Research Topics

List of ongoing research: 

1. Process development for the continuous production of anethole: Application of flow chemistry for cascading reaction.

2. Synthesis of sustainable biochemicals using heterogeneous catalysis

3. Validation of synthesis route to produce 2-aminopropanol using heterogeneous catalyst.

List of completed research: 

1. N/A

Ongoing projects: 

Nature of the project : (Experimental and simulation): Catalyst Development, Reaction kinetic modeling, Process development 

Brief : 

Flavours and fragrance (F&F) is one of the emerging sectors of fine chemicals mainly due to the sacrosanct role of perfumery in every lavish products. The major challenges associated with F&F sector are high E-factor (up to 50), lower yield, and unavailability of efficient green process for synthesis. Anethole is one such F&F chemical primarily used as a masking agent in cosmetics, soaps, and in flavouring being 13 times sweeter than sugar. Anisole is used as a primary raw material undergoes Friedel draft acylation followed by hydrogenation and dehydration gives anethole. The conventional homogeneous catalysts for the anethole production in batch reactor are Lewis acids (AlCl3, FeCl3 and BF3), reducing agents (NaBH4 and LiAlH4), and sulfuric acids in different reaction steps. This process results in the generation of 8-10 of waste per kg of anethole produced. In this study, we will develop a novel green efficient method for the continuous production of anethole in the presence of heterogeneous catalysts using packed bed microreactor to facilitate the gas-liquid-solid reaction type.  

     Nature of the project : (Experimental and simulation): Catalyst synthesis and characeterization, Reaction kinetic modeling, Process development 

Brief : 

The ever-increasing global demand on limited fossil resources has directed numerous research efforts recently towards utilizing sustainable feedstocks as the source for manufacturing fuels, chemicals and (performance) materials. In this respect, the synthesis of biomass derived bio-chemicals, biofuels via heterogeneous catalysis are of the great significance, which opens great opportunities for the discovery of new green (catalytic) chemistry routes and the development of efficient reactor technologies for continuous production therein. Furan derivatives, such as furfural (2-furaldehyde) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) are some of the important biomass derived compounds, mainly because they can be easily recovered from the dehydration of the (hemi-)cellulosic biomass or monosaccharides and their ability to be easily upgraded to the larger molecules towards useful bio-based chemicals and fuels. As a part of this reseach, emphasis is to develop the process know-how for the continuous production of bio chemicals using heterogeneous catalysts. 

Nature of the project : Catalyst preparation, Reaction Feasibility study  

Brief : 

The reaction for 2-aminopropanol synthesis will be developed using the heterogeneous catalyst. The catalyst will be prepared in the laboratory using "yttrium on hydrogen-type mordenite molecular sieve with a silicon-aluminum ratio of 22:1". The reaction will be performed in batch autoclave reactor to analyze the feasibility of the reaction.