Start
Oct 13, 2011 - 16:00
End
Oct 13, 2011 - 17:00
Venue
Room 118 (Creativity Hall) Ground Floor Chemical Engg Building
Event Type
Speaker
Dr. Jyoti Seth
Title
Inhomogeneous Flow of Soft Particle Pastes & Use of Emulsions for Energy Efficient Combustion
Abstract: Complex fluids like suspensions emulsions gels etc. are ubiquitous in our daily lives. Many concentrated paste-like materials are composed of deformable particles randomly packed into a dense suspension. Examples include dense suspensions of swollen polyelectrolyte microgels star polymers and compressed emulsions. These materials share in common rheological behavior such as wall-slip shear banding shear thinning normal stresses memory and aging. Their unique properties make these scientifically interesting and are also important in as rheological modifiers. Careful experiments identify the influence of chemical nature of the shearing boundary and an elastohydrodynamic lubrication model that captures the corresponding suppression and promotion of slip at the wall will be discussed. Further a PTV study of flow of pastes near smooth boundaries and the resultant sensitivity of the bulk flow profile to the nature of the shearing surface will also be presented. Other than as rheology modifiers efficiently engineered combinations of materials can be used to implement process improvements in unlikely areas. For example water in the form of emulsified droplets in fuel can alleviate issues associated with poor combustion and emissions. Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) one of the less expensive of the refined oil products is the traditional choice of fuel for Boilers Thermic Fluid Heaters Power Generators etc. Over the years refinery process optimization for maximum conversion of crude has resulted in a steady rise in constituent residuals in HFO only worsened by contamination during fuel distribution process. Quality degradation of HFO ultimately results in incomplete combustion fouling particulate emissions reduced efficiencies and higher operating and maintenance costs for the ultimate customer of fuel oil. With intimate understanding of process conditions and of combustion emulsified fuel oil can help solve the problem of poor combustion. Data from systematic calculations using heat transfer models for combustion of emulsified HFO would be presented along with observations from field installations of emulsification systems in commercial settings.About the Speaker: Jyoti obtained a bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from Institute of Chemical Technology Mumbai (2003) followed by masters and doctorate degrees also in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (Dec 2008). Jyoti was the recipient of Ambuja Cement Academic Excellence award at UDCT (2002) and the Eiffel Doctorat Fellowship (2006) by the French Foreign Affairs ministry for visiting Prof. Leibler's lab in ESPCI and work with Dr. Michel Cloitre. She has published several papers based on her dissertation work on rheology of soft glassy colloids such as concentrated microgels emulsions slurries etc. and is experienced in rheological measurements of fluid viscosity non-linear rheology and wall-slip. Jyoti is working with Alternative Petroleum Technologies as a research consultant since 2009 on developing better understanding emulsified fuels in boilers and generators towards scientific and business developmental activities.