ABSTRACT

Tata Research Development and Design Centre (TRDDC) was established in 1981 to apply the existing knowledge for the benefit of the industry in particular and the society in general. It is one of the 19 Innovation Labs within the Corporate Technology Organization of Tata Consultancy Services Limited. The “Process Engineering Innovation Lab” is one of the four research labs within TCS Innovation Labs - TRDDC and offers in-house R&D and in-plant consulting services for a variety of process industries like minerals, metals, materials, chemicals, medical devices, cement, automobiles, paints, etc. An inter-disciplinary approach to problem solving has been successfully applied to a wide variety of generic as well as specific problems requiring quick remedies, leading to commercially feasible solutions and/or technologically attractive alternatives. The current areas of research at the Process Engineering Innovation Lab are:Metals and Materials Innovation, Green Technologies, and Nanotechnology and Nanobiotechnology Initiatives. In this presentation, innovation in TCS will be briefly discussed first, followed by detailed description of the research activities at the Process Engineering Innovation Lab.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Venkataramana Runkana is currently a Principal Scientist and leads the particle science and nanotechnology research programs at TRDDC. He has extensive experience in developing and implementing industrial research projects on process modeling, simulation and optimization, predictive data analytics, and process development, scale-up and design.Venkat has initiated and lead research programs on modeling and optimization of processes involving particulate solids such as granulation and sintering of iron ore fines, balling and induration of iron ore fines, direct reduction of iron ore by coal, and dispersion-flocculation of colloidal suspensions. His current areas of interest are nanoparticle synthesis in aerosol flame reactors, production of nanoparticles through high energy milling, drug delivery through polymer hydrogels, and development and/or application of population balance, computational fluid dynamics and discrete element modeling techniques for particulate processes. Venkat is currently an AICTE-INAE Distinguished Visiting Professor at IIT Kanpur.