turbulence_volume ii.pdf

7/29/2019 Turbulence_Volume II.pdf

1/11

THEA - TEAM..

Dear reader,Carrying the legacy for-ward, we are glad to pre-sent you with the 2nd is-sue of TURBULENCE,newsletter of studentsassociation ALCHEMISTA ofBITS PLINAI,GOA. All en-gineers employ mathemat-ics, physics, and the en-gineering art to overcometechnical problems in asafe and economical fash-ion. Yet, it is the chemi-cal engineer alone thatdraws upon the science ofchemistry to solve a widerange of problems.This newsletter brings in-to its purview the 360odegree view of the fieldalong with hi-tech inno-vations across the globe,projects running on cam-pus , participation intech fests and an in-formative interview of oneof our faculty.

Its anticipatedthat this newsletterwill create aunique podium forstudents to appre-ciate this fieldand think differ-ent!! After all itsall about inceptionof new ideas

All the BestALCHEMISTA.

WANT TO SUGGESTSOMETHING ?REACH US AT:

E D I T O R I A L . .

ALCHEM

ISTA..

N E W S L E T T E R D A T E : A U G U S T 1 2

V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2

T U R B U L E N C E

D R I F T I N G I D E A S . .

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

D E P A R T M E N T

I N L I M E L I G H T

2

A L C H E M I S T A

R E B O R N

3

M O D E R N

M A R V E L . .

4

I N S I D E S T O -

R Y O F Q U A R K

1 2

5

G U E S T

L E C T U R E . .

8

F A C U L T Y

I N T E R V I E W .

9

Geothermal plant inICELAND... chemicalengineering at its extreme..

Deepak Ojha

Megha Sharma

Sneha Choudhary

Akriti

Subhanshu Pareek

Kaustub

Kinshuk Wadhwa

Prabudh Sharma

Yogita Garg

Aarthi Sivakumar

[email protected]


2/11

D E P A R T M E N T HI G H L I G H T S

Dr. Srinivas Krishnaswamy has received a mega pro-ject from GAIL India ltd. for Rs 3.82 Crore to work onSeawater Desalination using Liquified Natural Gas(LNG). He has also received DST project worth Rs.33.75 Lakhs in collaboration with Thermax, Pune(funding for Rs. 4 Lakh) in the area of High-efficiency energy conversion in steam boilers usingunmixed combustion.

Dr. S.S.Baral and Dr.P.V.Rao have been granted afunding of Rs 33.9 Lakh from the Department of Bio-technology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology towork on Development of Efficient Bioleaching processfor metal recovery from spent catalyst.

Dr.P.V.Rao and Dr. S.S.Baral have received a fundingof Rs 37.4 Lakh from the Department of Biotechnology(DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology for theirproposed research on Investigating the effect of co-digestion and advanced sludge pretreatment methodsand anaerobic potential of organic waste.

Page 2T U R B U L E N C E



3/11

This academic session of 2012-2013 will see ALCHEMISTA, the students bodyof the chemical engineering department in a new avatar. It is restructuredto increase efficiency and accountability. The basic idea is to distributepowers and responsibilities among all the members of the A-team. The bodyis internally divided into three committees which will carry out the basicfunctioning.The student body is headed by our Faculty in Charge Dr Srinivas Krish-naswamy. He will preside over the General Body Meeting and will be ourmentor and guide. In addition he will be appointing a Co-Faculty who willmake the important decisions in his absence. The reigns of the administra-tion of the body falls in the hand of the Student Co-coordinator. His basicfunction is to manage the operations of the committees. He will preside overall sub Committee meetings and will be the secretary of the IIChE chapter ofBITS Pilani, Goa Campus. The Student Co-coordinator will be elected by thestudents of Chemical Engineering. The current one for 2012-2013 session isAaditya Shah. He will be assisted by the Secretary. He is responsible forpreparing a monthly report of each committee. The selection of Secretary isalso through election and for the session 2012-2013 the secretary is PrabudhSharma. The Academic Committee technical part of the body it is responsiblefor organising lab and industrial visits, preparing a database of all thetechnical projects done by the department of Chemical Engineering. They arealso responsible for making projects for Quark and technical fests in otheruniversities. The External Affairs Committee is face of ALCHEMISTA. It isresponsible for contacting and coordinating with the alumni and also to con-tact eminent Chemical Engineers for guest lectures and as judges for Quarkevents. The final committee of the triad is Internal Affairs Committee. Theirjob is to manage the administration of ALCHEMISTA. They are responsiblefor its finances and the IIChE Chapter, organizing orientation for the firstyear students and also to publish the newsletter. The head of each committeeis appointed by the Co-coordinator through an interview. The committee forthe session 2012-2013 are Yash Bagani and Anushree Rathod for the External,Avi Agarwal and Nikhil Ojha for Internal and Geetansh Gupta for AcademicCommittee. This team will be assisted by 2nd year students along with 1styearites who will be inducted as the session progresses.

RE S U R R E C T I O N OF AL C H E M I S T A . . .




4/11

Nature has endowed all kinds of biological systemswith the ability to repair themselves explained Pro-fessor Marek W. Urban, Ph.D., talking about the re-search. Some we can see, like the skin healing andnew bark forming in cuts on a tree trunk. Some areinvisible, but help keep us alive and healthy, like theself-repair system that DNA uses to fix genetic dam-age to genes. The new plastic tries to mimic nature,issuing a red signal when damaged. It bleeds red atthe site of injury. Then it heals itself when exposedto visible light , changes in temperature or pH in-spired by the properties of tree trunks and humanskin.The plastics created by Urbans group have small mo-lecular links that stretch across the long chemicalchains that make up the plastic. When a scratch orcut happens, these links break and change theirshape. This new class of highlight-and-fix plastic isdesigned to overcome a critical flaw of plastics: Oncedamaged, plastics are very hard to fix and often justhave to be replaced. For this reason, self-repair plas-tics have been one active area of research in materi-als science. This plastic could serve a variety of pur-poses, from things like nail polish to self healing carfenders to airplanes and laptops. It would improvesafety by drawing attention to a structural defect ,and it could repair minor defects in the presence ofintense light.Dr. Urban says the new class of plastics can self-repair repeatedly and it is also more environmentallyfriendly than most of the others because its produc-tion is based in water rather than organic solventsand is made from water based copolymers. The groupis now focused on making self-repair plastics thatcan tolerate heat.

M O D E R N M A R V E L S :

SE L F H E A L I N G P L A S T I C . .

The new plastic

tries to mimic

nature, issuing a

red signal when

damaged. It bleeds

red at the site of

injury. Then it heals

itself when exposed

to visible light ,

c h a n g e s i n

temperature orpH..


http://www.polymersolutions.com/blog/have-light-will-heal-polymer-fixes-itself/http://www.polymersolutions.com/blog/have-light-will-heal-polymer-fixes-itself/


5/11

HEAT WAVE:

Heat wave was oneof the innovativeevents of chemicaldepartment thisyear. It encouragedthe participants todevelop an alternatesource of energy andexplore revolutionarytechnology whichwill change the waythe world producesits power. Basicallythis event requiredparticipant to devisean eco-friendly exo-thermic reactionwhich could generatesufficient heat to betransferred to anoth-er container con-taining salt solutionwhich would be giv-en to the partici-pants.

The participantswould have tomake a setupcontaining twochambers separat-ed by a 1.5mmgap. In one of thetwo chambers thereaction will takeplace and in theother chamber asalt solution willbe poured whichwould act as ameasurement ofthe heat produced.In the 1.5mm gapa metal plate /conducting mem-brane designed bythe participantswould be kept tofill the gap. Thewhole setup shouldfit 1ft x 1ft base

area. The eventwas held in tworounds:-Round 1 :- Par-ticipants gavep r e s e n t a t i o ndemonstrating themechanism andjustifying thechoice of reactionRound 2 :- Inthis round theactual heat trans-fer took place inthe setup designedby the partici-pants and thetemperature of thesalt solution wasnoted down..The event sawdecent participa-tion and the firstprize was baggedby team fromBITS, Pilani GoaCampus followedby D.J SanghviCollege of Engi-neering, Mumbai.

CH E M I C A L W A R F A R E A T QU A R K 1 2

H E A T W A V Eencouraged the

pa r t i c i pa nt s t odevelop an alternate

source of energy and

explore revolutionary

technology which will

change the way the

world produces its

power




6/11

Water Desalination project:

The common methods of abstracting fresh water from saltwater such as abstracting by distillation, reverse osmosisand electrolysis are intensive-energy techniques. For thisreason desalination techniques are competitive only for large-scale production (thousands of m3/d). However, in somecircumstances, the desalination needs do not exceed a fewm3/d. This decentralized demand favours local water pro-duction by developing other desalination processes, especiallythose using renewable or recovered energy (solar, geothermal,etc.).The technology of humidificationdehumidification process(HD) satisfies some of these demands, in particular flexi-bility in capacity with moderate installation and operatingcosts. The current HD installations are in very compactunits containing two exchangers: an evaporator where air ishumidified and a condenser where distilled water is recov-ered.

Principle of functioning of the HD process:The HD process is based on the fact that air can be mixedwith important quantities of vapour. The amount of vapourable to be carried by air increases with the temperature; infact, 1 kg of dry air can carry 0.5 kg of vapour and about670 kcal when its temperature increases from 30C to 80C[2]. When airflow is in contact with salt water, air extractsa certain quantity of vapour at the expense of sensitiveheat of salt water, provoking cooling. On the other hand, thedistilled water is recovered by maintaining humid air atcontact with the cooling surface, causing the condensation ofa part of vapour mixed with air. Generally the condensationoccurs in another exchanger in which salt water is preheat-ed by latent heat recovery. Energy consumption is repre-sented by this heat and by the mechanical energy requiredfor the pumps and the blowers. The amount of distilled wa-ter recovered varies from 5% to 20% of the quantity of saltwater in circulation.

The principle of functioning for the HD processis illustrated in Fig. 1.The basic cycle consists of a heat source, air humidifiers(1) and dehumidifiers (2).

TH E W A R R A G E S O N . .

The current HD

installations are in

very compact units

containing two

exchangers: an

evaporator where

air is humidified and

a condenser wheredistilled water is

recovered.

Page 6V O L U M E 1 I S S U E 2


7/11

The brine is passed through a heater (3) where its temperature rises, thenthrough packed towers where water vapour and heat are given up to thecounter-current air stream, reducing the brine temperature. One packedtower, or several in series, may be used as the humidifier depending on re-sults to be achieved and design conditions. Some air must be bled off intothe dehumidifier at various points for efficient operation. The fresh waterstream, with its flow rate and temperature increased, leaves the humidifierand passes through a heat exchanger where it gives up its increase in en-thalpy to the incoming brine stream. The dehumidifier (2) consists of a se-ries of packed towers, using fresh or salt water as the cooling phase. Theair is cooled and dehumidified simultaneously since the humidity of satu-rated air decreases with temperature. The brine enters the heat exchangerwhere it is preheated by the fresh water stream and is then recycled throughthe brine water. An amount of water corresponding to the production rate isheld from the fresh water stream, and the remainder is recycled to the de-humidifier.

Simplified Flow sheet:




8/11

Our college was graced by the presence of Dr.Madhunkar O Garg,director,CSIR-IIP,DehraDun. In theinteractive session a pilot plant made by CSIR-IIPDehra Dun which can produce 300g per hour of fuelby recycling pulverized waste polymers (plastic) wasdiscussed.

He explained that the plant would be a two-stagepyrolysis process in which a thermo-chemical de-composition of organic material at a high temper-ature could convert almost all the plastic part of thewaste into useful fuels. The efficiency would be sohigh that hardly any residue would be left for dis-posal. However, the polyethylene (in softer form likebags) and polypropylene (in rigid forms like buck-ets) would have to be pre-treated and cleaned toremove all dirt.To operate this technology in high LPG, high gasolineor high diesel production modes, three kinds of cat-alysts have been developed at Dehra Dun. Refiningof liquid and gas products, would be almost as goodas refinery products from petroleum refining andcan be as high as 50% each in this process.Dr Garg stressed on the fact that 12.5 million tonsof plastics per annum are consumed in India out ofthis about 65% consist of polyethylene and polypro-pylene wastes while about 35% of these two are usedin packaging and bags. But other plastics, such aspolyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyester wastes can beconverted back to its starting materials through dif-ferent technologies. Polyester wastes, especially min-eral water bottles can be hydrolyzed while PVCwastes can be mechanically recycled.

He concluded by stating that the talks are on withlocal industries to set up a demonstration plant andtest out the idea in Goa and states like Goa couldbenefit as CSIR-IIP and gas authority of Indialimited (GAIL) are keen to help set up a demonstra-tion unit within Goa .

GL I M P S E O F G U E S T L E C T U R E . .

12.5 million tons of

plastics per annum

are consumed in

India out of this about

65% consist of

polyethylene and

polypropylene wastes

while about 35% of

these two are used in

packaging and bags.



9/11

Q.What are the factors that attracted you tothe field of Chemical engineering?

ANS. The main driving force for me has al-ways been the ability to engineer a diverse

range of products. A chemical engineer applies

all the physical sciences, life sciences along

with mathematics and economics to convert raw

materials to useful and valuable products. For

me, this tremendous capability of a chemical

engineer has been an inspiration.

Q. What according to you is the significanceof industrial exposure?ANS. According to me, it is very important forany engineer to be able to apply the basic

principles he or she has learnt. Every engineerneeds to broaden his or her knowledge - from

the know-why to the know-how of a process.

The best way to do this is through industrial

experience. BITS encourages all its students to

get a know-how of the industrial practices

through its Practice School 1 (PS1) and Practice

School 2 (PS2) programs. Apart from that, I

will also encourage students to go for intern-

ships so that they have an in-depth knowledgeof their subject.

F A C U L T Y I N T E R V I E W

P R O F . S R I N I V A S K R I S H N A S W A M YH . O . D , C H E M I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G

D E P A R T M E N T ,B I T S - P I L A N I , G O A .

A chemical engineer

applies all the

physical sciences,

life sciences along

with mathematics

and economics to

convert raw

materials to useful

and valuable

products.



10/11

Q. What are the concerns of a chemical engineer?ANS. A chemical engineer should adopt a pentagon approachin designing a process. All the five aspects Technology, En-

vironment, Cost, Society and Energy efficiency should be

given an equal weightage. Taking into consideration all these

factors makes the job of a chemical engineer interesting and

challenging at the same time. The main concern of a chemical

engineer is that almost all the research and development work

is restricted to laboratory. A very few percent of these lab

works make it up to the industrial level.level: A small per-

centage of laboratory studies eventually result in scale up and

final application. So, scale-up of lab projects is a big issue.

Another challenge for a chemical engineer is to develop a pro-

cess which is not only efficient but also safe and economical.

Many ingenious technologies like trapping solar energy, nano-

technology, etc. are still not amenable for large scale applica-

tion. However the potential of these is huge.

Q. What do you feel is important apart from the coursestaught?ANS. Apart from the courses, a chemical engineer should bewell aware about the social impact of any technology. He

should also be aware about the strict guidelines, norms and

code of conduct enforced in a chemical industry. He shouldknow about the importance of professional ethics in an in-

dustry. This leads to an improvement in the knowledge base

and also helps in the overall personality development.

Q What are the major changes made in the curriculum for2011 batch?

ANS. The course content remains more or less the same. Themajor change is that earlier the students were introduced totheir Compulsory Disciplinary Courses (CDCs) in their third

year.

. . I N T E R V I E W C O N T I N U E D



11/11

Now students will be studying their CDCs from the second yearitself. The curriculum now includes 15 CDCs. Apart from this,

its mandatory for each student to complete 5 chemical depart-

ment electives and 3 Humanities electives. Once the student has

completed these electives, he/she is free to take up open elec-

tives. The new curriculum is more focused and concentrated on

chemical courses. Labs related to any particular course will be

introduced after the course is taught to enable better under-

standing. The course structure will be revised in every 3-4

years.

Q. Could you elaborate upon the new concept of design paperprojects?

ANS. The students are given the opportunity to work upon Home

paper, a final year design project where they apply all the

fundamentals of chemical engineering learnt during the under-

graduate program. In home paper projects, students will study

in detail about manufacturing process of a chemical e.g. ammo-nia, sulphuric acid, glycerol, etc. They will analyze the flow

sheet involved in the manufacturing process and study about the

techno-economic feasibility of the project. This will help the

students in understanding the complexities involved in chemical

processes.

Q. What message would you like to give to the students?

ANS. My only message to the students would be Be best at what youdo.

. . . I N T E R V I E W C O N T I N U E D


Every engineer needs to broaden his or her knowledge- from the know-why to the know-how of a process.

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