavior of dynamic particulate systems makes the design of new industrial equipment for handling powders and grains an extremely complex and high-risk task. Although many have attempted to solve such problems by building scaled-down model systems, MercuryLab describes this approach as somewhat outdated, slow, and expensive. Instead, MercuryLab uses cutting-edge computational and experimental techniques to offer a faster, more cost-effective alternative to traditional prototyping, enabling clients to visualize the internal dynamics of opaque systems and to analyze their designs and optimize their efficiency in ways that traditional scaled models cannot achieve. MercuryLab's offerings include consultancy services, the MercuryCloud simulation platform, and training. The consultancy service is positioned as a simple one-off expense that yields significant long-term savings, with flexible, tailored solutions based on the client's specific needs, budget, and timeline. The company's senior consultants all hold PhDs and have applied their skills in both industry and academia, and they have access to world-leading computational software and experimental facilities, many of which are not open to the public. MercuryCloud is presented as the future of industrial system design, allowing users to run computer simulations anytime, anywhere to optimize machinery and processes, with unlimited computing power. MercuryLab's mission is to provide easy access to cutting-edge computational and experimental techniques and to promote fundamental research in the field of granular materials. The company aims to help clients identify and solve mixing or flow problems, rapidly optimize system designs, visualize processes in full 3D, improve efficiency, and reduce operating costs. A recurring theme in MercuryLab's messaging is the counterintuitive difficulty of mixing granular materials: people often assume that simply stirring, shaking, or rotating will achieve good mixing of two or more granular media, but in practice these processes are often ineffective and may even actively segregate the materials. This segregation, or demixing, is a major problem in many industries, and because it often becomes visible only after the mixing process is complete, its root cause is difficult to find. MercuryLab's simulation-led approach is designed specifically to address this class of problems.

MercuryLab was founded in 2015 as a spin-off company from the University of Twente in the Netherlands. Its founders, Prof. Anthony Thornton (CEO) and Associate Prof. Thomas Weinhart (CTO), had previously founded the discrete particle simulation code MercuryDPM in 2009. MercuryDPM was specifically developed with segregation problems in mind, and it became the technological core around which MercuryLab's commercial activities were built. The company was established to offer easy access to the state-of-the-art virtual prototyping software MercuryDPM. From its base in the Netherlands, MercuryLab has built its business around the observation that the handling of particles, powders, grains and other bulk solids is crucial to a majority of modern industries, yet the design and maintenance of bulk-handling systems is a complex task subject to many often unforeseeable pitfalls. The company positions its simulation-led approach as a faster, cheaper alternative to conventional prototyping, which it characterises as slow and expensive. Its stated mission is to provide easy access to state-of-the-art computational and experimental techniques and to promote fundamental research in the area of granular materials. MercuryLab's service portfolio has developed around three main pillars: consultancy, the MercuryCloud simulation platform, and training. Consultancy is offered as a simple, one-off expenditure that can result in significant long-term savings, with flexible, personalised packages based on the client's specific need, budget and timescale. The company emphasises that its senior consultants are all PhD-educated and have applied their skills both in industry and academia, and that they have access to world-leading computational software and experimental facilities, many of which are not available to the public. MercuryCloud is presented as the future of industrial system design, enabling users to run computer simulations to optimise their machinery and processes anytime, anywhere, with unlimited computational power. A central technical theme for MercuryLab is the counter-intuitive difficulty of mixing granular materials. The company notes that it is often assumed that good mixing of two or more particulate media can be achieved by simply stirring, shaking or rotating, but that in practice these processes are very often ineffective or may actively segregate the materials involved. This segregation or demixing is a significant problem in many industries, and because it often cannot be seen until after the completion of the mixing process, it is highly difficult to find its origin. MercuryLab's computational and experimental techniques are designed to visualise the internal dynamics of opaque systems, enabling analysis and optimisation in ways not possible with conventional scaled models. The company's consultancy process typically involves creating a precise computer model of the client's setup, characterising the material (either calibrating to a material of the client's choice or using one of the calibrated models in MercuryLab's database), and then simulating the setup. MercuryLab states that it can simulate a range of physical material properties from spherical to non-spherical, charged and uncharged, flexible and rigid, deformable and breakable, short and long, cohesive, adhesive and non-adhesive, dry, wet and damp materials, as well as very large particle-size distributions.

• 2015

  MercuryLab is founded as a spin-off company from the University of Twente, The Netherlands, to offer easy access to MercuryDPM.

• 2009

  Prof. Anthony Thornton and Associate Prof. Thomas Weinhart found the discrete particle simulation code MercuryDPM, developed with segregation problems in mind.

A faster, cheaper alternative to conventional prototyping for bulk-handling machinery, specialising in industrial mixing processes.

• MercuryDPM

  A discrete particle simulation code founded in 2009 and specifically developed with segregation problems in mind; it forms the technological foundation of MercuryLab's offerings.

• MercuryCloud

  Presented as the future of industrial system design, allowing users to run computer simulations to optimise machinery and processes anytime, anywhere, with unlimited computational power.

• Consultancy

  Flexible, personalised packages based on the client's specific need, budget and timescale, delivered by PhD-educated senior consultants with access to world-leading computational software and experimental facilities.

• Training

  Training services offered alongside consultancy and MercuryCloud.

1. 1Homemercurylab.org
2. 2About usmercurylab.org
3. 3Servicesmercurylab.org
4. 4Consultancymercurylab.org
5. 5Wikidatawikidata.org