2021-2022

Pyrolysis is thermal decomposition of substances/materials in an inert atmosphere at extremely high temperatures. It has its origin in Greek where “pyro” and “lysis” meaning fire and separating, respectively. Pyrolysis is most employed in treatment of organic materials. The product of a pyrolysis process is basically carbon in the form of char or soot. That is why extreme pyrolysis is referred to as carbonization. In fact, it is the first step in the process of combustion.

Pyrolysis is done by heating the material above the decomposition temperature, lysis of the chemical bonds in its molecules. In many circumstances some amount of oxygen, water, other substances so that reactions such as combustion, hydrolysis or any other chemical processes may occur besides pyrolysis, conversely the medium can be vacuum or inert to avoid these chemical processes.

When organic matter is heated at increasing temperatures in open containers, the following processes occur, in stages:

• Below about 100 °C, volatiles, including some water, evaporate. Heat-sensitive substances, such as vitamin C and proteins, may partially change or decompose already at this stage.
• At about 100 °C, any remaining water that is merely absorbed in the material is driven off. Water trapped in crystal structure of hydrates may come off at higher temperatures.
• Between 100 and 500 °C, many common organic molecules break down. Most sugars start decomposing at 160–180 °C. The decomposition products usually include water, carbon monoxide (CO) and/or carbon dioxide (CO2), as well as a large number of organic compounds. Gases and volatile products leave the sample, and some of them may condense again as smoke.
• At 200–300 °C, if oxygen has not been excluded, the carbonaceous residue may start to burn, in a highly exothermic reactions, often with no or little visible flame.
• Once combustion of the carbonaceous residue is complete ash left behind, consisting of inorganic oxidized materials of high melting point. Metals present in the original matter usually remain in the ash as oxides or carbonates, such as potash.

Let us come to the main discussion now these days pyrolysis is being employed to treat municipal solid waste and plastic waste. The main advantage is the reduction in volume of the waste. In tire waste management, tire pyrolysis is a well-developed technology. Products of tire pyrolysis include steel, carbon black and bitumen. Oil derived from tire rubber pyrolysis has a high sulfur content, which gives it high potential as a pollutant and should be desulfurized. Alkaline pyrolysis of sewage sludge at low temperature of 500 °C can enhance H2 production with in-situ carbon capture. The use of NaOH has the potential to produce H2-rich gas that can be used for fuels cells directly.

Pyrolysis can therefore become a way to help reduce the problem which is faced by every country, every continent in the world which is Plastic!

TEJAS R ATRI

(Core Member 2021-22)

December 21st 2021 

Engineers are the pioneers of development. They visualize, construct and enhance. From the advent of human civilization, engineers, in the true meaning of the word, contrived everything we see around us in the modern world: starting at the wheel, to almost reaching Venus.

Chemical engineering is a branch that has been developed relatively recently owing to the abundance of opportunities and matters it deals with. It is choice of study for everybody who wishes to make a difference for the environmental congruencies, in the human environment and the human body. Now, read ahead to find out how it helps in living out a great life for everyone, just in general.

According to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, chemical engineering is the profession in which knowledge of mathematics, chemistry, and other natural sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop economic ways of using materials and energy for the benefit of mankind.

Now, chemistry is all about understanding the various levels and fundamental ways at which phenomenon occur around us. With the amount of technical terminologies it uses, it just puzzles the common man to decipher the basics of which he already knows. For example, in a thermodynamically permissible chemical kinetic network, the task of the chemical engineer is essentially that of ‘engineering’ the reaction to achieve a particular goal. The goal is to convert the reactants into end products, by chemical processes like catalysis.

A chemical engineer is commonly considered to be working in industrial plants or manufacturing units. Well, obviously, when you’ve had the adequate knowledge and expertise in a field involving chemicals, it is required of you to handle them and create logistic products out of them that are needed in all of our daily uses because let’s face it, it is not easy to live in a world without dyes, fertilizers, paint, petroleum to mention a few of the compounds we are inextricably dependent on as a generation.

Chemical engineering is also currently a huge influence and developmental aid in fields of biomedical sciences. With the help of core engineering concepts and advanced handling of synthetic aids a lot of research is being put into understanding the fundamental principles of cells, DNA and biological engineering in general. By combining the utility of sophisticated machinery and the fundamental principles of engineering, chemical engineers are continuing to contribute immensely to the areas of biomanufacturing, applied synthetic biology including cancer research.

Apart from this, the indispensable and increasing need for sustainable management has been focusing on the emerging projects and innovations from environmental and chemical engineers. As civilization rapidly advances towards a technology-driven future, we are in dire need of professionals who can use their skills, implementation and advocacy for human health and environment, energy systems, sustainable regional development, environmental protection and management of natural resources, social inclusion and peace building. Here’s to engineering a better future and wishing all a happy engineer’s day!

NIRANJANA NAVEEN 

(Winner, “Engineer your Blog” Competition) 

The cosmetic industry has been a part of human lives for centuries now, for we have always craved ways to polish our outer appearances. Starting with women in Ancient Egypt using kohl, a substance containing powdered galena (lead sulphide—PbS) to darken their eyelids. Cleopatra is said to have bathed in milk to whiten and soften her skin. By 3000 B.C, men and women in China had begun to stain their fingernails with colors according to their social class, while Greek women used poisonous lead carbonate (PbCO3) to achieve a pale complexion. While the involvement of chemistry in this flourishing field is not surprising, it is growing rapidly. 

Women were taught very early on that beauty is pain. Painful tactics for hair removal, skin complexion, and complacent features have been practiced often. Skin bleaching, tanning, waxing, implants for different parts of the body— these are all options women choose to better their appearance. And while they might seem modern, this idea of always appearing beautiful and perfect regardless of the cost has carried on with history itself. 

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the harmful lead powder was used as a matt-finish for makeup on the face. In the 19th century and earlier, some people, mainly in Syria, a region that encompassed parts of modern Austria and Slovenia, consumed arsenic to produce a blooming complexion, a brilliant eye, and an appearance of embonpoint (sexy stoutness). Since then, we have carried this notion of beauty at the cost of health with us. 

At first, harsh chemicals were used to improve the quality of a product with disregard for its side effects. Sulphates are used in shampoos and oils for lathering purposes, causing not only eye and skin irritations but also a threat to the environment. Chemical fragrances used in perfumes, shampoos, and moisturizers, associated with respiratory disorders, skin allergies, dermatitis, and side effects in the reproductive system. Parabens, phthalates, artificial colors, toluene, talc, polyethylene glycol: all harmful chemicals that serve useful purposes in the cosmetics industry.

However, as a woman living in the 21st century witnessing new technological and chemical advances every day that redefines pathways to beauty not just for women but also for men, I can confidently say that we are separating from this toxic path. Laser surgeries for skin conditions, painless hair removal techniques, and herbal beauty products are becoming all the rage.

This new trend, this change in our mindsets, this lookout for the environment and for our personal health, makes me believe that we are well on a better path. A path that uses science to no longer equate beauty with pain. With sickness or danger. But rather with safe options that allow any man or woman to do what they please with their appearance without risking their health or experiencing any pain.

DISHA KAMTHI

(Core member 2021-22)

6th August 2021

Benzene. A name we all are well known with. The magical hexagonal ring is one of the most important organic compounds of chemistry. It is a colourless or light-yellow liquid at room temperature. It has a sweet odour and is highly flammable. Its vapor is heavier than air and it dissolves only slightly in water. Benzene is used mainly as an intermediate to make other chemicals, above all ethylbenzene cumene, cyclohexane, nitrobenzene, and alkylbenzene.

More than half of the entire benzene production is processed into ethylbenzene, a precursor to styrene, making polymers and plastics like polystyrene and EPS. Some 20% of the benzene production is used to manufacture cumene, which is needed to produce phenol and acetone for resins and adhesives. Its structure is also something we are well acquainted with. But the story behind how this structure was suggested and accepted is a unique one. The structure was suggested by August Kekulé in 1865. During that time, the world was aware of the empirical formula of benzene (CH) but its highly unsaturated structure was a challenge to determine.

Kekulé said that he had discovered the ring shape of the benzene molecule after having a reverie or daydream of a snake seizing its tail (this is an ancient symbol known as the ouroboros). This is likely an example of the exercise of a particular imaginative state, involving homospatial and Janusian processes, followed by stepwise logical thinking. He claims that he stopped writing and dozed off to sleep. He saw atoms whirling and dancing before his eyes. The atoms then began to reassemble themselves into long rows that seemed to move about in a snake-like motion. As he watched the snake dance, the vision progressed until the snake devoured its tail. And so it was, one of the most significant scientific discoveries was made. This dream of Kekulé opened new doors in the field of organic chemistry.

AASTIK SAXENA

(Core member 2021-22)

20th June 2021

I can’t express the love for coffee in  words and that’s why I am shocked to find that coffee is in danger, in the future, it may become as expensive as a luxury item. The pricing of the coffee soon may be equivalent to a Gucci bag.

Many of us cannot start a day without a  cup of coffee in the morning, it’s much more than a drink for some of us, coffee gives us energy, it gives us life. It helps us to burn fat  and makes intermittent fasting food so much easier. Coffee makes our creative senses flowing when we run out of ideas and it’s a perfect way to get together with our friends.

Nearly 2.2 billion coffee cups are being  consumed every day, but the sad news is the coffee may become as luxurious as caviar and truffle which are projected to be so expensive  shortly. It will be so expensive that only the rich may taste the good  beans and the rest of the world just gets the cheap instant coffee. I know it sounds impossible having a lot of stalls around us, but we are facing a global coffee crisis.

Coffee beans need very specific conditions  to grow. They are highly sensitive to the temperature and the amount of rain and elevation levels. Places like Brazil, Karnataka, Colombia are perfect to grow coffee but these are the places where climate changes are also taking place. Due to the climatic changes, the coffee beans production started to toll and the farmers are facing losses.

It is estimated that the amount of land  that can cultivate coffee will be reduced by a half. And even though  there are ways to protect the coffee plants from the effect of climatic  changes but they cost a lot of money which the farmers cannot afford to pay so that is why its typical for the farmer to grow coffee plants or adapt to climatic changes which affect the reduction in quality and quantity of the coffee beans.

Our negative impact on the environment is making the future of coffee  unknown. So it’s time for us to make them understand the impact of  pollution on our coffee. Is it actually worth paying thousand of Rupees  for a cup of Coffee?

KALLAKURI SAI LALIT

(Core member 2021-22)

16th April 2021

As days pass, due to global warming, the earth's temperature rises due to the concentration of greenhouse gases such as CO2, methane, and CFC at the atmospheric level. These gases trap a large amount of terrestrial radiation and increase the temperature. One day, the climate would be such that we should carry an air conditioner on the back to cool ourselves.

The accumulation of CO2 in the air could be controlled or removed from the air. The following can be achieved using carbon capture and carbon storage technology:

The carbon emitted from industries can be captured during the combustion process by bubbling the flue gases in a chamber containing solvents containing ammonia. When the chamber column attains saturation value, the superheated steam is passed about 120 degree Celsius. Using this method, we can separate the carbon dioxide and store it in separate places and use it for various purposes.

The extracted carbon can be stored underground in the process of rock formation as supercritical fluids. The carbon dioxide can be deposited in oceans in the depth of 3500 meters, where it forms a slushy material and sinks to the bottom of the seafloor. 

As there are two sides to every coin, The capture of carbon and its storage has their disadvantages, such as the carbon capture technology is not very efficient. In the case of CO2 released from the underground, it may cause severe damage to the area agriculture and leads to the death of aquatic animals in the ocean, resulting in an ecological imbalance and, ultimately, a catastrophic event.

As engineers, we have the responsibility to develop environmental-friendly technologies in the field of carbon capture and its storage.

GOKUL NATH K

(Core Member 2021-2022)

2nd April, 2021