ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF OF

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT,

DATTA MEGHE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, AIROLI.

HEARTILY CONGRATULATE

Ms. Sudhnya Desai

Ms. Supriya Upadhyay

Mr. Bhushan Joshi

For securing 2nd and 3rd rank respectively in B.E. CHEMICAL

Examination, Academic Year 2012-13 of MUMBAI UNIVERSITY, Also

for securing 1st and 2nd positions amongst all the B.E. students in our

college!

For securing 5th rank in B.E. CHEMICAL Examination, Academic Year

2012-13 of MUMBAI UNIVERSITY and for securing 3rd position

amongst all the B.E. students in our college!

Issue of the Newsletter will certainly benefit all. I

congratulate Students Organization of Chemical Engineering

and Chemical Engineering Department for the publication of

Newsletter of the academic year 2012-2013.

Message from Principal Sir

From HOD Madam’s desk

Application of Science

and Technology to day

today activities enhances

the living standard of the

society. One of the ways

to do so is to publish the

knowledge and

development made so

that common man can

know and can apply them

cheerfully.

It gives me immense pleasure to be

a part of the Institute where

students are given enough

opportunity to show their talents in

various field apart from their regular

academics. With the enthusiasm of

students and teacher guidance,

“Student Organization of Chemical

Engineering”, is all set to publish a

Newsletter for the year 2012-13.

I congratulate and wish them for all

the forth coming events.

Dr. S. D. Sawarkar,

Principal, DMCE.

Dr. Mrs. K.S. Deshmukh,

HOD, Department Of

Chemical Engineering,

DMCE.

Editorial

It gives me immense pleasure publishing „The

Alchemist‟, Newsletter of SOChE 2012-13.

Compiling a newsletter is not an easy task; it requires

support of our teachers and co-operation of our fellow

classmates as well as juniors.

I thank our HOD, Deshmukh Madam for believing in

me and giving me this opportunity

for being the editor of this newsletter. Also, I would

like to thank our teachers & juniors for their articles,

without whom, the newsletter seems incomplete.

This time, I have introduced a new section,

"Interns Speak" in which the final year students,

who have done summer internship, share their

experience. I hope their experience proves to be

helpful for all the student readers.

Thank you!

Mandar S. Rampure,

B.E. Chemical,

Editor.

Students Organization Of Chemical Engineering (SOChE) is the governing student body of activities related to Department of Chemical Engineering in DMCE. SOChE has successfully completed a tenure of seven years and strives hard to keep the fire of young Chemical Engineers ablaze in the future.

In its 8th year, SOChE 2012-13 has raised the bar of any student council by organizing various seminars, field visits for the benefit of students. The very first event organized by SOChE 201-13 was the Teacher’s Day, which was celebrated on the 5th September, 2012. Gifting our beloved teachers a sapling of Holy Basil

as a sign of prosperity to express our gratitude towards them.

SOChE celebrated Engineer’s Day, which is celebrated on 15th of September every year in a very unique manner. They had arranged a One day field visit & training program at Rashtriya Chemical Fertilizers, Trombay Unit, under the guidance of Prof. Prashant Ingole, Prof. Santosh Ingle and Prof. Sunil Kulkarni. Two batches from T.E. Chemical and one batch from B.E. Chemical attended the field visit in the later period. This way of celebrating Engineer’s Day was highly appreciated by the teachers, students and the Engineers working in RCF as well !

For the betterment of students of our sister branches viz. Mechanical & Civil Engg., SOChE had arranged a special guest lecture on 3rd October 2012 given by Prof. B.S. Pani, IIT Bombay, on the topic of ‘Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics’ which is a very important subjects for the 3 core branches viz. Chemical, Mechanical & Civil Engg.

This effort was also very appreciated by the students and HODs of the three departments!

SOChE made an active participation with other student bodies during the Cultural festival of our college, ‘MILESTONE 2013’ & also technical festival, ‘TECHNITUDE 2013’ to encourage the extra-curricular development of students of our department. Also to enhance their technical knowledge and thinking ability. The theme of TECHNITUDE 2013 was ‘GO GREEN’ to spread a message to save our environment from pollution. Also in order to spread awareness about the importance of Water, SOChE organized a ‘WORLD WATER DAY’ Awareness Campaign on 22ND March 2013.

Mr. Rahul Salunke

(General Secretary)

Mr. Lalit Bhole

(Co-General Secretary)

Ms. Veena R.

(Treasurer)

Ms. Nisha Pujari

(Convener)

Mr. Mandar Rampure

(Overall Coordinator)

Mr. Rahul Gadekar

(Publicity Head)

Mr. Tejas Mahindrakar

(Co-Publicity Head)

Mr. Saurabh Butala

(Technical Head)

Mr. Ankur Chaturvedi

(Committee Member)

Mr. Saurabh Joshi

(Committee Member)

Ms. Madhura Nijsure

(Creative Head)

Mr. Gitesh Patil

(Event Head)

Mr. Sahil Samant

(Committee Member)

Mr. Akshay Kalokhe

(Committee Member)

Mr. Subodh Mhatre

(Committee Member)

Mr. Amogh Joshi

(Committee Member)

A WORD FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY

Being a part of SOChE, we are really feeling proud!

As so many things we had done, which other branches didn't even think

about like IIT professor's lecture, industrial visit at Engineers Day and so

on. We never compared ourselves with others because we always

wanted to work for the betterment of students. And not just to earn

profits. We're glad that we were always on the right path with guidance

of HOD madam and all other teachers. We are very lucky to have such

cooperative teaching staff. At the end I just remember is the sentence

told by kulkarni sir "Not knowing anything is not a crime but not having

the desire to know that, then definitely there's a problem".

Mr. Rahul Salunke,

General Secretary,

SOChE.

Dr. Mrs. K.S. Deshmukh, HOD,

Dept. Of Chemical Engg.,

DMCE.

NDT can be used to ensure the quality right from raw material stage through fabrication and processing to pre-service and in service inspection. NDT is an industrial test method which

provides a cost effective means of testing while protecting the objects usability for designed purpose.

What is Non Destructive Testing (NDT)? It is a wide group of analytical techniques used in science and Industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. It relates to the examination of materials for flaws

without harming the object being tested.

When and Why NDT? The ability to inspect castings, wield-meets, wall thickness and other surface discontinuity in the various equipment, pipelines, structure and machineries in an accurate and comprehensive manner is critical; and even more important when these mentioned objects has been in use for several years possibly with changes made to the original frame work and operating conditions that are now placing more stress on the equipment than

original design allowed.

Following accidents would have been avoided had NDT been there: 1. 1854, Hartford, Connecticut A boiler at the Fales and Gray Car works exploded, killing 21 people and seriously injuring 50 people forcing the State of Connecticut passing a law requiring annual

inspection of boilers.

2. In 1988, Aloha Airlines flight 243, Boeing 737, crashed. Reason detected was corrosion and fatigue which was due to improper adhesive bonding of fuselage lap joint. 3. During world war II, one class of welded merchant ship suffered heavy losses not by enemy attach, but by breaking in half at sea because weld was too low. All these examples have one thing in common, that the failure to detect flaws

can cause huge disasters.

Application Areas of NDT:

NDT is used in a variety of settings that covers a wide range of Industrial activity with new NDT methods and applications, being continuously developed. Industrial plants such as Nuclear, Petro chemical, Power. Refineries, pulp and paper, fabrication shops, mine processing where pipeline and equipment makes the most of the part of it. All these equipments and process pipelines has to go through one of the either method of NDT for example, weld verification has to be done in case of pressure vessels, heat exchangers and process pipelines. Because, the typical welding defects (lack of fusion of the weld to the base metal, cracks or porosity inside the weld, and variations in weld density) could cause an equipment failure or a pipeline to rupture. Welds may be tested using NDT techniques such as Industrial radiography or Industrial CT scanning using X rays or gamma rays, ultrasonic testing, liquid penetrant testing magnetic particle inspection or via eddy current. In a proper weld, these tests would indicate a lack of cracks in the radiograph, show clear passage of sound through the weld and back or indicate a clear surface without penetrant captured in cracks.Other applications include aircraft, automotive, aviation,

construction, manufacturing, railways and submarines etc.

Recommendations and conclusion:

NDT can help to solve chronic process problems, as well as avoid catastrophic equipment failures and unsafe operating conditions. Here, we can say that when in today’s world where new materials are being developed, older materials and bonding methods are being subjected to higher pressures and loads, it is where NDT comes into picture and ensures that materials can continue to operate to their highest capacity with the assurance that do not fail within predetermined time limits, thus avoiding

undesired incidents.

Introduction: The concentration of fruit juices provides a reduction of transport, packaging and storage cost. In addition, the concentrates are more

stable, presenting the higher resistance to microbial activity than the original juice in

similar conditions.During the concentration process, the water should be removed

selectively in order to obtain a product with an appearance and taste as close as possible to the

original juice. In that case juice could be reconstituted by just adding the appropriate

amount of water. Membranes are capable of separating molecules (usually large) and small

particles, and are equally applicable to gas and liquid phase systems. It is necessary to select not

only the right membrane (material, pore size, structure, surface characteristics) but also the

appropriate operating conditions (pressure difference, flow patterns etc.) for successful

functioning of membrane plant.

Membrane Distillation Process:

Membrane distillation is a relatively new membrane process in which two aqueous

solutions, at different temperatures, are separated by a micro porous hydrophobic

membrane. The process takes place at atmospheric pressure and at temperature that

may be much lower than the boiling point of the solutions. A temperature difference between

the membrane sides is established by placing hot concentrated fluid on one side and cold on

the other. The temperature difference causes a vapor pressure difference between the membrane sides.

Characteristics of Membrane Distillation:

• The membrane should be porous.

• The membrane should not be wetted by

process liquids.

• No capillary condensation should take place inside the pores of the

membranes.

• Only vapour should be transported through the pores of the membrane.

Configurations of Membrane Distillation:

• The MD driving force is the transmembrane vapor pressure

difference that may be maintained with one of the four following possibilities

applied in the permeate side.

• Direct Contact Membrane Distillation

• Air Gap Membrane Distillation

• Sweeping Gas Membrane Distillation

• Vacuum Membrane Distillation

The principle of direct contact membrane

distillation:

Operating variables affecting DCMD process:

• Feed temperature

• Feed inlet concentration

• Permeate inlet temperature

• Temperature difference and mean temperature effect

• Permeate flow velocity

• Vapor pressure difference

Membrane parameters affecting DCMD process Liquid entry pressure (LEP):

• Permeability

• Critical pore size

• Thermal conductivity

• Membrane thickness

• Membrane porosity

• Membrane pore size

• Pore size distribution

• Pore tortuosity

Experimental set up:

Concentration of feed solution by DCMD was carried out using a flat-sheet membrane cell with

an effective membrane area 0.0115 m2. The membrane cell was made of stainless steel and

was placed in a vertical configuration. Microporous hydrophobic membrane of 0.2 μm

pore size and thickness 160 - 200 μm was placed between polyester mesh (0.28mm). Membranes : PTFE membranes & Feed solutions : Sweet Lemon Juice

Experimental Work: The hot and cold fluids counter-flow tangentially to the membrane

surface in a flat membrane module. The membrane is sandwiched between two equal

stainless steel manifolds. Micro porous hydrophobic PTFE membrane of 0.2 μm pore size, 70% porosity and thickness 160 μm was placed between polyester mesh (0.28mm), polyviton gasket (3 mm) on both side which create the two identical flow channels.

Schematic diagram of DCMD apparatus

Conclusion: Energy Consumption: It was clearly observed that DC Membrane Distillation process consumes less amount of energy when compared to a single effect evaporator for the same processing conditions.. Physico-chemical properties of sweet lemon juice concentrates: It was observed that in membrane distillation concentrate juice was get concentrated without change in natural ingredients . Effect of feed flow rate on flux: The transmembrane flux increases with increase in flow rate. The increase was mainly due to the reduction in temperature polarization. Effect of permeate flow rate on flux: The effect of permeate velocity resulted into minimal effect (not noticeable) on the permeate flux. Effect of feed temperature on flux: In DCMD configuration there was an exponential increase of the MD flux with the increase of the feed temperature. It was due to the exponential increase of the vapor pressure of the feed solution with temperature. Effect of temperature difference and vapor pressure difference on flux: The temperature difference creates vapor pressure difference and thus the membrane distillation flux rises. This leads to water vapor diffusion through the membrane. Flux declining Rate with time: Flux decline over time was observed, but it was more significant at high concentration. This suggests a possible effect of both concentration and temperature polarization. Accordingly, concentration polarization may be significant at high concentration, high temperature and

low feed velocity.

Prof. Satyajeet

Deshmukh

In modern days mostly synthetics colours are used since they are relatively cheap and easily available. The continuous use

of synthetic colours in textile and food industry has resulted in toxic diseases like cancer. Also the exuberant amount of

pollution caused due to synthetic dyes in textiles leads to environmental degradation. So the right choice for the people who care and who are considerate about themselves and the

environment is BIOCOLOURS . Biocolours are Natural

colours which generally extracted from fruits, vegetables,

roots and microorganisms and are often called

“biocolours” because of their biological origin.

Benefits of Biocolours : • Biocolours have protective role against lethal photo

oxidation. • Antioxidant activity by protecting cells against oxidative damage which leads to degenerative diseases such as

atherosclerosis, cancer, arthritis and macular degeneration. • Inhibition of mutagenesis.

• Enhancement of immune systems. • Inhibition of tumour development.

The use of such colouring matter is rooted in antiquity. Relics from the excavations of Harrapan Culture have

yielded evidence of ropes and fabrics dyed with natural colours. The caves of Ajanta (the earliest dating back to the

first century B.C.) still preserve the beauty of biocolours in their fullest splendour. In short, use of biocolours through the art of dyeing and printing is one of our richest heritages.

Biocolours had to pay a very heavy price due to the development of the synthetic genre of dyestuff. Synthetic

dyes made their advent in India in the 18th century and gradually pushed natural dyes into oblivion due to their superiority in the speed of dyeing or printing and the fastness

of colours.

On December 2nd, 1984 Night, Bhopal, an incident happens that shook the world.

Thousands of people are coughing and begging for death as they didn’t want to live because of one lethal gas known as Methyl Isocyanide. What do we learn from this incident?

An unproven technology causes death of thousand people within 1 hour. From last 28 years union carbide finds reason to blame others. But it is clear that it’s completely a company failure.

Reasons behind this disaster are:

1) None of the plant’s safety function works at the night of disaster.

2) Some are repair and some are shut down to save money.

3) Flare tower was disconnected. 4) Vent gas scrubber was out of caustic soda

undersized. 5) Water curtain was undersized.

6) Pressure valve was not working. 7) And most important run of tank already

contain MIC. 8) Mandatory refrigeration unit for MIC unit

is turned off to save money.

A 10m high curtain of MIC struck to the city

Bhopal without any sign. Victim dies due to lung failure, some become blind, and uneven change

in mutation to next generation. Within 1-2 hour death count is 5,000-8,000 and total death count

is 20,000 (a Govt fig. and minimum count).you can imagine what should be the real number. Even up to 1999 it contain highly toxic chemicals in water.

In 2001,DOW Chemical acquired Union Carbide. People naturally become angry and want to shut

off it. They demanded following things-

1) Clean up contaminated site. 2) Economic rehabilitation.

3) Submit union carbide to criminal case. 4) Long term medical care.

Warren Anderson detained and released on bail saying that he will return to face jurisdiction. Neither Union Carbide nor Warren Anderson, (CEO), presented themselves in front of Indian jurisdiction. In 1992 Bhopal district court issues summons against both UC and Warren Anderson and declared him as absconded. Today people are still suffering from Union Carbide toxic legacy. Rates of cancer and tuberculosis increases dramatically and even after 2 decades of disaster.

10-15 peoples die each month. The victims of disaster receive almost no compensation. On the

behalf of Bhopal victim people Indian govt. sued 3.3 million us dollar on Union Carbide.

Union Carbide gave only $500 for each person, means 25,000 INR only and many of the victims didn’t get compensation. For injured the likely to suffer all their lives.

At the time of disaster union carbide is failing to give the complete nature of toxic g as means doctor did not know the best treatment for victims. That’s why numbers of victims increases drastically.

As a Chemical Engineer, while going through the research of Bhopal gas tragedy, I found it very useful Technical information from a safety point of view. And as a human being I found it as

humanity work so that such incident should not happen again. While going through the TV channels and whenever I Watch Bhopal gas victims, clearly a fear is on their face. At this time

when I am typing my this article I remember one poem of Dnyanpeeth prize winner Poet, he says :

“Sine me jalan aankhon me tufan sa kyon hai is shaher me har shakhs pareshan sa kyon hai”

So it’s still a challenge as Chemical Engineering point of view because it can be happen with us

also as it happens with Bhopal people. Bhopal people didn’t know that such a lethal gas is manufactured in their city prior to that incident. They are suffering daily now by this MIC ,

At last I just want to say :

“Khud jalta hua khud marta hua ,Apni hi lash ka majar Aadami”

(Image sources-Wikipedia)

Prof. Santosh G. Ingle

Introduction : Metal nanoparticles are known to exhibit interesting optical, electronic, magnetic and catalytic properties

which are different from their bulk states. Some of them have found use in

Medicine and Cosmetics. The research in the field of nanomaterials has been

directed towards exploring these varied properties and also towards discovering methods of synthesis which aim to control the size and morphology of these nanoparticles which needless to say, at the nanolevel, are crucial. Metal nanoparticles can be prepared by a variety of routes. Most notable examples include reverse micelles process, salt reduction, microwave dielectric heating reduction, ultrasonic irradiation, radiolysis, solvothermal synthesis, electrochemical synthesis,

etc. The simplest synthetic method is the reduction of metal salt by a

suitable reducing agent in presence of a surfactant. This method yields

particles with varied sizes and morphologies and this is also true for Silver nanoparticles.

Abstract: We report synthesis of silver nanoparticles by reducing Tollens’ reagent with an aldehyde such as formaldehyde in presence of sodium citrate in aqueous medium. The resulting

nanoparticles were found to be stable up to few months and were characterized using UV-VIS, SEM, TEM and HRTEM and SAED.

We synthesized silver nanoparticles by reducing Tollens’ reagent in an aqueous medium in presence of sodium citrate which served as a capping agent. The Tollens’ reagent contains the silver ammonia ion

Ag(NH3)2+. The Tollens’ reagent

oxidized the formaldehyde with

consequent reduction of the silver ion to free silver.

Since this reaction is carried out in presence of sodium

citrate, the free silver is precipitated in form of nanosilver. The resulting solution is a strawcoloured

liquid. Interestingly, when Tollens’ reagent in presence of sodium citrate is subjected to sunlight, the reaction

mixture turns the same straw-colour within a matter of minutes suggesting that photochemical reduction of

the reagent has taken place. We have , however, not investigated this route of photochemical reduction any

further. We characterized the nanoparticles using UV-VIS, SEM,

TEM and HRTEM. The results indicate that Ag nanoparticles are formed in the range of 05 nm – 50

nm. Their morphology is spherical. Regarding their stability, the nanoparticles were found to be fairly stable over a period of few weeks over which there was no change in colour and texture of the nanosolution.

Experimental

A. Material : Silver nitrate (AgNO3), Citrate of sodium and

formaldehyde solution was purchased from Merck. All chemicals were used as received. Double-distilled

deionized water was used. B. Characterization techniques: Ultraviolet-visible

Spectroscopy (UV-Vis) was performed in a Perkin-Elmer Lambda 25 Spectrophotometer. The studies of size, morphology and composition of the nanoparticles were performed by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy

(SEM). SEM was carried out on Ultra 55 SEM from Zeiss and TEM was carried out on Tecnai 200 FEI.

Samples for TEM studies were prepared by placing drops of the silver nanoparticles solutions on carbon-

coated TEM grids. Samples for SEM were prepared by placing a drop of colloidal silver solution on a clean

silicon wafer. The wafer is dried at R.T. and then washed with D.I. water.The wafer is oven-dried at 60 C and ready for SEM measurements.

C. Preparation of silver nanoparticles : Part I. Preparation of Tollens’s reagent: 0.50 gm of silver nitrate in 50 ml of distilled water is dissolved and to this is added a pellet of NaOH upon which a brown coloured precipitate resulted. 25% ammonia was added such that the precipitate just dissolved. To this was added 200 mg of sodium citrate and stirred well using a magnetic stirrer. Part II. Preparation of silver nanoparticles: The as-received 37% formaldehyde is diluted 20 times with water. About 10ml of this diluted formaldehyde solution is stirred on magnetic stirrer at 300 rpm. Tollen’s reagent is added drop by drop until an

appreciable yellow colour is imparted to the colloidal silver solution.

Results and Discussion Tollens reagent - sodium citrate solution is colourless. When formaldehyde is added to this solution, it

turns pale yellow indicating the formation of silver nanoparticles (Fig.1). In absence of sodium citrate, the solution would show a silver mirror which is the normal tes t for detection of an aldehyde.

Fig.1: Photograph of the nanosilver solution with sodium citrate as stabilizing agent

Fig.2: UV-VIS spectra of the silver nanoparticles taken at different times. A, B and C curves were recorded

after an interval of 2 hrs each while Curve D was recorded after two days.

Fig3. The curve E is the curve D from Fig.1. Curve F was recorded after five days.

Fig 4.TEM images of the silver nanoparticles.

Conclusion In summary, we synthesized silver nanoparticles by chemically reducing the Tollen’s reagent in presence of sodium citrate. We characterized the nanoparticles

with UV-VIS, SEM , TEM, HRTEM and Electron diffraction pattern. The

nanoparticles are spherical in size and shape. They occur as polydispersed particles

with size ranging from 50 to 20 nm.

Shantanu Lanke,

B.E. Chemical

There are many problems people are facing all around the world. From clean water to energy supply – it has always been challenging to tackle these problems. But recently a new material is developed by scientists at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) led by Dr.Darren Sun which promises to solve multiple problems like cleaning water, production of hydrogen and oxygen,

improving Lithium ion batteries and improvement in solar cell. It is formed

by turning titanium dioxide crystals into patented nanofibers, which can

then be easily fabricated into patented flexible filter membranes which include

a combination of carbon, copper, zinc or tin, depending on the specific end

product needed.

Dr. Sun, holding the newly developed

multi purpose TiO2 nanomaterial.

Dr.Sun had initially used titanium

dioxide with iron oxide to make anti-bacterial water filtration membranes to solve biofouling – bacterial growth which clogs up the pores of membranes, obstructing water flow. While developing the membrane, Sun’s team also discovered that it could act as a photocatalyst, turning wastewater into hydrogen and oxygen under sunlight while still producing clean water. Such a water-splitting effect is

usually caused by Platinum, a precious metal that is both expensive and rare.

The rate of hydrogen production by titanium dioxide was 3 times more

than that by using Platinum. As titanium dioxide is a cheap and

abundant material, production of hydrogen will become cheaper.

Hydrogen is a clean fuel which can be used for automotive fuel-cells or in

power plants to generate electricity and can help reduce global warming.

Not only can titanium dioxide particles help split water,

it can also make water filter membranes hydrophilic –

allowing water to flow through it easily, while rejecting

foreign contaminants, including those of salt, making it

perfect for desalinating water using forward osmosis.

Thus a new super high flux (flow rate) forward osmosis

membrane is developed. With its anti-microbial

properties and low cost, the membrane can also be used

to make breathable anti-bacterial bandages, which

would not only prevent infections and tackle infection at

open wounds, but also promote healing by allowing

oxygen to permeate through the plaster

Sun has another team working on developing the black

titanium dioxide nanomaterial to be used in Lithium ion

batteries. Preliminary results from thin coin-like lithium

ion batteries, have shown that when titanium dioxide

sphere-like nanoparticles modified with carbon are used

as the anode (negative pole), it can double the capacity

of the battery. This gives such batteries a much longer

lifespan before it is fully drained.

Prannoy Sonkusare,

T.E. Chemical

Images : The palladium cored platinum and iron nanoparticle catalyst .

In direction of reduction in cost of fuel cell one direction is reducing the cost of material used. In

this direction with the help of nanoparticles technology has achieved a big success. One of the

most expensive elements used in most fuel cells is platinum, but now researchers have created a unique core and shell nanoparticle that uses far less platinum then required before. At the same time it performs more efficiently and lasts longer than commercially available pure-platinum catalysts at the cathode end of fuel cell reactions. The oxygen reduction reaction which takes place at the cathode of fuel cell creates water as its only waste and if it is then up to 40 percent of a fuel cell’s efficiency is lost. Due to many reasons platinum has always been the catalyst of choice for this reaction for many researchers, but it is expensive, and the reaction causes it to break down over time. The unique core-shell nanoparticle developed by researchers at Brown University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory addresses both of these problems of cost and

decay. The research team, which includes Brown graduate student and co-author Vismadeb Mazumder and researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, created a five-

nanometer palladium (Pd) core and encircled it with a shell consisting of iron and platinum (FePt). The trick, Mazumder said, was in molding a shell that would retain its shape and require the smallest amount of platinum to pull off an efficient reaction.

The team created the iron-platinum shell by decomposing iron pentacarbonyl [Fe(CO)5] and reducing platinum acetylacetonate [Pt(acac)2], a technique Sun first reported in a 2000 Science paper. The result was a shell that uses only 30 percent platinum, although the researchers say

they expect they will be able to make thinner shells and use even less platinum. In laboratory

tests, the palladium/iron-platinum nanoparticles combination generated 12 times more current

than commercially available pure-platinum catalysts at the same catalyst weight. The

output also remained consistent over 10,000 cycles of experiment, which is at least ten times

longer than commercially available platinum models that begin to deteriorate after 1,000

cycles. The team created iron-platinum shells that varied in width from one to three

nanometers. In lab tests, the group found the one-nanometer shells performed best.

Vivek Tiwari,

T.E. Chemical

A biofuel is a fuel that contains energy from geologically recent carbon

fixation. These fuels are produced from living organisms. Examples of this

carbon fixation occur in plants and microalgae. These fuels are made by a

biomass conversion (biomass refers to recently living organisms, most often

referring to plants or plant-derived materials). This biomass can be converted to convenient energy containing substances in three different ways: thermal conversion, chemical conversion, and biochemical conversion. This biomass conversion can result in fuel in solid, liquid, or gas form. This new biomass can be used for biofuels. Biofuels have increased in popularity because of rising oil prices and the need for energy security. However, according to the European Environment Agency, biofuels do not necessarily mitigate global warming. Bioethanol is an alcohol made by

fermentation, mostly from carbohydrates produced in sugar or

starch crops such as corn or sugarcane. Cellulosic biomass, derived from non-

food sources, such as trees and grasses, is also being developed as a feedstock

for ethanol production. Ethanol can be used as a fuel for

vehicles in its pure form, but it is usually used as a gasoline additive to

increase octane and improve vehicle emissions. Bioethanol is widely used in the USA and in Brazil.

Biodiesel production Biodiesel production is the process of producing the

biofuel, biodiesel, through the chemical reactions transesterification and esterification. This involves vegetable or animal fats and oils being reacted with short-chain alcohols (typically methanol or ethanol).Common feedstock used in biodiesel production include yellow grease (recycled vegetable oil), "virgin" vegetable oil, and tallow. Recycled oil is processed to remove impurities from cooking, storage, and handling, such as dirt, charred food, and water. Virgin oils are refined, but not to a food-grade level. Degumming to remove phospholipids and other plant matter is common, though refinement processes vary.A sample of the cleaned feedstock oil is titrated with a standardized base solution in order to determine the concentration of free fatty acids (carboxylic acids) present in the vegetable oil sample. These acids are then either esterified into biodiesel, esterified into glycerides, or removed, typically through neutralization. Base-catalyzed transesterification reacts lipids (fats and oils) with alcohol

(typically methanol or ethanol) to produce biodiesel and an impure coproduct, glycerol. If the feedstock oil is used or

has a high acid content, acid-catalyzed esterification can be used to react fatty acids with alcohol to produce biodiesel.

Other methods, such as fixed-bed reactors, supercritical reactors, and ultrasonic reactors, forgo or decrease the use

of chemical catalysts. Products of the reaction include not only biodiesel, but also byproducts, soap, glycerol, excess

alcohol, and trace amounts of water. All of these byproducts must be removed to meet the standards, but

the order of removal is process-dependent.

Pushkar Karkhanis,

T.E. Chemical

The debt which the world owes to our motherland is immense.

We had our religion about three hundred years before, others even thought of.

The same hold good with respect to sciences. India has given to antiquity the earliest scientific

physicians and according to Sir William Hunter, she has even contributed to modern medical

science by the discovery of various chemicals and by teaching how to reform misshapen ears and

noses. Even more it has done in mathematics, for Algebra, Geometry, Astronomy, and the

triumph of modern science- mixed mathematics- were all invented in India, just so much as the

ten numerical, the very cornerstone of all present civilization.

In philosophy, we are even now head and shoulders above any other nation. In music, India gave

to the world her system of notation, with the seven cardinal notes and the diatonic scale.

In philology, our Sanskrit language is now universally acknowledged to be the foundation of all

European languages.

In literature, our epics, poems and dramas rank as high as those of any language,

our ‘Shakuntala’ was summarized by Germany’s greatest poet as, ‘heaven and earth united’. India

has given to the world, the fables of Aesop, it has given Arabian Nights, yes, even the story of

Cindrella and Bean Stacks. In manufacture, India was the first to make cotton and purple (dye), it

was proficient in all works of jewelry. Lastly she has invented the game of Chess, Cards and Dice.

So great, in fact, was the superiority of India in every respect that it drew to her borders the hungry

cohorts of Europe, and thereby indirectly brought about the discovery of America.

And, I challenge anybody to show one single period of her national life when India was lacking in

spiritual giants, capable of moving the world. But her work is spiritual, and that cannot be done

with blasts of war-trumpets or the march of cohorts. Her influence has always fallen upon the

world like that of the gentle dew, unheard and scarcely market, yet bringing into bloom the fairest

flowers of the earth.

Snehal Mandale,

T.E. Chemical

Sare Jahan Se Accha, Hindustan Hamara !

as naphtha, diesel, asphalt base, gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, heating oil, and kerosene. The manual was provided to read through and we were taken for field visits several times. We learnt how a plant actually functions, how all the instruments, valves are controlled from one big control room. We were shown quite a few equipments that we had only read about and maybe seen a few, but mostly on laboratory scale.

The practical application of all theories taught in school/college is done here.

Training here was a fruitful and memorable experience. We got insight into how a

petroleum refinery works and what is expected of a fresher at such a company.

“A FRUITFUL AND MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE!”

Madhura Chincholi,

Summer Trainee, HPCL,

Mumbai Refinery.

“THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE IS FAR DIFFERENT

THAN THE PRACTICAL”

I spent the vacation after my T.E. as a summer trainee at H.P.C.L, Mumbai Refinery. I was assigned to the FRE(Fuels Refinery Expansion) unit, under Operations Department of the Fuels Refinery. Trainees were supposed to reach by 8:00AM, submit our mobiles at the entrance and then proceed for breakfast. After which we had to mark our attendance and collect a helmet each before entering the plant zone. Also we had to

compulsorily wear safety shoes and preferably be in formal attire. Lunch was at 12:00 noon,

followed by a nap of about 10-15 minutes or a chat with the other trainees. And then went

back to our respective units and left the refinery by 4:00 PM.

In the FRE unit, we basically came to know how crude oil is processed and

separated into number of products such

Currently, I m in the final year of

chemical Engineering and now have professional approach

towards the career. So when I started with my third year, I

became more career oriented and so I started seeking for an

opportunity to get internship in several chemical industries. And

fortunately got a chance to be an intern at HIKAL CHEMICALS, Taloja plant !

The first major thing that I learned is that our theoretical knowledge is far different than the practical. Not a single chemical reaction is as simple as

that given in the textbook. The complete professional

atmosphere in industry was so pleasant and sharing of

knowledge, experience by highly qualified persons was very much helpful.

I would suggest to all my

juniors that do understand theoretical concepts but get

your ideas cleared about the practically applied things!

Lalit Bhole,

Summer Intern,

HIKAL CHEMICALS,

Taloja Plant.

Babasaheb Kadam Sandeep Ghadge

“THINGS STUDIED DURING THIS TRAINING WILL

BE DEFINITELY USEFUL FOR OUR BRIGHT

FUTURE!”

It was a great experience in VVF India Ltd., It is a chemical base industry at the TALOJA MIDC area .Most of the oil products and oil base like fatty acids, glycerin, etc. are the main

products of VVF. In the industry, there are many safety arrangements provided and there is enough space for manufacturing and transportation movement.

Our duration of training was of 15 days. Basically there are 6 plants in the industry. We

were under training in the LOOP REACTOR PLANT, mainly in this plant HYDROGENATION process carried out by using hazardous hydrogen gas; by means of conversion of unsaturated

to saturated.

First day was only about the literature survey of our plant. Mainly the first session of training

was briefing about Safety, Arrangement and Action in emergency situations.

We used to enter the plant at 10.00AM with entry passes. Starting with control room, where all thinks are operated. Control room section at the top and that section were explained

by our guide Mr. Manoj Bagal.

Every day, we used to study a part of loop reactor, had lunch & after that we entered the plant and practically observed that part & after making the report of day and submit it to our guide,

and take leave from the company. Like that our daily schedule was fixed.

Training in VVF INDIA LTD. was memorable, and fun! Things studied during this training will definitely be useful for our bright future!

Summer Interns, VVF India Ltd., Taloja Plant.

The year 2012-13 was very prestigious for our department with our

students not only excelling in Academics but also in extra curriculum.

Students from T.E.CHEMICAL won Gold & Silver medals in Annual sports

meet of our college during the cultural festival ‘Milestone 2013’.The

sports including Cricket, Football, Basketball & Tug of war for Boys and

Badminton & Cricket for Girls.

Team (L-R) : Mr.Kunal Gajare, Mr. Tanmay Gound,

Mr. Gitesh Patil, Mr. Dinesh Borade, Mr. Sahil Samant,

Mr. Ronit Shewde, Mr. Sujay Pawar.

Team (L-R): Mr. Rahul Salunke, Mr. Saurabh Dande, Mr.

Himanshu Rajput, Mr. Saurabh Joshi, Mr. Rakshit Shetty,

Mr. Lalit Bhole, Mr. Mandar Rampure.

Team (L-R): Mr. Himanshu Rajput, Mr. Prathamesh

Gadge, Mr. Rakshit Shetty, Mr. Amogh Joshi,

Mr. Varun Cherian, Mr. Prathamesh Sardeshpande, Mr.

Aniruddha Rangnekar.

Mr.Rohan Pujari (left).

Team (L-R): Ms. Jaya Avhaad, Ms. Priyanka Sagwekar,

Ms. Nisha Pujari, Ms. Sushma Baviskar, Ms. Madhura

Chincholi, Ms. Charmi Nagaria.

Ms. Charmi Nagaria