2019-2020

A pregnant whale was found dead due to 50 pounds of plastic in her stomach’ – telecasted the National Geographic channel. We have seen, not just one, but many more such cases in the recent years. Now take a minute, look around and observe the amount of the plastic that we use daily and the amount of plastic that finds its way into the oceans and rivers after its use. This poses a global threat with damaging health consequences for animal and human beings. These have also caused the ecosystem to malfunction.

To come up with an immediate remedy for the problem was highly necessary. The researchers of Australia and China jointly put their efforts to sort the problem at the earliest. Inspired by nature’s ingenious biological designs, researchers have tried to mimic these and use them and bring technological breakthroughs. They used tiny springs made of carbon nanotubes which gave rise to the concept of nano springs which could break down micro plastics. To prevent it from leaching they added some magnesium in it, which caused it to develop magnetic properties. Thus they can be collected and reused. These microplastics are too small to be visible to the naked eye but are harmful pollutants. Some such as exfoliating beads found in cosmetics are simply too small to be filtered out during industrial water treatment.

Bringing into the spotlight some of the other utilities of these nano springs we see that it can used to produce spider captured silk. Nathan Becker et al mentioned that this spider captured silk can outperform any synthetic material in combination of strength and elasticity. Nanosprings have shown outstanding storage performance as anode material for lithium-ion batteries according to XL Wu et al. Moreover, Brian A Korgel  has brought to light that nanosprings made of piezoelectric materials can change the shape in response to an applied electric voltage that can be of great value in Nano Technology as actuators and sensors.

In the latest research, the team generated short lived chemicals, called reactive organic species which trigger chain reactions and break down the molecules of which the micro plastics are made up of. The team is working to ensure about the non toxicity of the chemical compounds during decomposition of the nano plastics. The researchers also hope that the by-products can be harnessed as energy source for micro organisms that the polluting plastics currently plague. It would be a great triumph to biotechnology if the plastic contamination can be repurposed as food for algae growth. This would solve environmental problems, promoting green and cost efficiency.

AMISHA MUKHERJEE

(Core Member 2019-2020)

03rd January, 2020

Model making competitions are one of the foremost platforms for students to exhibit their theoretical knowledge in a very engrossing fashion. With the spark of such competitions, we all step out of our comfort zones, travel to different places, meet new people and absorb all that we can. One such competition that gave me the opportunity to bring into play my theoretical knowledge, practically, was; the SPE conducted fest in Pandit Deendayal University, Gujarat.

The competition named Apotheosis, conducted on the first day of the fest, 18th October 2019, expected the teams to submit an abstract of their model based on which top five teams would be selected to compete on the final day. These teams would also get a chance to present their models to some of the renowned members of the oil and gas industry. As to-be chemical/petroleum engineers, we had to pick up persistent issues pertaining to the oil and gas field and propose a solution to it. While there are so many consistent issues in the industry, for example, the presence of sulphur in crude degrades environmental footprint and causes leakages from pipes and tanks, we had to choose one such problem, which a model depicting the solution could sensibly explain. To our surprise, after little talk with some industrialists, we realised that our answer was right in front of us, in a subject we were studying. Having been taught about the rotary drum filter in Mechanical Operations, we decided to make an oil-skimming model that could skim oil from the surface of water stored in a tank. We used an Arduino as well, to introduce automated systems in industries and inculcated pauses that could be utilised for the cleaning the skimmer surface. With this competition, we not only learnt how to work with Arduino and make a working model using it and write abstracts efficiently, we also learnt how a model presentation is done and how we could tackle the questions asked by the board. After an intense scrutiny by the board, the results were announced at the closing ceremony and we were able to bring laurels to VIT and IIChE-VIT student chapter by bagging the first prize! We look forward to escalating our research and take this model to higher levels. Until then, we wish to participate in numerous other competitions across the country, learn new things and make IIChE proud!

MUSKAN KOTHARI

(Core Member 2019-2020)

24th December, 2019

Plastics play a very important role in our everyday lives. They are responsible for countless facts of the modern world.It’s flexibility and adaptability enable it to provide many different solutions in an increasingly complex world.

Research shows that the use of plastic has increased drastically in the last two decades.To meet the growing demands, the number of factories manufacturing plastic products has increased rapidly as well. However, as we know, every coin has two sides, and when it comes to plastics, the bane is heavier than the boon. Plastic, being non-degradable, causes severe damage to the environment. This has become a global concern as it is destroying our planet and is having harmful repercussions on all living beings.

To overcome this disturbing, yet often ignored, situation we need to have a control on the usage and production of plastic.Since we have grown quite accustomed to using plastic products, we cannot terminate their usage completely. However, we can certainly avoid them by replacing them with eco-friendly alternatives.

Apart from reducing, reusing and recycling, there are many methods which can be implemented to reduce pollution, like converting plastics into useful forms energy and chemicals for industries. Plastics-to-fuel is one such technology that converts non-recycled plastics into valuable energy.

William Graham of GrahamTek, an inventor based in Cape Town, has been working on a machine that converts plastic to oil. It’s a clean process using heat rather than incineration, with low emissions, and produces a multi-fuel that can be used to power generators and machinery plus a by-product that can be turned into coal. Most plastics, except PVC, can be converted by this process. This machine can also convert used tyres into fuel. It runs off its own fuel and the price per litre of fuel produced is cheaper than purchasing new fuel. The greatest benefit of this is its cost effectiveness.

This technology is a clean way to convert plastic to fuel, making waste plastic a more valuable resource than it was earlier. Industries can develop around this technology which would result in a cleaner environment, and a hike in employment opportunities. These fuels can deliver a cleaner burning fuel, due to low sulphur content. Also,these technologies are increasingly scalable and can be customized to meet the needs of various economies and geographies, so they do not require huge machines.It fosters resource conservation and helps avoid over-reliance on conventional fuels. This process can also reduce the emission of green-house gases.

Landfills are not a sustainable solution. Plastic to fuel conversion plants will enhance the utility and broaden the benefits of plastic without hurting the environment. Trying to achieve the technology to produce eco-friendly plastic should also simultaneously be accompanied by the conversion of plastic to fuels which is bound to support sustainable development.

ADITI BILGAIYAN

(Core Member 2019-2020)

29th November, 2019

A refinery, as per definition,is an industrial process plant where crude oil is transformed and refined into more useful products such as- petroleum naphtha, gasoline, diesel ,fuel oils , heating oil, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, jet fuel and asphalt base. Following the current norm, the raw material for our conventional industrial grade refineries is crude oil, which is an extremely limited resource. According to recent surveys and statistics, we consume the equivalent of over 11 billion tons of oil from fossil fuels every year. Crude oil reserves are vanishing at a rate of more than 4 billion tons a year. So if we carry on walking on this path, our oil deposits could run out in just over 53 years! There have also been various callouts for the development and application of non-conventional and eco-friendly, i.e.,“green” technologies and it has developed a sector of industries worth millions of dollars. This provides enough ethical evidence to show that people are concerned about the earth’s degrading stock of fossil fuels and of course the environment.

Many ideas have been proposed to counter the environmental degradation. One such idea has been titled as “Green Refineries”. Essentially, it is a business model with an investment of €200 million, which have been developed by fundamentally upgrading the existing plants. It facilitates the conversion of unconventional and low-cost biological raw materials such as vegetable oil and spent cooking oil into high added value finished products (e.g.: green diesel, green LPG, green naphtha, etc.). ‘Eco-fining’ is a green technology developed by Eni, which allows the production of high-quality sustainable biofuels while also reducing particulate emissions and improving engine efficiency. Eni’s ‘Waste-to-fuel’ technology is an innovative and sustainable process which enhances the bio-oil obtained to serve as an energy vector in the production of electricity or bio-fuel by reusing vegetable and animal wastes, disturbing neither the food chain supply,  nor the agricultural production because the waste biomass produced by the thermochemical liquefaction process does not derive from agricultural activity.

Products from green refineries include biodiesel, bioethanol and biogas. These products have started making their way into the market, replacing the conventional fuels along the way. For example, the Indian Railways have re-designed their Diesel engine locomotives to run exclusively and efficiently on biodiesel. The maiden Bio-aviation fuel powered Spice-Jet flight took off on August 27, 2018 from Dehradun. There is an ongoing researches for technical advancements to deploy bio-fuel in automobiles.Usage of biofuel have proved in the reduction of NOx, SO2 and particulate emissions which otherwise would have a bad impact on environment and life. This is great news considering the emission of harmful gases in the atmosphere was becoming a bigger problem everyday..

ABHISHEK S CHAUDHARY

(Core Member 2019-2020)

28h October, 2019

“If you know you are on the right track, if you have this inner knowledge, then nobody can turn you off… no matter what they say.” – Barbara McClintock

Women, their dreams, and choices are underestimated and pushed down. Girls have and still are considered a burden to their parents according to certain section of the society. Every possible step is being taken by the government to save girls and encourage their education. After schooling comes the moment of decision to what choose a career path. The society plays a big role in this, as their mentality suggests that these “delicate” women should do a job of “their type”. They are advised to become doctors, teachers and the likes of these. There is not much support while choosing engineering or other such formidable careers.

Looking back in time, we see that women were never backed to become engineers. Elizabeth Bragg, the first woman to receive a Bachelor’s degree in engineering in 1876 from The University of California in Civil Engineering, never worked as a professional engineer, she was a stay-at-home wife and mother. Before the late 1800s, a woman’s ability to even enroll in a university was limited, especially to study science. Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards was the first woman admitted to MIT and later became its first woman instructor. She applied science to her home and was one of the first to use chemistry in the study of nutrition.

Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau was an American chemical engineer who designed the first commercial penicillin production plant. She was the first female member of American Institute of Chemical engineers. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Rice Institute in 1932 and her Doctor of Science degree in chemical engineering from MIT in 1937, the first woman to earn I n the subject in the USA. She started her professional career with E.B. Badger in Boston. During the Second World War, she oversaw the design of production plants for the strategically important materials of penicillin and synthetic rubber. She worked on the development of high-octane gasoline for aviation fuel. Her later work included improved distillation column design and plants for the production of ethylene glycol and glacial acetic acid.

An engineer is commonly depicted as a burly boiler man in oily overalls, or a reclusive, introverted computer programmer. But frankly, engineering is a diverse domain and an exciting sector with amazing opportunities available for women. Many myths surround women in this field of work- they can’t survive as an engineer, they are too timid, not good at science and technology, etc. The most common argument presented is that they can’t be an engineer and raise a family too.

When I chose chemical engineering, my choice was questioned by many and I was suggested to drop this idea because they believed that long term exposure to chemicals is not safe and advised that I sit in an office doing a standard desk job rather than field work of my choice.

It is important to understand that there are no hard and fast rules about what a gender can or cannot do. We need to teach our little girls that there’s no demarcation between them and boys when it comes to what they can play with, what they can like, and most importantly, what they want in life. Women must be motivated to chase the available opportunities. Gender bias should not dictate the outcome of anyone’s career potential or the direction it takes. Engineering is for all and more efforts need to be made to make it accessible to all. The day we get past the stigma of male dominance in the field, the deadly combination of women and engineering will transcend from being anomalous to being quotidian.

ADITI BILGAIYAN

(Core Member 2019-2020)

15th September, 2019

 Desalination is a term we’ve heard millions of times and studied about since fifth grade. In layman’s terms, it’s a simple process of removing salt from seawater to make it portable. But can this simple process act as a solution to water scarcity in water-stressed areas all over the world?

Desalination plants use two types of technologies- thermal and membrane. For each technique, there are three methods. Thermal desalination plants are generally not favoured since water recovery is poor. Membrane desalination plants use reverse osmosis to purify water. With membrane technology improving each day, the cost of providing desalinated water could drop down.

Currently, 1% of the estimated world’s population is dependent on desalinated water to meet their daily needs. Desalination is particularly useful in dry countries such as Australia, which traditionally has relied on collecting rainfall behind dams for water supply.

Desalination plants operate in more than 120 countries in the world, including Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, Cape Verde, Portugal, Greece, Italy, India, China, Japan and Australia. The single largest desalination project is Ras Al – Khair in Saudi Arabia, which produced 10,25,000 cubic metres per day in 2014. Kuwait produces a higher proportion of its water through desalination plants than any other country, totalling 100% of its water use.

Taking inspiration from such successfully implemented models all over the world, Chennai can work in this area to combat its current crisis. As we all know, the water crisis in Chennai has been hitting the headlines like never before. The city not very long ago came into limelight due to heavy floods and displacement of its people and is back in the news, but this time for an entirely contradictory reason.

The household water supply in the city has been much lesser than the Ministry of Urban Development benchmark. However, this did not limit the urban and industrial expansion in the city. Inappropriate planning of land use and lack of measures for the conservation and management of water resources are one of the major reasons for the current situation. There are around 1000 desalination plants functional in India. The current total capacity stands at about 2,91,820 cubic metres per day. Tamil Nadu in itself has one of the largest plants in India, namely Minjur Seawater Desalination Plant and Nemmeli Seawater Desalination Plant. However, these are nowhere near fulfilling the daily needs of the people residing in the city.

Chennai has often swung between floods and drought. Despite scientific advancements in climatology and weather system, predicting a weak or extreme rainfall event is still a challenge. There are many measures which can help in promoting water conservation and management, but the main challenge lies in implementing and following them appropriately. Initiatives like providing water tankers from anywhere else are temporary but the future problems cannot be solved this way. At this alarming rate, major steps and plans need to be carried out at the earliest to control such catastrophe. Apart from water governance and policies related to supply and usage of water, something strong and useful should be done. Steps should be taken to not just address the problems of the present but also the future.

Improved technologies, reduced costs, and government push can help reverse osmosis-based plants to mushroom across coastal cities like Chennai. Private sector participation and joint ventures can help in establishing more desalination plants with better technology and increased efficiency. These measures must be made effective as soon as possible to put a full stop to such unwanted distress.

ADITI BILGAIYAN

(Core Member 2019-2020)

08th August, 2019

‘Congratulations mate!’ greeted my friend.

‘Ummm…. what for???’ a puzzled me asked.

‘Go and have a look at the notice board!’

I ran down the stairs out of sheer excitement. Well yes, the congratulations made all sense now. I was officially a member of the IIChE student chapter. My excitement knew no limits. I always wanted to be a part of it. I was indeed overjoyed at the sight of it.

My journey in the chapter began with the first meeting being scheduled at 7 on a cold December evening. The rules of the chapter were explained on the first meet.  I still remember the words of our chair, “We in IIChE work like a family and we would like each and every one of you to understand that and work together as a team and be happy!” I remember myself being so contended to be a part of this amazing family with the best seniors that I have ever met. The board members had exemplary leadership skills which we all admired.

We took a small trek to the nearby hills which were amazingly refreshing and a very memorable one. The bond between us strengthened as the days passed and with every meeting we came closer. I could connect to the thoughts and ideas smoothly and share my own ideas freely. I was given a big platform to interact and the keen listeners kept me active in the group.

We remember the day when we had to bid a goodbye to the board members at the end of their tenure. We were all bonded like a family and to bid a goodbye to some of them was really painful. I still remember myself standing along with my friend for the last meeting being conducted by the board with a heavy heart, holding back my emotions. The emptiness that would be created without these people was perceived by each and every one of us.  But we promised that we would keep the team spirit alive. With a new beginning ahead of us and keeping the advises of our seniors and the memories in our hearts we would work for IIChE to reach the zenith of all success.

AMISHA MUKHERJEE

(Core Member 2019-2020)

19th July, 2019

Imagine you are enjoying your favorite drink, would you ever be worried about the drink flowing out of the glass while you are still savoring it? Or maybe have you ever thought that a liquid could defy friction and shoot up from a container? Of course, you haven’t.

We have all known Helium as a noble friend of ours from the 18th group, but what we are missing out on is Liquid Helium. Helium in its liquid state has the tendency to show super-fluidity. Now, you have a liquid that can skyrocket from a container. But, when does Helium become a super-fluid? Simple, all you need to do is cool Helium a little below its boiling point and you would see behaviors you have never noticed before in any liquid.

In a state of Limbo (a state of the infinite subconscious) anything that whirls keeps whirling. One doesn’t expect this to happen in reality but then we have Liquid Helium defying our facts. Have Helium circulating in a container and even when you return years later, it would be circulating. Seems like a Limbo, after all, doesn’t it? Liquid Helium is a very cold substance. Often compared with Liquid Nitrogen, it is important to know that while Liquid Helium is appropriate for reducing electrical resistance in a wire; liquid Nitrogen is adequate for the preservation of biological materials.

Super-fluid Helium is believed to be a mixture of two fluids, one normal and one super-fluid. It is the various experiments that bring out the contrasting characters of these two fractions. The simplest experiment to prove this is to cool liquid helium below its lambda point. The normal fraction suddenly springs as a leak, whereas, the frictionless super-fluid fraction begins to pour through microscopic cracks that the normal liquid fraction cannot enter.

Having come to this point where I want to dive deeper into the foundations of super-fluid Helium, I restrict myself here, hoping that your interests have been piqued and the next thing you surf on the Internet is about Super-fluidity and Helium.

MUSKAAN KOTHARI

(Core Member 2019-2020)

20th May, 2019

 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are some of the hot gross areas of applied interest and research. The fields despite being from Computer Science , have a vast area of application, reaching for new boundaries beyond Computer Science. Artificial Intelligence, as one might guess is something to do with the intelligence sources developed, trained and practiced by human beings hence the term ‘Artificial’. Technically, an AI is the simulation of human intelligence processed by machines, especially computer systems. These processes include learning or acquiring information and a set of rules for the application of the same, reasoning out logical conclusions using the rules provided and self-correction. Despite its complexity AI has gained an immense interest amongst diverse fields as they help considerably in reducing workload and play a vital role for taking important decisions for operation without involving human intervention.

Taking AI into account to Chemical Engineering prospects, one may question its purpose. But frankly, the field can truly harness the power and potential of an AI model and put it to good use. Though it may sound foolish, it indeed is possible with a high efficiency rate. It can take the aspects of Chemical Engineering to a whole new level. It is AI programming principles, expert systems and neural networks that have enabled computers to perform intelligent engineering tasks by using computational means and methodologies. For example, AI models such as Expert Systems, when instructed properly can be trained for decision making process and simultaneously do the task of the operator used to run the plant. Operations such as Real Time Optimization where in the plant is never at a steady state could be dealt with ease with the use of AIs without using sophisticated instrumentation. AI methods and models will find an inevitable use in making reactors for the production of short-lived radio-chemicals or for the regulation of base content, temperature, mixing rate in order to optimize reaction yield and reaction rate. Many projects based on AI simulation have been progressed in the past for the progression in Chemical Engineering field. A good example would be ‘Dendral’, which aimed to study hypothesis formation and discovery in science that had helped scientists identify organic molecules by analyzing their mass spectra and using further chemical knowledge. AI techniques such as automated perception, chaos theory and industrial informatics have enabled a more granular examination of processes and reactions.

If enough data is provided, then data-driven approaches based on machine learning can be used to obtain predictive models. But on the contrary if enough data is not available then human expertise is used to build an AI. Also machine learning techniques (including AI neural networks) have been used to tune some physical parameters (e.g. Proportion or shape of catalysers). Artificial neural networks possess a number of extremely useful features that make them suitable for fault detection and diagnosis in complex systems. A network can learn the correct associations between system faults and system data provided by the help of which they are able to acquire diagnostic knowledge from various fault scenarios. This acquisition process is driven by a learning algorithm called back-propagation algorithm. An artificial neural network can collect and analyse the diagnosis of all sorts of noise and uncertainty that may exist in process measurements.

Regardless of the above stated evidences of how an AI can be used in Chemical Engineering, it can be expected to have more number of applications that have optimized chemical reaction processes!

ABHISHEK S CHAUDHARY

(Core Member 2019-2020)

08th May, 2019