Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D) Programme in Chemical Engineering

The admissions to the PhD program typically happens twice in an academic year - once in the month of May and another in December. The notification for the same, with eligibility details, is posted on the institute and department webpage. Firstly, the candidates are shortlisted by a selection committee. The shortlisted candidates are called for a written test, which usually consists of questions from various subjects within chemical engineering and engineering mathematics. The candidates who score above a cut-off (decided by the selection committee) are called for an interview, typically on the next day, for final selections. Apart from the usual PhD admission cycles, the department may for another round of walk-in PhD admissions in July and March. Notifications for the same are posted on the department webpage. The department also admits final year UG students of various NITs to the PhD program. For this, one (or two) faculties visit a certain NIT and hold an on-site interview. Such visits are notified to the head of the department of the respective NIT well in advance. The eligibility conditions for all PhD admissions are noted in details in the PG manual of IITK.

Course requirements:

The students take a minimum of six courses to develop expertise in ChE fundamentals as well as to complement their research work.

Research:

Post coursework (up to 1 year), students work on a research problem of their interest under the guidance of a faculty mentor(s). Working on a particular problem for 3-4 years is a unique experience that helps in developing a scientific temper along with the associated technical communication skills. The typical norm for graduation is 3-4 publications in reputed peer reviewed journals.

Processing of Ph.D. applications for admissions to the Spring 2023-2024 session has commenced. Please check the IITK admissions website for details.

Template for Post Graduate Courses

Department of chemical engineering offers several core and elective courses for the students enrolled in Ph.D., M.Tech. and M.S.(Research) programmes, below given minimum course requirements for different PG programmes.
Programme Minimum course requirement
Ph.D. Students
joining after
M.Tech.
Minimum course requirement is four.
Any one course from (ChE641, ChE642) and one from (ChE611, ChE621, ChE631).
The other two course can be taken from the list of electives.
Ph.D. Students
joining directly
after B.Tech.
Minimum course requirement is eight.
Three must be from the compulsory courses (ChE611, ChE621, ChE631), one from (ChE641, ChE642)
and the rest four can be taken from the list of electives.
In addition to the usual courses, MS and MTech students are required to register for zero credit M.Tech. Seminar(ChE701) and Ph.D. students are required to register for zero credit Ph.D. Seminar(ChE801).
Core courses offered
Course No: Course Title
ChE611 Transport Phenomena
ChE621 Thermodynamics
ChE631 Reaction Engineering
ChE641 Mathematical Methods
ChE642 Numerical Methods
ChE701 M.Tech. Seminar
ChE801 Ph.D. Seminar
Elective courses offered
Course No: Course Title
ChE652A Optimization
ChE643A Mesoscale And Continuum Simulations In Chemical Engineering
ChE663A Convective Heat and Mass transport
ChE633A Heterogeneous Catalysis
ChE613A Rheology of Complex Fluids
ChE659A Process Engineering Principles in Microfabrication
ChE677A Introduction to Polymer Physics
ChE632A Multiphase Reactor Design
ChE636A Numerical simulation of fluid flow through porous media
ChE672A Polymer Processing
ChE623A Thermodynamics of fluids and fluid mixtures
ChE687A Quantum Chemical Design of Electrochemical, Catalytic and Separation Engineering Materials
ChE616A Granular Flow
ChE668A (or) ChE614A Principles of non-Newtonian fluid mechanics (or) Introduction to hydrodynamic stability
ChE678A Mechanics of soft materials
ChE622A Introduction to molecular simulations
ChE664A Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage
ChE684A Introduction to Systems Biology
ChE665A Statistical Mechanics and Kinetics for Engineers