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Name :- Chandrashekhar Vasant Rode Educational Qualification :- Ph. D. (1990), Pune University Current Designation:- Chief Scientist Experience:- Joined NCL pune in 1982 as a Scientist Membership of Learned society :- Life member of :- 1.Catalysis Society of India 2.Indian Institute of Chemcal Engineers Research Interests :- Catalysis with supported metal catalysts for selective hydrogenation, oxidation reactions, catalytic processes for fine chemicals, green chemistry approach involving utilization of renewable feedstock and catalysis in supercritical carbon dioxide solvent, kinetics, catalytic multiphase reactors and chemical reaction engineering. Expertise:- 1. Development of transition metal catalysts (mono-, bi-metallic, nanoclusters) supported on suitable supports for enhancing the activity and tailoring the selectivity behaviour in liquid phase hydrogenation, oxidation reactions of industrial importance. 2. Interpretation of observed activity/selectivity results based on catalyst characterization by XRD, XPS, TEM, surface area, TPD, TPR measurement Current Area of Research:- I have been working in the area of catalysis and chemical reaction engineering, mainly on homogeneous and heterogeneous high pressure catalytic reactions such as carbonylation, oxidation and hydrogenation. I have been responsible for the development of catalysts and bench scale processes for selective hydrogenation and oxidation processes of industrial importance. Currently, I am leading a programme on developing solid catalysts for liquid phase oxidation of substituted phenols to the corresponding aldehydes. Another area of my research deals with the green chemistry approach for fine chemicals. This involves the work on the following aspects: i) New catalytic routes for replacing the reagent based condensation/formylation, reduction and oxidation in fine chemical synthesis. ii) Developing catalytic routes for value added products derived from renewable feedstock iii) Catalysis in supercritical carbon dioxide medium thus, eliminating the use of organic solvents. iv) Kinetic studies and modelling of multiphase reactors Significant research contributions:- My important contributions have been in the area of homogeneous as well as supported metal catalyst syntheses, studying their performance for various reactions and characterisation. While studying the transition metal nanoparticles it was demonstrated that the morphology and particle size changes according to the method of nanoparticle preparation and these factors greatly influence the activity and selectivity of nanoparticle catalysts. This study was carried out using TEM for hydrogenation of 2-butyne-1,4- diol. The kinetic and IR studies of butyne diol hydrogenation showed that the competitive adsorption of substrate and intermmediate by IR studies in case of hydrogenation of butyne diol. My research work in the area of catalysis has also led to development of catalysts and bench scale processes given below:
Ø Hydrogenation of maleic anhydride : This is a two step laboratory scale process for making tetrahydrofuran, g- butyrolactone and 1,4- butanediol from maleic anhydride. In the first step maleic anhydride is esterified to obtain diethyl maleate(DEM). A process has been optimized using a non corrosive catalyst to give 95% conversion of maleic anhydride with 90% yield for the ester of desired specification. In the second step , the ester is hydrogenated in a continuous high pressure fixed bed reactor to obtain the desired product in high selectivity. The catalyst was tested for 500 hours without loss of activity. The procedures for regeneration and reactivation of the catalyst and other process parameters have been optimized and based on these data a pilot plant was operated continuously for 100 hours at NCL. Ø p-Aminophenol : Development of a catalyst and a process for p-Aminophenol via single step catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene. p-Aminophenol is mainly used in the production of paracetamol, a mild analgesic drug. The conventional manufacturing route is a multistep process involving iron/acid reduction, which poses a serious environmental problem. The proposed route involves catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene to give directly p-aminophenol with a selectivity of 65%. The bench scale (2 litre) process was successfully demonstrated to the client and a pilot plant (100 kg/day) is commissioned at the client’s site in India. Based on the data to be collected at pilot scale, it is proposed to commercialise this process for 30,000 TPA scale by the client.
International Projects: Ø Was the Indian Principal Investigator of the Indo-Japan project granted by DST and JSPS, 2007-2009 Ø High pressure, high temperature liquid phase hydrogenation of maleic acid: A systematic kinetic study was carried out, as a project sponsored by DuPont USA. The results were useful to DuPont for implementation in their existing commercial THF process. Ø Liquid phase oxidation of p-xylene to terephthalic acid: This was a three year project sponsored by DuPont UK. The major contribution in this project was identification and removal of an impurity (in ppm level) in the final product by meticulously conducting the experimental studies on kinetics and particle growth. Ø Hydrogenation of Butyne diol: Several novel catalyst systems were developed for the selective hydrogenation of butyne diol to butenediol and butanediol. This included Pt based catalysts and bimetallic Pt-alkali metal catalysts which gave very high TOF compared to the conventional catalysts with complete selectivity to the intermediate butene diol. A detailed process optimization study was also carried out which showed that under certain conditions a desired composition of butene diol and butane diol can be obtained. Also, a continuous fixed bed process was successfully developed (30 gm and 90 gms, catalyst packed) for hydrogenation of butynediol. Several Indian and US patents for catalysts and process have been filed based on this work. Ø Selective oxidation of p-cresol to p-hydroxybenzaldehyde: p-hydroxybenzaldehyde is an important intermmediate for the manufacture of vanillin, trimethoxybenzaldehyde, various agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. A bench scale process using insoluble cobalt catalyst was developed for direct oxidation of p-cresol to obtain p-hydroxybenzaldehyde with 95% selectivity at complete conversion of p-cresol. Ø Advisory consultant for several Indian chemical industries some of which include Chematur, Vinati Organics Ltd., Adarsh Chemicals and Fertilizers, Elkay Chemicals etc.
Research Guidance/Educational:- Ø Eight Ph. D. students currently working at different stages. Ø Three students have been awarded Ph. D. degree. Ø Several students completed B.E. M. E./M.Tech, MSc. Projects/dissertations of different universities under my guidance. Ø Member of Board of Studies, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune Ø Membar of Research Council of North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon Ø Recognised Guide (Ph. D. Chemistry) for Pune University, Sri Ramanand Teerth University, Nanded and Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai Ø External examiner for Ph.D. thesis of various universities. Ø Presented several invited lectures in Universities, Research Laboratories in India and abroad and attended National and International Conferences for paper presentations and as invited speaker.
Editorial:- Reviewer for several international journals o Appl. Surf. Sci o Can. J. Chem. Engg. o Catal. Commun. o Catal. Today o Chem. Eng. Sci o Chem. Lett.. o Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. o J. Mol. Catal. o Langmuir o Org. Proc. Res. Dev. Reviewer for DST project proposals. Ø Visits abroad:- o Several visits to National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Sendai Japan, under DST-JSPS project. o Venice, Italy for oral presentation at the “2nd International Congress on Green Process Engineering, July 2009 |
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