Background

Education

Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (2012)
Purdue University, Ph.D. Chemical Engineering (2012 – present)

Experience

• The Dow Chemical Company
• Institute of Chemical Technology
        Onset of Air Entrainment in an Oscillating Liquid Column

Awards

• Centennial Fellowship- Purdue University
• Ambuja's Best Design Project Award for Undergraduate Chemical Engineering Student - Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers

Project Description

Propane Dehydrogenation - Selective dehydrogenation of alkanes is becoming a necessity for the wider use of alkanes as a feedstock. It is desirable to selectively convert propane to propene due to the growing demand for propene in the production of propene oxide, acrylonitrile, and polypropylene. It is possible to thermally dehydrogenate the lighter alkanes to their corresponding alkenes but this is thermodynamically favourable at high temperatures. Thermal dehydrogenation is often associated with thermal cracking at those temperatures and also coke formation which results in carbon loss to side products. Hence, we need a catalyst to selectively convert the alkanes to the corresponding alkenes. I am currently working on atomically dispersed single site metal catalysts to promote the dehydrogenation of propane selectively to propene and to avoid cracking and coking.