newsletter 2010 ace

8/2/2019 Newsletter 2010 Ace

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NewsletterAssociation ofChemical Engineering

Jan-march 2010

ACE CELEBRATES ITS FIRST

ANNIVERSARY

The Association of Chemical Engineering celebrated its first Anni

versary on Thursday, March 4. The function saw Dr. Arup Kumar

Dutta, Managing Di rector, Excel Matrix Biological Devices P. Lt

as the Chief Guest. He was honoured by Dr. V. S. Rao, Honourab

Director, BPHC, and faculty members of the Chemical Engineerin

Association.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. V.S. Rao urged the Chemical Engi-

neering

students to prepare themselves to take up challenges in green

chemistry, energy, and other varied domains of technology. He e

pressed the plans of the institute to set up small enterprises with

the campus like the recently established GSS America. . Certificat

and prizes were also distributed by him to the student team mem

CONTENTS

ASSOCIATION

NEWS

ACE Celebrates itsfirst anniversary

p.1

New faculty p.2

IN THE NEWS p.3

GENERAL

The green powergrid p.4

Paper bags or plas-

tic bags? p.6

Wearable windmill

p.9

Eco friendly mobile

phone p.10

NEWS LETTER

FEEDBACK p.11

http://172.16.100.227/chemical


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Dr. Arup Kumar Dutta, who has done intensive research in the field of synthesis of

Chemical Engineering and Biology, delivered an extremely informative talk on "Paradigm

Shift in Chemical Engineering". He briefed us about various interesting facets of Tissue

Engineering Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing and explained how biology can be used a

an efficient tool for sufficing engineering needs.

The event was concluded by a wonderful cultural program conducted by the Chemical

Engineering students. The shows were applauded as students showcased their verve and

talent through amazing performances.

The function was a gracious reminder of the Association's progress and a testimony of its

commitment to building the competency of its students.

NEW FACULT

We are pleased to welcoour new facultymember who brings withhim new research areasand has subsequentlyexpanded our graduateprogram.

Contd..

tp://172.16.100.227/chemical 2

Prior to his appointment in Feb. 2010 Prof. B.N.Murthy was with the

University of Maryland as a faculty research associate from Feb. 2008

to Dec 2009. He was responsible for planning and performing com-

putational and experimental fluid dynamics research projects. He has

been working in the area of computational and experimental fluid

dynamics for last 7 years and his interest runs from CFD modeling of

high shear rotor systems to meshing complex geometries. Withinthe field of experimental fluid dynamics he has published 5 book

chapters. His educational qualifications include :

Doctor of Philosophy, Chemical Engineering, I.C.T (Formerly

UDCT) India.

November 2007

Dissertation: Experimental and computational fluid dynamics stud-

ies of single and multiphase systems: Pipe and Stirred vessels

Master of Chemical Engineering, I.C.T (Formerly UDCT) India

September 2004

Dissertation: Large eddy simulations of turbulent pipe flows

Bachelor in Chemical Engineering , Nagarjuna University

April 2001


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N THE NEWS

SSOCIATION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Pearl:

Mayuri Dixit won the first prize in GANDHARA (the classical music event in our own Cultural FesPEARL) under the Hindustani Music Category.

Prateek Tiwari won the first prize in Mogul Empires and second in the Quiz Competition.

Apti-Holitic:This quiz organized by ACE was a huge success with a participation of 150 students. The winners

Anita Kar and Rishabh Bhargava (first), V. Niharika and G. Kavya(second).

Quark:Shruthi V. won high commendation for The Economic and Social Council in "BITSMUN" at Quark.

had represented Brazil and talked about food security and low carbon technology.

Mood Indigo:Shruthi V. also won the Third prize in Classical Music Competition at Mood Indigo, Annual Cultura

tival, IIT, Bombay.

IIT Bombay Techfest:Swapnil, Manvendra, Parth and Bhanu participated in the Robotics Competition at the IIT Bomba

Festival. They made a planetary robot which collected soil samples and avoided obstacles.

Apogee:Akhila and Vaideesh participated in Trackomania at Apogee, Annual Tech. Festival,BITS-Pilani. Th

made a line follower robot.

BOSM:

Srinivas, Osuri and Harish represented BPHC at BOSOM, Annual Sports Meet in the Cricket team.


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The green power grid:

Another source ofclean energy that people are truly excited about is the bloom box apower source that is inexpensive, clean, and completely emission-free.

With the Bloom Box, we will be able to generate our own electricity wirelessly. The Box is

hoping to replace big power plants and transmission line grids the same way laptops are

alternatives to desktops and cell phones to landlines.

Bloom Boxes run on fuel cell technology which uses a series of self-sustaining chemical

reactions to convert just about any fuel into electricity. The cells themselves are made

ofcommon beach sand that is baked and then coated with special inks. Right now one

fuel cell can power a light bulb. To generate more electricity, the Bloom Box stacks fuel

cells into small blocks and houses them in a unit about the size of refrigerator.

The original technology comes from an oxygen generator meant for a scrapped NASA

Mars program that's been converted, with the help of an estimated $400 million in private

funding, into a fuel cell. Bloom's design feeds oxygen into one side of a cell while fuel

GENERAL


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(natural gas, bio gas from landfill waste, solar, etc) is supplied to the other side to provide

the chemical reaction requiredfor power. The cells themselves are inexpensive ceramic

disks painted with a secret green "ink" on one side and a black "ink" on the other. The

disks are separated by a cheap metal alloy, instead of more precious metals like platinum,

and stacked into a cube of varying capabilities -- a stack of 64 can power a small businesslike Starbucks.

Paper bags or plastic bags?

Paper or plastic bags: which is better?

It's an age old question, when it comes time to check out when grocery shopping: paper

bag or plastic bag? It seems like it should be an easy choice, but there are an incredible

number of details and inputs hidden in each bag. From durability and reusability to life cyclecosts, there's a lot more to each bag than meet the eye. Let's take a look behind the bags.

Where do brown paper bags come from?

Paper comes from trees -- lots and lots of trees. The logging industry is huge, and the

process to get that paper bag to the grocery store is long, sordid and exacts a heavy toll on

Now get this, skeptics:There are already several corporate customers using refrigera-tor-sized Bloom Boxes. Google was first to this green energy party, using its Bloom Boxesto power a data center for the last 18 months. Ebay has installed its boxes on the frontlawn of its San Jose location. It estimates to receive almost 15% of its energy needs from

Bloom, saving about $100,000 since installing its five boxes 9 months ago -- an estimatewe assume doesn't factor in the millions Ebay paid for the boxes themselves. Bloommakes about one box a day at the moment and believes that within 5 to 10 years it candrive down the cost to about $3,000 to make it suitable for home use.

Contd


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the planet. First, the trees are found, marked

and felled in a process that all too often in-

volves clear cutting, resulting in massive habi-

tat destruction and long-term ecological dam-

age.

Mega-machinery comes in to remove the logs

from what used to be forest, either by logging

trucks or even helicopters in more remote are-

as. This machinery requires fossil fuel to operate and roads to drive on, and, when done

unsustainably, logging even a small area has a large impact on the entire ecological chain in

surrounding areas.

Once the trees are collected, they must dry at least three years before they can be used.

More machinery is used to strip the bark, which is then chipped into one-inch squares and

cooked under tremendous heat and pressure. This wood stew is then "digested," with a

chemical mixture of limestone and acid, and after several hours of cooking, what was once

wood becomes pulp. It takes approximately three tons of wood chips to make one ton of

pulp.

The pulp is then washed and bleached; both stages require thousands of gallons of clean

water. Coloring is added to more water, and is then combined in a ratio of 1 part pulp to 400parts water, to make paper. The pulp/water mixture is dumped into a web of bronze wires,

and the water showers through, leaving the pulp, which, in turn, is rolled into paper.

Whew! And that's just to make the paper; don't forget about the energy inputs -- chemical,

electrical, and fossil fuel-based -- used to transport the raw material, turn the paper into a

bag and then transport the finished paper bag all over the world.

Where do paper shopping bags go when you're done with them?

When you're done using paper shopping bags, and further other household reuses, a couple

of things can happen. The minimally-inked (or printed with soy or other veggie-based inks)

used paper bags, can be composted or they can be recycled in most mixed-paper recycling

schemes, or they can be thrown away for incineration.


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If you compost them, the bags break down and go

from paper to a rich soil nutrient over a period of a

couple of months; if you throw them away, they'll

eventually break down of the period of many,

many years (and without the handy benefits thatcompost can provide). If you choose to recycle

paper bags, then things get a little tricky.

The paper must first be re-pulped, which usually

requires a chemical process involving compounds

like hydrogen peroxide, sodium silicate and sodium

hydroxide, which bleach and separate the pulp

fibers. The fibers are then cleaned and screened to be sure they're free of anything that

would contaminate the paper-making process, and are then washed to remove any leftoverink before being pressed and rolled into paper, as before.

How are plastic bags made?

Unlike paper bags, plastic bags are typically made from oil, a non-renewable resource.

Plastics are a by-product of the oil-refining process, accounting for about four percent of oil

production around the globe. The process requires enough juice to heat the oil up to 750

degrees Fahrenheit, where it can be separated into its various components and molded into

polymers. Plastic bags most often come from one of the five types of polymers -- polyeth-ene-- in its low-density form (LDPE), which is also known as #4 plastic.

How does plastic bag recycling work?

Like paper, plastic can be recycled, but it isn't simple or easy. Recycling involves essentially

re-melting the bags and re-casting the plastic. But, as any chef who has ever tried to re-heat

a Hollondaise sauce will tell you, the quality isn't quite as good the second time around; the

polymer chains often break, leading to a lower-quality product.

Basically, plastic is often downcycled -- that is, the material loses viability and/or value in theprocess of recycling -- into less functional forms, making it hard to make new plastic bags

out of old plastic bags.

What about biodegradable plastic bags?

WS LETTER ( JAN-MARCH 2010) Contd
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining.htmhttp://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining.htm


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Biodegradable plastic is a mixed bag (pun intended) as well; while biopolymers like polyhy-

droxyalkanoate (PHA) and Polylactide (PLA) are completely biodegradable in compost (and

very, very, very slowly -- if at all -- in a landfill) and are not made from petroleum products,

they are often derived from our food sources.

The primary feedstock for bioplastics today (for existing commercial process technology) is

corn, which is rife with agro-political conflict and often grown and harvested unsustainably;

because of these reasons, and because it competes with food supply, it is not likely to be a

long-term solution in the plastics world.

Plus, some bags marked "biodegradable" are not actually so -- they're recycled plastic mixed

with cornstarch. The cornstarch biodegrades and the plastic breaks down into tiny little

pieces but does not actually "biodegrade," leaving a yucky polymer mess (if in small pieces).

The only way to avoid this is To look for 100% plant-based polymers, like the two men-tioned above.A look at the facts an

numbers

Further insight into the i

tions of using and recyclin

kind of bag can be gaine

looking at overall energysions, and other life cycle

costs of production and rec

According to a life cycle a

by Franklin Associates, Lt

tic bags create fewer aemissions and require less

during the life cycle of bot

of bags per 10,000 equiva

es -- plastic creates 9.1

pounds of solid waste v

cubic pounds for paper; creates 17.9 pounds of atm

ic emissions vs. 64.2 pou

paper; plastic creates 1.8

of waterborne waste vs

pounds for paper.

Paper bags can hold mor

per bag -- anywhere from

cent to 400 percent more, d

ing on how they're packedthey hold more volume a

sturdier. The numbers h

sume that each paper bag h

percent more than each

bag, meaning that it takes ohalf plastic bags to equal

bag -- it's not a one-to-on

parison, even though plascomes out ahead.

Contd

So, while it's good to have the alternative (and to recognize the

innovation it represents), bioplastics aren't quite ready to save us

from the paper or plastic debate.

So, which is better: paper or plastic? here is the conclusion

ASSOCIATION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING


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Wearable windmill:urces: environment.about.com, assortment.com, treehugger.com, worldwatch.org

GO GREEN......


10/13

A windmill that you wear. Its a harness that you wear, so you can harness the

wind. Like a functional fairy suit. Its called the Dandelion, and its quite the fas h-

ion statement. Earth Tech-ling points us toward what could be the funniest piece

of fashion weve seen in a while- nothing so dorky since the polar powered vestthat puts this writer over the edge when it comes to bad design ideas.

The designer writes, Inspired by the theme of climate change, this piece explores

ideas of personal, mobile power generation and kinetics. Dandelion is a wearable

that captures energy from wind and human movement. It is a structure of minia-

ture windmills that embraces the wearer. It is a fashion that creates an interface

between nature, technology, and people.

It honestly doesnt look like itd hold up in any sort of breeze, let alone gather

any charge to make it useful. Its kinda pretty.in a fanciful sort of way. But thats

all about it.

Sources: www. ecoutere.com, www.inhabitat.com

Eco friendly mobile phone runs on coke:


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Phone batteries are not very good- "they are expensive, consuming valuable resources

on manufacturing, presenting a disposal problem and harmful to the environment."

Now to be fair, fuel cells that run on sugar have been around for decades, and it can run on

any sugary water, not just Coke. But if you are selling an idea as being environmentally

friendly, why start with Coke?

The Designer writes:

The concept is using bio battery to replace the traditional battery to create a pollution free

environment. Bio battery is an ecologically friendly energy generates electricity from

carbohydrates (currently sugar) and utilizes enzymes as the catalyst. By using bio battery as

the power source of the phone, it only needs a pack of sugary drink and it generates water

and oxygen while the battery dies out.

Bio battery has the potential to operate three to four times longer on a single charge than

conventional lithium batteries and it could be fully biodegradable. Meanwhile, it brings a

whole new perception to batteries and afternoon tea.

NEWS LETTER (JAN-MARCH 2010) 1

ASSOCIATION OF CHEMICALENGINEERING

NEWS LETTER an- March 2010


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NEWSLETTER FEEDBACKThe Chemical Engineering Newsletter is a publication of the Association of Chemical Engineers, Bits-Pilani,Hyderabad campus. Its purpose is to provide news concerning faculty, staff and students in the group and alsoto provide insight into many facets of chemical engineering.

News, comments and suggestions and articles for next newsletter can be sent to [email protected]

Acknowledgments:

The articles printed in this news letter have been taken from various sources and few of them aredirectly copied from recognized websites and books.

www.bloomenergy.com

news.cnet.com

www.economictimes.indiatimes.com www.mobilewhack.com

www.impactlab.com

BITS PILANIHYDERABAD CAMPUS

ASSOCIATION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS
http://www.bloomenergy.com/http://www.bloomenergy.com/http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/http://www.mobilewhack.com/http://www.mobilewhack.com/http://www.mobilewhack.com/http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/http://www.bloomenergy.com/


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BITS PILANIHYDERABAD CAMPUS

ASSOCIATION OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERS

newsletter 2010 ace

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