ABSTRACT

The field of Interfacial Science and Engineering is at the boundary of various subjects. It is required by many chemical and process industries and often their is overlap between the requirements. A study of this subject by itself allows a unified approach to all these applications. The present talk will give a background of the interfacial forces, surfactants, the self assembly of various structures and the basic properties of these systems which are useful in applications. The applications of this subject in various fields such as paints, pharmaceutical, dyeing, textile, fuel, biotechnology, separations, reactions and biotechnology will also be discussed. Some of the work in our group about fuel, reaction media and foamability will also be reviewed. Process intensification can be achieved in many ways and the use of nanostructured aqueous media as reaction media is one of these. It provides an ideal opportunity for tuning the selectivity of chemical reactions where a multiplicity of reaction products is possible. The hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity of the medium varies drastically within a short distance in micelles and microemulsion droplets and this results in a specific orientation of molecules solubilised by these structures. The orientation coupled with the high localised concentration of reagent has resulted in changing the selectivity of many reactions and in increasing the rates of many.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Professor Sunil S Bhagwat, B.Chem.Engg., M.Chem.Engg., Ph.D.(Tech), is currently the Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, at the Institute of Chemical Technology (earlier known as UDCT/UICT), Mumbai. His area of specialization is Interfacial Science and Engineering, Artificial Neural Networks, Energy and Exergy Engineering. He is a Fellow of the Maharashtra Academy of Sciences and was Elected the best teacher by the students and awarded the Prof. R. A. Rajadhyaksha Best Teacher Award for several years. He received the NOCIL Award of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers for excellence in design or Development of Process Plant or Equipment in 2012. In 2013, his research group won the first prize in the Bry-Air asia awards for the HVAC for his work in the area of heat based refrigeration. He was awarded NOCIL Award of the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers for excellence in design or Development of Process Plant or Equipment in 2012 and the CSMCRI-Chemcon Distinguished Speaker Award at Chemcon Dec 2014. He is a life member of Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (currently Chairman, Mumbai Regional Center) and the Honourary secretary of the Indian Society for Surface Science and Technology, Western India Chapter. He is also a life member of Oil Technologist's Association of India. He is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Surface Science and Technology, India and on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research of the American Chemical Society. He is an active consultant to the chemical industry and the client companies range from pharmaceutical ancillary company to an industrial research company. He has more than 60 international publications and 7 patents to his credit.