Department of Chemical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) is a premier institute of science and technology established in 2008. IITH has been consistently ranked in the&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/reports/" rel="noopener noreferrer">top 10 institutes</a>&nbsp;in India for Engineering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nirfindia.org/2021/EngineeringRanking.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to NIRF</a>&nbsp;making it one of the most coveted schools for science and technology in the country.

IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/under-graduate/">undergraduate programs</a>&nbsp;in all the classical engineering disciplines, applied sciences, design, as well as several modern interdisciplinary areas. Students are given a flexibility to explore a broad set of areas, and potentially pursue a minor or double major in a discipline that is not their own. Students who wish to seek a deeper understanding of their own discipline are strongly encouraged to get involved in cutting-edge research with the help of a faculty to mentor them, and earn an Honors in their own field.

The very foundation of IIT Hyderabad is based on&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/">research and innovation</a>. The vibrant research culture is evident from the number of patents and publications that IITH produces consistently every year. IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/programmes-offered/">graduate programs</a>&nbsp;at both a masters, and a doctoral level, in several diverse areas. There are separate programs for technology, design, science, and liberal arts. The&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/post-graduate/">MTech program</a>&nbsp;is offered in various modes and durations to cater to the ever-growing need of postgraduate level professionals in the country.

IITH encourages and supports&nbsp;<a href="https://iic-iith.netlify.app/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">innovation and entrepreneurship</a>&nbsp;at every stage. The minor program in entrepreneurship is open to all students of IITH, and many of the courses are offered by industrialists who are entrepreneurs themselves. There are various&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/centres-incubators/">innovation centers and incubators</a>&nbsp;that promote entrepreneurship and help mentor young innovators. IITH has been very successful in building tie-ups with leading academic institutions around the globe.

IITH enjoys a very special relationship with Japanese universities and industries that goes beyond academic and research collaborations. In fact, some of the iconic buildings in IITH campus will carry the signature of Japanese architecture.

IITH creates a unique holistic ecosystem for education that offers interactive learning, a very flexible academic structure, cutting-edge research, strong industry collaboration, and entrepreneurship. This is an environment which enables students and faculty to translate their dreams into realities.

IIT Hyderabad

The photocatalytic inactivation of Escherichia coli was studied with combustion synthesized TiO 2 photocatalysts in the presence of visible light. A series of 400W lamps irradiating in the visible region of the solar spectrum was used. The effect of various parameters, such as catalyst loading, light intensity, presence of inorganic ions, addition of hydrogen peroxide and pH, on the photocatalytic inactivation of E. coli was investigated. Photolysis alone had a small effect on inactivation while the dark experiment resulted in no inactivation and Ag/TiO 2 showed the maximum inactivation. At a catalyst loading of 0.25g/L, all the combustion synthesized catalysts showed better inactivation of E. coli compared to commercial Degussa P-25 (DP-25) TiO 2 catalyst. An improved inactivation was observed with increasing lamp intensity and addition of H 2O 2. A negative effect on inactivation was observed by addition of inorganic ions such as HCO 3 -, SO 4 2-, Cl -, NO 3 -, Na +, K +, and Ca 2+. The photocatalytic inactivation of E. coli remained unaltered at different pH of the solution. The inactivation of E. coli was modeled with power law kinetics and was observed to follow first order kinetics. © 2012 Elsevier B.V..

World University root node

Chemical Engineering Journal

Visible light photocatalytic inactivation of Escherichia coli with combustion synthesized TiO 2

Selectivity of the particular solvent to separate a mixture is essential for the optimal design of a separation process. Supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO 2) is widely used as a solvent in the extraction, purification and separation of specialty chemicals. The effect of the temperature and pressure on selectivity is complicated and varies from system to system. The effect of temperature and pressure on selectivity of SCCO 2 for different solid mixtures available in literature was analyzed. In this work, we have developed two model equations to correlate the selectivity in terms of temperature and pressure. The model equations have correlated the selectivity of SCCO 2 satisfactorily for 18 solid mixtures with an average absolute relative deviation (AARD) of around 5%. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Separation and Purification Technology

Semi empirical models for selectivity of supercritical carbon dioxide for solid mixtures

Polymer-based materials have drawn significant attention lately for their application in design and fabrication of thermomechanically stable highly sensitive three-dimensional (3D) micromechanical sensor structures. Among these materials, 1,6 Hexane diol diacrylate (HDDA) has been extensively explored in laser-based 3D microfabrication by microstereolithography. The thermomechanical properties of poly HDDA are important for their end use application in microcantilever-based sensors. The present work explores the optimization of these properties by copolymerization of HDDA and methyl methacrylate (MMA) for these specific applications. The dynamic mechanical analysis, thermal expansion and mechanical studies were carried out for different compositions of poly (HDDA-co-MMA). An increase in MMA content in the copolymer matrix resulted in the enhancement of the thermomechanical stability. The variations of thermal expansion coefficient (CTE) for different compositions were also studied. Microhardness, uniaxial tensile, and flexural tests along with Poisson's ratio were determined to understand the mechanical properties of these compositions. The scanning electron micrographs of fractured surfaces of all the compositions were analyzed to understand the fracture mechanism of various compositions of this copolymer. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Polymers for Advanced Technologies

Thermomechanical and fractographic behavior of poly (HDDA-co-MMA): A study for its application in microcantilever sensors

Combustion synthesized oxide and vanadate compounds (CeO 2, Fe 2O 3, CeVO 4, and FeVO 4) were tested for catalytic hydrogen combustion. The compounds were characterized by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. All the four compounds showed good activity and stability for catalytic hydrogen combustion and more than 95% conversion was observed over all the compounds within 500°C. The mechanisms for the reaction over the different classes of compounds (cerium-based and iron-based compounds) were proposed on the basis of spectroscopic observations. The main difference in the mechanisms was in the nature of adsorption of H 2 over the sites. The elementary processes for the reaction were proposed, corresponding rate expressions were derived, and the rate parameters for the reaction were estimated using nonlinear regression. Langmuir-Hinshelwood and Eley-Rideal mechanisms were also tested for the reaction and the proposed mechanism was compared with these mechanisms. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE).

AIChE Journal

Analysis of oxide and vanadate supports for catalytic hydrogen combustion: Kinetic and mechanistic investigations

We study the effects of viscosity differential on buoyancy-induced interpenetration of two immiscible fluids in a tilted channel using a two-phase lattice Boltzmann method implemented on a graphics processing unit. The effects of viscosity differential on the flow structures, average density profiles and front velocities are studied. Relatively stable fingers are observed for high viscosity ratios. The intensity of the interfacial instabilities and the transverse interpenetration of the fluids are seen to increase with decreasing viscosity differential of the fluids. © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

European Journal of Mechanics, B/Fluids

Multiphase lattice Boltzmann simulations of buoyancy-induced flow of two immiscible fluids with different viscosities

Bitumen extraction from oil sands is carried out in large separation cells using a water-based extraction process. Controlling the Bitumen-froth and Middlings interface in these cells at an optimum level provides significant economical and environmental benefits. Traditional sensors are not reliable in estimating this interface level and novel vision-based sensors have been developed previously to overcome this problem. These sensors estimate the interface level and its confidence for separation cells with a single sight glass. The confidence value only represents the turbidity of the interface and hence cannot be used for control decision making in all process conditions. The current work describes an image differencing algorithm for interface level detection which also facilitates the computation of a confidence estimate that is accurate in most process situations. The confidence value is computed based on noise statistics, an appropriately chosen edge detection method and a change detection algorithm. Another significant advantage of the algorithm is that both the interface level and the confidence estimation procedures can be extended in a straight-forward manner to handle the presence of multiple sight glasses. Offline results show that the algorithm accurately detects the interface level in normal process conditions (with high confidence values) and outputs correct confidence values in other situations, with very low false-positive and false-negative error rates. Online industrial implementation results show that the vision sensor tracks the interface level very closely and results in significant automation of plant. © Springer-Verlag 2011.

Machine Vision and Applications

An image differencing method for interface level detection in separation cells

The dry reforming (DR) is a promising technology for utilization of greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, to produce synthesis gas for downstream synthesis of valuable chemicals and fuels. In this study, equilibrium of DR and autothermal dry reforming (ATDR) of vegetable oils was investigated by Gibbs free energy minimization method. The effects of various process variables of DR and ATDR of vegetable oils such as temperature (673-1273 K), carbon dioxide-to-carbon mole ratio (CCMR) (0.5-3.0), and oxygen-to-carbon mole ratio (OCMR) (0-1.0) were studied to obtain equilibrium products composition, thermodynamically promising operating conditions, and thermoneutral conditions of the process. The study revealed that insignificant amount of coke and compounds containing two or more carbon atoms were formed for both DR and ATDR of vegetable oils. The hydrogen yield was found to increase with increase in temperatures for DR of vegetable oil. At temperature 983 K and above, the hydrogen yield was found to increase with CCMR, reach maxima, and then decrease with further increase in CCMR. The carbon dioxide conversion and yield of CO and water were increased and yield of methane was decreased with increase in temperature. The yield of CO and water were increased and the conversion of carbon dioxide and yield of methane were decreased with increase of CCMR. For ATDR of vegetable oils, the reduced yield of CO and methane and enhanced yield of water and hydrogen (up to temperature of maximum hydrogen yield) were observed compared to that of DR. From critical analysis of the results of DR and ATDR of vegetable oil, the optimum conditions for maximum yield of hydrogen with very low yield of methane were determined as 1000-1050 K, CCMR of about 1, and oxygen-to-carbon mole ratio of 0.6-0.7. It was observed that about 80 hydrogen yield with 78-83 moles of CO and 0.2-0.6 moles of methane per mole of vegetable oil could be obtained under the optimum conditions. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.

Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy

Thermodynamic evaluation of dry reforming of vegetable oils for production of synthesis gas

We present a green method for the synthesis of ZnO-Au hybrids using an ultrafast microwave-based technique. This method provides good control over the nucleation of the metal nanoparticles on the oxide support, which governs the morphology and microstructure of the hybrids. The hybrids exhibit good catalytic activity for CO oxidation compared to similar hybrids reported in the literature. Detailed XPS investigation reveals the presence of Au-Zn and Au-O bonds at the interface. This surface doping leads to the formation of anionic and cationic Au sites that contribute to the enhanced activity. Our method is general and can be applied for designing other supported catalysts with controlled interfaces. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2012.

Dalton Transactions

ZnO-Au nanohybrids by rapid microwave-assisted synthesis for CO oxidation

Particle-bound polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-p-furans (PCDDs/Fs) were analyzed in the coastal air of West Bengal, India. Total PCDD/Fs ranged from 4-2491 fg m-3 with a mean of 355 fg m-3 and their I-TEQ values ranged between 1 to 62.6 fg I-TEQ m-3, with an average of 17.1 fg I-TEQ m-3. The dominant congeners were OCDD (46%) OCDF (14%) 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDF (11%) and 1,2,3,4,6,7,8-HpCDD (10%) and accounted for &gt;80% to the total PCDDs/Fs. TCDD (29%) &gt; PeCDF (28%) &gt; HxCDF (16%) &gt; PeCDD (13%) were the dominant TEQ contributors. Rough estimates of tolerable daily intake (TDI) show a low health risk of exposure to PCDD/Fs measured in the ambient air of a rural coastal area of West Bengal, India. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Human and Ecological Risk Assessment

Levels of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Dioxins (PCDDs) and Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Furans (PCDFs) in the Atmosphere (PM10) of a Coastal Area of West Bengal, India

In this study, vertical nanowire arrays of MoO 3-x grown on metallic substrates with diameters of ∼90 nm show high-capacity retention of ∼630 mAhg -1 for up to 20 cycles at 50 mAg -1 current density. Particularly, they exhibit a capacity retention of ∼500 mAhg -1 in the voltage window of 0.7-0.1 V, much higher than the theoretical capacity of graphite. In addition, 10 nm Si-coated MoO 3-x nanowire arrays have shown a capacity retention of ∼780 mAhg -1, indicating that hybrid materials are the next generation materials for lithium ion batteries. © 2012 American Chemical Society.