About the conference

The Department of Chemical Engineering at BITS, Pilani-Hyderabad Campus is pleased to organize its 1st National Conference, Innovations in Chemical Engineering, ICE 2013. The purpose of this conference was to bring together key professionals from the industry and academia across a spectrum of backgrounds including material science, biochemical engineering, polymer technology, petroleum engineering and renewable energy on a single platform to share insights and perspectives as well as to discuss the latest trends in these areas of chemical engineering.

The Proceedings of ICE 2013, held on November 15-16, 2013 present a compilation of exciting research ideas and results from across the country, contributed by the invited speakers, scientists, academicians and students working in diverse areas of Chemical Engineering. This conference would not have been possible without the organizational support or efforts put in by the faculty, staff and students of the department. We would like to thank the following individuals for helping us make ICE 2013 a success: Prof. V.S. Rao for his support and guidance, Prof. M.B. Srinivas and his team for all the administrative support, Dr. I. Sreedhar for initiating the conference, Dr. Geetha Kumari (Campus website coordinator), Mr. P.V. L Narasihma Rao (webmaster), Dr. M. Alphonse, Dr. S. S. Deshmukh and Prof. Y.V.D. Rao for infrastructure support, placement division, Prof. K. S. Raju, Prof. S. P. Regalla, Dr. K.V.G Chandrasekhar for their guidance, Mr. Appala Reddy for the secretarial support and students of department of chemical engineering for brochure and cover page design. Also we would like to thank Prof. Bijendra Nath Jain (Vice- Chancellor) and our sponsors for helping us to make ICE 2013 a great success.

Contents

1. Process Intensification- the Future Innovation Arena in Chemical Engineering, 2. Enabling Industrial Biotechnology using Metabolic Engineering, 3. Engineering Aspects of Living Systems, 4. Tailored Polymeric Adsorbents for Environmental Applications, 5. Biosensors for Metals in Environment, 6. Loading Rate Dependence of Mechanical Properties in Bulk Nanocrystalline Multi-Phase Materials, 7. Development & Applications of Polymeric Materials from Algae Oil, 8. Surface Analysis of Materials by IBA and XPS, 9. An Endeavor to Promote Industrial Development and Societal Welfare through Membrane Technology, 10. Refinery Configuration Overview: Past, Present-Future, 11. Bioenergy Production from Sweet Sorghum: Some Latest Perspectives, 12. Combinatorial Materials Development Through Electro Deposition, 13. Methods for Chemical Characterisation of High Purity Materials, 14. Prospects and Challenges of Biorefinery, 15. Model Based Control Approaches – An Overview, 16. Recent Trends in Industrial and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, 17. Advanced Surface Engineering Techniques to Combat Premature Component Degradation in Aggressive Environments, 18. Development of Al-W and Al-Al2O3 Surface Nano Composites Using Sequential Combination of Ball Milling and Friction Stir Processing, 19. Investigation on Hydrothermal Explosion Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Material for Ethanol Production, 20. Analysis of Antioxidant Property of Tamarind Seed Oil in Coconut Oil, 21. Production and Optimization of L-Glutaminase (Ec.3.5.1.2) By Serratia Marcescens Using Wheat Bran Under Statistical Designs, 22. CFD Modeling of Gas Entrainment, 23. Separation of Sister Elements Niobium and Tantalum, 24. A Study on Water Treatment Using Moringa Oleifera Seeds, 25. CFD Analysis of Flow around Static Mixer, 26. Characterization of Vegetable Oils using Gas Chromatography, 27. Characterisation of Wood Species: Teak, Neem, Rubber and Mesquite, 28. An Energy Efficient Process for Concentration of Gallic Acid and Other Antioxidants from Green/Black Tea Extracts by Membrane Separation, 29. Extraction of MTBE by Pervaporation using Hydrophobic PEEK Hollow Fiber Membrane, 30. Synthesis and Characterization of PVDF/PAN Blend Hollow Fiber Membrane for Surface Water Treatment, 31. Relaxation Behavior of Nano Graphite Reinforced Silicon Elastomer Nanocomposites, 32. Model Predictive Control of Hydrogen Concentration in an Anaerobic Digestion Process, 33. Optimal Control of a Semi-Batch Process using Different RNA Based Genetic Algorithms, 34. Concentration of Industrial Enzymes by Ultrafiltration Membrane Process for Enhanced Process Economy and Safety, 35. Development of Bio-Based Epoxide, 36. Selective Extraction of Acetic Acid from Aqueous Media using Indigenous Membrane Contactors, 37. Synthesis and Characterization of Sodiumalginate/Pebax Blend Membranes for Fuel Cell Applications, 38. Bioinformatics Studies of Endothelial Lipase Protein Data – A Biomarker for Gastric Cancer, 39. Application of Electrical Properties for the Estimation of Viscosity of Ionic Liquids using Arrhenius Model, 40. Enzyme Esterification Route to Prepare Glyceryl Tributyrate, 41. Approaches for Modeling and Simulation of Membrane Separation Processes to Facilitate Design of Pilot Plants, 42. Characterization of Novel Brown Midrib (Bmr) Sorghum Sources for Higher Bio Fuel and Biochemical Recovery, 43. Quantitative Estimation of Morpholine by Gas Chromatography, 44. Potential Applications of Enzymes Derived from Termite Gut Microflora for Biochemical Degradation of Lignocellulosic Waste and Concomitant Biofuel Production, 45. Study of Corrosion Rate for Metals with Palmitic Acid and Myristic Acid, 46. Investigation of Various Turbulence Models for Flow over a Smooth Sphere, 47. Performance Analysis of Multicomponent Absorption System using Sum –Rates Method, 48. A Review on Solid Oxide Fuel Cell-A Key to Noise-free Power Generation, 49. Biopolymers Production through Fermentation and Enzymatic Processes, 50. Multi-Objective Optimization of A Batch Cooling Crystallization Process, 51. Non Linear Model Based Control of a Semi Batch Polymerization Reactor, 52. Study of Drying Characteristics of Granular Material, 53. Growth Kinetics of Botryococcus Braunii with Light Intensity as a Parameter, 54. Studies on CO2 Evolution During Electrochemical Reduction of Titanium Dioxide, 55. Synthesis Development and Applications of Bioepoxy Resin and Polyurethane Foams from Gossypium Arboreum Plant (Cottonseed Oil), 56. Biochemical Reaction Engineering studies on Liquefaction of Gauva Fruit Pulp using Immobilized Pectinase Enzyme, 57. An Overview of Municipal Solid Waste Management in India, 58. Biobased Polymeric Materials from Karanja Oil, 59. Design, Implementation and Evaluation of a Cryogenic Stage for Combined Cryofixation and Optical Microscopy of Biological Samples, 60. An Introduction to a New Species of Hydrogen and its Application as a Clean Fuel, 61. Wood to Liquid–An Opportunity to Explore the Possibility, 62. Solar Thermal Energy and its Vital Application in Rural Sustainable Development, 63. Integration of Pervaporation Membrane Technique with Distillation for Recovery of Acetonitrile Solvent in Bulk Drug Industry, 64. An Integrated Economic-Environmental Feasibility Study for Bio Catalytic Leather Tanning Considering the Shadow Prices for Undesirable Outputs, 65. Energy from Municipal Solid Waste with Universal Input: Indian Scenario, 66. Heat Balance in Rotary Kiln, 67. Isolation and Characterization of Lignin from Black Liquor, 68. Liquid-Liquid Extraction of Copper in a Packed Bed Column, 69. Mathematical Model based Optimization of Batch Crystallizer for Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) Crystallization Process using gPROMS,70. Fuelwood Quality and Combustion Characteristics of Lantana Camara, Bambusa Bambos and E. hybrid: A Study on Three Different Forest Biomasses for Energy Production