Our Faculty

Dr. Udaya joined as a faculty at Amrita in 2011. He finished his Ph. D. from Florida USA in 2010. Prior to obtaining his doctoral degree, Dr. Udaya worked as a Research Specialist at AKZO NOBEL Coatings, Bangalore, India. He worked on projects funded by Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DoE) USA. During his doctoral studies, he also worked as a consultant for RENTECH Clean Energy Solutions, Colorado, USA for separating sub-micron catalyst particles from wax-catalyst slurry. Dr. Udaya has expertise in Reaction Engineering (Especially microreactor design and fabrication), Solid-Fluid Separations, Process Modeling, Simulation and Control. He has two Patents on Microchannel Reactors. He also Designed, Modeled and Simulated a DYNAMIC Settler for RENTECH.

AFFILIATIONS

• Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Sciences
• Assistant Professor, Center of Excellence in Advanced Materials & Green Technologies

QUALIFICATIONS

CERTIFICATES, AWARDS, HONORS, AND SOCIETIES

• Cognizant Best Faculty Award, 2014
• Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2013
• TITAN’s of Innovation Award, 2013
• Member, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, 2003- Present
• Member Board of Studies, Chemical Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore
• Life Member, Indian Society for Advancement of Materials and Processing (ISAMPE), 2011-Present

RESEARCH

RESEARCH THEMES

• Distributed Fuel Production
• Process Intensification

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Primary research focus of the group is to study the kinetics in small reactors, reactor design, process models for chemical reactors and model based control.

Catalysis and Reaction Engineering

Microchannel rectors gained importance in recent years due to high surface-to-volume ratios available for heat transfer. These reactors are of great importance when a high selectivity of products is required such as in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. An integrated microchannel reactor has been designed and developed at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham having a sensible heat transfer co-efficient of 5000 W/(m2. K), which is 50 times higher when compared to the conventional reactors. Deposition of catalysts onto microchannels is another challenge.
We are preparing catalysts such as cobalt Fischer-Tropsch catalyst, Pt-Sn catalyst for paraffin dehydrogenation, and mixed-oxide catalysts for Biomass and Coal gasification.
We are also studying the kinetics of oxide complexation in multi-phase reactors such as Cement rotary kilns using in situ radioisotope particle tracking.

Process Modeling and Simulation

A process model gives an edge over experiments in terms of cost and information availability but limited to real situations even under similar conditions. From modeling and simulation, we are able to simulate the heat and mass transfer, and reaction rates. The Process Modeling and Simulation group works on modeling and simulation of paraffin dehydrogenation, biomass gasification and pyrolysis, cement rotary kilns, and microchannel reactor stack.
We are developing General Reactor Modeling (GRM) Software to facilitate every reaction engineer to simulate different kind of reactors available in the chemical reactor supermarket.

Flow Dynamics and Control

Process control is very important for chemical engineers where the variables such as temperature, pressure and concentration are controlled using manipulated variables. We are currently working on model-based control of interacting systems for liquid level and temperature control. We are also working on interface tracking for drop-to-drop collisions using imaging techniques.

KEYWORDS

• Microchannel reactors
• Biomass gasification
• Flow imaging
• Catalysis

INVITED TALKS

1. Mathematical Modeling of Fluidized Bed Coal-Gasifier, Fluid Dynamics and Its Applications, P.S.G.R.Krishnammal College for Women, December 23, 2014.
2. Low-CO2 Refining Technologies, Advances in Green Technologies for Pollution Free Energy Sources, J.C.T. College of Engineering, August 24, 2014.
3. Chemical Reactor Modeling, Faculty Development Workshop on Computer Aided Simulation, M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, August 13, 2013.
4. Comparison of Various Combined Cooling, Heating and Power (CCHP) Cycles and Working Fluids for the Minimization of Carbon dioxide (CO2) Emissions Using Aspen HYSYS, Chemical Control Strategies and the Contribution of Green Chemistry for Sustainable Environment, Kongu Engineering College, March 16, 2013
5. Computer Applications of Chemical Engineering, Association of Chemical Engineers Student Chapter, Erode Sengunthar Engineering College, December 31, 2011

COURSES

Summary

My professional interests circle around multiphase and compact integrated microchannel reactors. We are trying to address the issues with design of compact microchannel heat exchanger starting from feed mal-distribution, short-circuting, efficient gasket design, catalyst design and deposition onto microchannels and catalyst regeneration. We have designed and fabricated a microchannel reactor which has 500 times more heat transfer capability when compared to commercially available multi-phase reactors. We are in the process of addressing the mixing phenomenon in rotary kilns using radiotracer techniques. We are also designing a two-stage biomass gasifier for efficient conversion of Biomass/Plastic waste to syngas. We are also currently involved in developing General Reactor Modeling Software, which is a single step solution for all types of Chemical Reactor Simulations.