015727   Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (NO, , Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110 001) : Improved process for the production of ethanol. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015726   Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (NO, , Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110 001) : Composition useful as a heat resistant explosive for blasting hot holes in fire affected areas. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015725   Conoco Inc (NO, , 1000 South Pine Street, Ponca City OK 74602-1267, USA) : Process for isolating meso phase pitch. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015724   Cohesive Technologies, Inc (NO, , 101, Constitution Boulevard, Franklin, Ma 02038, U.S.A) : Method and apparatus for recovering compounds of relatively low molecular weight. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015723   Citurgia Biochemicals Ltd. (NO, , Neville House, J.N. Heredia Marg, Ballard Estate, Mumbai-400 038) : Process for manufacturing citric acid from molasses. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015722   Cipla Limited (NO, , Mumbai Central, Mumbai-400 008) : Process for the manufacture of salbutamol sulphate. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015721   Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute (NO, , Mananda-Vadi Road, Srirampuram, Mysore-570 008) : Process for the preparation of a bed disinfectant. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015720   BP Chemicals Ltd. (NO, , Britannic House, 1, Finsbury Circus, London FC2M 7BA, England) : Process for production of acetic acid. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015719   Borregaard Italia S.p.A. (NO, , Via Carducci 15, Milan, Italy) : Process for the preparation of a 1, 2-Benzodioxole. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015718   Bolling & Kemper Kg (NO, , Vitalisstrasse 114, D-50827 Koln, Germany) : Method of manufacturing an aqueous phase-microgel. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015717   Bhatia H C;Sarin R;Gupta A;Tuli D K;Misra A K; Rai M M;Bhatnagar A K (NO, , Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Sector 13, Faridabad-121 007) : Improved process for the preparation of molybdenum dialkyldithiocarbamates. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015716   Basf Aktiengesellschaft (NO, , 67056, Ludwigshafen, Germany) : Process for preparing α-tocopherol. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015715   Associated Cement Companies Limited (NO, , Cement House, 121, Maharshi Karve Road, Mumbai-400 020) : Process for manufacturing High purity partially/fully stabilized ultra fine zirconia powders by chemical route. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015714   Asahi Kasei Kabushiki Kaisha (NO, , 2-6 Dojimahama, 1-Chome, Kita-Ku, Osaka-Shi, Osaka 530, Japan) : Method for producing acrylonitrile. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015713   Aqualon Company (NO, , 1313 N, Market Street, Hercules Plaza, Wilmington, Delware 19894-0001, USA) : Process for making alkylated galactomannans. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015712   Ambur Gopal Dhananjayan (NO, , 120/5, Vedachalam Street, Vasudevan Nagar, Jafferkhanpet, Chennai-600 083) : Process for manufacturing sugar. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015711   Ambur Gopal Dhananjayan (NO, , 120/5, Vedhachalam Street, Vasudevan Nagar, Jafferkhanpet, Chennai-600 083) : Process for manufacturing equimolecular mixture of glucose and fructose in syrup form from commercial white sugar. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015710   Ajanta Pharma Ltd. (NO, , Ajanta House, 98 Government Industrial Area, Charkop, Kandivali (West), Mumbai-400 067) : Method of preparating a formulation of a nutrients rich low fat high fiber carrot product. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015709   Advanced Elastomer Systems L.P. (NO, , 540 Maryville Centre Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63141 USA) : Process for the preparation of thermoplastic elastomers having improved and low temperature properties. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

015708   Yadav G D;Joshi S S;Lathi P S (Chemical Engineering Division, Department of Chemical Technology, University of Mumbai, Matunga, Mumbai-400 019) : Enzymatic synthesis of isoniazid in non-aqueous media. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 35(abstr).

Although lipases have been known for some time as catalysts for regioselective transesterification or hydrolysis, studies regarding their ester hydrazinolysis catalysts are limited. Found that the lipase from Candida antartica efficiently catalyzes hydrazinoslysis reaction. Deals with the reaction of ethyl isonicotinate (ethyl 4-pyridine carboxylate) with hydrazine hydrate as a nucleophile in an organic solvent with an immobilized lipase Novozyme-435 to produce 4-pyridine carboxylic acid hydrazide (Isoniazid), which is a prime drug used in the treatment of tuberculosis.

015707   Visweswara Rao R V R L;Sairam Meena S; Kulkarni A P (Nuclear Fuel Complex, , ECIL PO, Hyderabad-500 062) : Experiences in commissioning of larger scale plant for production of nuclear grade Ammonium Di-Uranate at nuclear fuel complex. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 44(abstr).

New Uranium Oxide Fuel Plant (NUOFP), at Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) is a modern, latest state of art plant, setp for meeting the enhanced fuel requirement of power reactors in India. The plant follow the ammonium Di-Uranate(ADU) processing route starting from the Dissolution of raw material, Magnesium di-Uranate(MDU) in commercial Nitric acid followed by Solvent Extraction to obtain Nuclear grade Pure Uranyl Nitrate Solution (UNPS). The UNPS is precipitated with Ammonium hydroxide to yield Ammonium Di-Uranate Cake, which is subsequently dried, calcined, reduced and stabilised to Uranium di-oxide (UO2) powder suitable for production of high density pellets for manufacture of fuel for Pressurized Heavy water Reactors (PHWRs). Ammonium di-Uranate is a important intermediate product in the above process, as the powder metallurgical properties of the final uranium dioxide powder are grater influenced by the characteristics of the ADU.

015706   Verma R;Gantayet L M;Anupama P;Sethi S; Bellary M P (Analytical Chemistry Division, , BARC, Mumbai-400 085) : Development of a high selectivity process for separation of proctinium - 231 from rare ear hs, thorium, uranium and other metal ions by ion chromatography and its implementation in the protactinium recovery plant. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 42-3(abstr).

²³¹Pa is available at a concentration of around 350ppb (parts per billion) in the oxalic acid leachate of the protactinium revoery plant. An ion exchange process has been developed for purification of protactinium from iron, uranium, zirconium niobium and other co-ions by ion exchange. An anionic resin GS-300 (M/s. IEL Ltd.) has been used for the trials. The ion exchange process was developed in different stages : laboratory scale with 0.014-0.03dm³ resin bed, industrial bench scale with 0.375dm³ resin bed and implemented in the plant using a bed of 125-150 dm³ GS-300 resin bed. ⁹⁵Zr, ⁹⁵NB, ²³³Pa tracers were used to determine the movement of these ions in the bed. ²³¹Pa at a concentration of around 10ppm could be obtained by this process. The ion-exchange process development and its implementation in the plant are discussed.

015705   Talati J D;Patel B S (Shri U P Arts, Smt M.G. Panchal Science and Shri V L Shah Commerce College, Pilvai-382 850) : Aldehydes as corrosion inhibitors for aluminium-copper alloy in sodium hydroxide. Bull Electrochem 2001, 17(11), 481-8.

Inhibition of corrosion Al-4% alloy (B26S) in sodium hydroxide solutions by formaldehyde, paraldehyde, furfuraldehyde, benzaldehyde, cinnamaldehyde, salicylaldehyde and vanillin has been studied with respect to the inhibitor concentration, alkali concentration, period of immersion and temperature. In general, at constant alkali concentration the inhibitive efficiency is found to increase with inhibitor concentration as well as period of immersion but at constant inhibitor concentration the efficiency of salicylaldehyde and vanillin decreases while that of others increases slightly. With increase in alkali concentration, the efficiency of paraldehyde increases, that of salicylaldehyde and vanillin remains almost constant, while that of others decreases with a rise in temperature. At 1% concentration in 0.1 M alkali the efficiency of various aldehydes is found to increase in the order : formaldehyde (18%) ≤ paraldehyde (20%) <60> furfuraldehyde (40%) <60> vanillin (55%) <60> salicylaldehyde (98%). The corrosion potential of B26S aluminium (-1400 mV vs SCE) in 0.1 M NaOH increases in the presence of all the aldehydes except paraldehyde. Galvanostatic polarization data also show that with an increase in current density the anode is polarized to a greater extent than the cathode which is only slightly polarized.

5 illus, 3 tables, 28 ref

015704   Sutar V B;Prasanth H;Syal R K (High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, , Sutarwadi, Pune-411 021) : Filtration studies of dense Nitrocellulose slurry. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 37(abstr).

Dense Nitrocellulose (DNC) is a spherical, compact and transparent material with a high bulk density and is being used in Composite Modified Double Base (CMDB) propellant formulations. it is a physically modified form of fibrous nitrocellulose (NC) and is made by gelling fibrous NC in ethyl acetate solvent, emulsifying the gel in water and slowly removing the solvent by equilibrium distillation. The slurry obtained is then sieved and filtered to get the DNC cake. A study has been undertaken to optimize the parameters of filtration of DNC slurry. Initial studies were carried out with filter media of 5 (size. The effect of variation of (p on the rate filtration was studied for a particular concentration. The effect of concentration i.e. in the range of 0.4-0.8 kg/l was then studied at varying differential pressures ((p). Similar sets of experiments were carried out on different filter media to study the effect of filter media on the rate of filtration of DNC slurry. Specific cake resistance and filter media resistance have been found to increase with increase in vacuum level and hence the DNC cake was found to be compressible. Compressibility co-efficient of the cake was found to be in the range of 0.2-0.3 cm-1. The optimum conditions of filtration have been obtained with fabric cloth with a slurry concentration of 0.5-0.6 kg/l and under a vacuum of 380-450 mm Hg. Under the above conditions, the rate of filtration was comparatively higher.

015703   Srivastava V K;Hanra M S;Misra B M (Desalination Division, BARC, Mumbai-400 085) : Considerations for fixing product recovery parameter in a reverse osmosis based water desalination system design. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 47(abstr).

Discusses about the various technical parameters to be considered while fixing the recovery parameter in a Revers Osmosis based water desalination system design. An optimization of recovery from techno-economic point of view is highly involving and should be considered depending upon the size of plant, location of plant under evaluation.

015702   Satyanarayana Reddy D;John P;Venkateshwar S (Centre for Biotechnology, University College of Technology, Osmania University, Hyderabad-500 007) : Lactic acid production from cellulose by solid station fermentation using genetically modified Aspergillus niger-2196. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 33(abstr).

Cellulose residue was used as raw materials for the Aspergillus niger after pretreatment for glucose at 26 C and lactic acid fermentation after saccharification of rice bran by lactobacillus Delibrueckii-911 at 46 C and pH 6.0. In aerobic condition the lactic acid fermentation is perfectly compatible with enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose materials. In the SSF processes, the amount of lactic acid produced was 40g/100g of cellulose.

015701   Sanjeev Kumar;Satyanarayana T (Department of Microbiology, University of Delhi, South Campus) : Optimization of glucoamylase production by a thermophilic mould thermomucor indicae-seudaticae in solid state fermentation using response surface methodoly. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 36(abstr).

Cereal grains such as corn, wheat, oats, rice, potato and sorghum contain 60-70% starch hydrolysable to glucose. This serves as a good substrate for the production of gaseous or liquid fuels, feed proteins and chemicals by microbial processing. There are many advantages in the use of thermostable enzymes in the saccarification of starch. High activity and stability at high temperatures are the desirable characteristics for an ideal amylolytic enzyme. A thermophilic mould Thermomucor indicae-seudticae was shown to secrete glucoamylase in solid state fermentation (SSF) using wheat bran as a substrate. A number of experiments were carried out for finding a suitable substrate, and optimizing the culture parameters such a pH, temperature, inoculum level, incubation time, moistening agent and moisture level by one parameter at a time method. Central composite design of response surface methodology was applied to understand the interactive effect of moisture level, inoculum level and incubation time for maximizing glucoamylase yield. Initial moisture and inoculum levels exhibited a positive interactive effect with incubation time. A marked increase in the enzyme titre was attained. The glucoamylase production under the optimized conditions was 435 U/g of dry mouldy bran, while the predicted value by a polynomial model was 437 U/g, suggesting the success of the model.

015700   Rotliwala Yogesh C;Chakraborty M (Chemical Engineering Department, S.V. Regional College of Engineering & Technology, Surat, S.V.P.E.S. Sanchalit Polytechnic College) : Semiconducting polymers. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 45(abstr).

Development and study of conductive polymers has been in the recent years an area of interest. The study of semiconducting polymers is highly interdisciplinary involving the fields of chemistry, solidstate physics, engineering and biology. Durable, cheap, manufacturable and flexible, conducting polymers inspired vision of a future of transparent circuits, artificial muscle, electronic displays, chemical and biochemical sensors that conventiently roll up underthe arm. The great benefit of conductive polymers is that the area of devices made from them is virtually limitless. Conventional semiconductor technology is heavily involved in miniaturization the production of silicon is tedious and requires accurately defined ambient condition. This is not the case with plastics, so that polymers may open the way to large semiconductor components. They are conjugated type polymers prepared by oxidation-reduction and doping, which has been outlined. Eptiomizes the growing field of conductive polymers, physics of conventional semiconductors, i.e. Germanium, Silicon; chemistry and conductivity ranges of semiconducting polymers and its application.

015699   Ray S (Department of Polymer Science and Technology, University of Calcutta, 92, APC Road, Kolkata-700 009) : Selection of polymers for making pervaporation membranes. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 46(abstr).

Pervaporation (PV) is an unit operation where the membrane constitutes a barrier between the feed in the liquid phase and the permeate in the gas phase. The driving force that is applied across the membrane creates a chemical potential gradient in the liquid phase, and the selectivity of the membrane is then the determining factor in the relative flow of the different components. The selectivity of the membranes depends on its Sorption selectivity and diffusion selectivity for the components to be separated. Preferential Sorption of component by the PV membranes depends on their relative solubility parameter value i.e. the closer the value, the more is the preferential sorption. Diffusion selectivity depends on relative sizes (kinetic diameter) of the components to be separated.

015698   Raju N;Suresh S;Ravindran V;Subramanian C G (NO, Welding Research Institute, BHEL, Tiruchirapalli) : Evaluation and improvement of strength of the repair welded large moving beam of 8000 T hydraulic press. WRI Jl 2001, 22(2), 22-6.

Presence of residual stress, particularly tensile residual stress is always harmful for a fatigue loaded structure. Recently, the moving bean of the 8000T press had cracked during cold correction operation of a half shell of a boiler drum. Suitable repair procedure had been devised and the cracks were repaired. Being a huge structure, furnace stress relieving was not possible. Hence needle pin peening was carried-out to introduce compressive residual stress, as it tends to improve the fatigue strength. Also after the weld repair, the full load carrying capacity of the repaired beam was evaluated using electrical resistance strain gauges. The press was back into service and is working satisfactorily.

4 illus, 4 tables, 5 ref

015697   Raja A;Siddharthan A;Rohira K L (NO, WRI, BHEL, Tiruchirappali-620 014) : Influence of preheat temperature on stellite flux cored hardfacing deposit. WRI Jl 2001, 22(2), 14-17.

Flux cored stellite consumable wire is of recent origin. It is able to replace gas and TIG stelliting in many areas of applications. The preheat temperature needed for stelliting varies from one process to another. The study reveals that Flux cored stelliting requires relatively less preheat as compared to gas, TIG, processes, while giving higher productivity.

7 illus, 1 table, 6 ref

015696   Radhakrishnan S;Jagannadha Rao S;Guha K C; Balasubramanyam M A;Bora T K (Rate Materials Project, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, , Yelwal (PO), Mysore-571 130) : Adaptation of mass spectrometric leak-detection method for leak testing of process pipelines. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 37-8(abstr).

Leak-detection is a very important aspect of Vacuum Engineering, which determines the extent of Vacuum integrity. Mass spectrometric Leak detection is one of the widely used methods for Non-Destructive testing. conventionally, the Mass Spectrometric Leak-Detectors and the accessory Softwares have been designed for Leak-Testing of jobs or individuals parts. This has been a major limitation in their utilization in the Process Industry for leak testing long pipelines where response time is large and signal analysis and interpretation is difficult. Hence, a method was devised to utilize them by plotting the leak values continuously on a computer monitor using Serial-Port communication and also following online annotation. Serial Port communication used as RS-232C type. A program was written for this purpose and a user friendly GUI-based application was developed. The application software not only helps in remote opration of the detector but also plots the leak vales, stores the data, facilities annotation on the plot, changes colour or plotline whenever the leakrate crosses the user-defined rejection level and provides zooming option for the time-axis as well as the leakrate-axis, scrolling and prining of plots with annotations. This has enabled the utilization of the Mass spectrometric Leak-Detection machine more effectively for leak testing of process pipelines and also gives a ready-to-use-data represented in tabular as well as plot from for future reference and inferences.

015695   Radhakrishnan M;Swaminathan T (Hazardous Waste Research Laboatory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai-600 036) : Screening studies on biodegradation of textile dyes with the white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysoporium. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 35(abstr).

White rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium has demonstrated high ability to degrade many xenobiotics many xenobiotics and toxic chemicals. The degradation capability is attributed to the production of extracellular, non-specific lignin peroxidase enzyme. The bioremediation potential of the Phanerochaete chrysosporium to degrade synthetic dyes, used in textile and allied industries was investigated in this study. Near complete declourisation and high TOC removal were observed when Phanerochaete chrysosprium was grown in the presence of nine different reactive and direct dyes as well as in some dye mixtures. Though complete decolourisation was observed mineralisation was not achieved with any of the dyes due to formation of some recalcitrant intermediates.

015694   Puthli M S;Pandit A B (Chemical Engineering Section, UDCT, , Matunga, Mumbai-400 019) : Optimization of shake flash conditions for lipase production using C. rugosa. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 33(abstr).

Work aims at the growth of C. rugosa (ATCC 14830) under various operating conditions and its effect on lipase production. the objective of the present investigation was to critically evaluate the effect of various operating conditions on the progress of fermentation using C. rugosa (ATCC 14830) and its effect on the production of lipase. The effect of parameters viz. pH and surface area of fertmentation medium, on the progress of fermentation has been studied. The observed growth rate pattern has been co-related using Monodis type of kinetics. Various values of (max (specific growth rate) and Ks (Monod's constant) obtained were then co-related with substrate concentration in order to establish the relation between optimum maximum growth rate that gives optimum lipase activity.

015693   Prasad S;Srivastava D (Department of Plastic Technology, H.B. Technological Institute, Kanpur-208 024) : Blends of polycarbonate and poly(butylene terephthalate) : physico-mechanical analysis. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 41(abstr).

Blends of bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC) and poly (butylene terephthalate (PBT) were prepared in extrusion "Brabender" in the composition range 10-50 wt% PBT in PC matrix. The micro-level compatibility of such blends was studied by infrared (IR) spectroscopic analysis. The changes observed in IR were fruther correlated with the physico-chemical-mechanical properties of the blends. The tensile strength of the blends increased whereas the elongation at break increased upto 30% and 50% PBT loading in PC, respectively. A fall of the order of 51.5 to 60.0 percent took place in the notched izod impact strength of the blends with increase of PBT content in the blends. Thermal stability of the blends was found to be within the limiting range of those of their neat reason constituents. Finally, a correlation between these changes in properties were developed with differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis.

015692   Patel N N;Rana D C;Madashia A D (GNFC Ltd, , Bharuch) : Enhancement of production capacity of weak nitric acid plant by inhouse modification. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 38(abstr).

Focuses on in-house process design efforts put in by us in post revamp scenario in order to idetnify the available potential to enhance the production capacity of the plant further. The lower concentration of ammonia in feed gas to the reactor was identified as one of the bottlenecks to increase production beyond 750 TPD load. Since Ammonia oxidation reaction is highly exothermic, any reduction in feed gas temperature can greatly help in increasing the feed throughout to the Reactor Based on this concept, the Secondary Air compressor which delivers Air at much lower temperatur ethan the Main Air compressor, was synchronised in the Reactor process Air circuit in order to reduce the feed gas temperature to the reactor. The new process model based on this modification was developed and simulated for various cases in order to study the effect on parameters like Reactor feed gas temperature, Concentration of Ammonia in feed gas and Reaction temperature. It was observed that the modification as described reduces the Reactor feed gas temperature and Reaction temperature substantially and hence creates flexibility to raise Ammonia concentration in the Reactor feed gas.

015691   Ojha K;Samanta A N;Pradhan N C (Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721 302) : Catalytic cracking and alkylation with a newly developed catalyst from Fly Ash. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 38(abstr).

In the cracking study, cracking of pure hydrocarbon (n-heptane) was carried out over a series of catalysts prepared by varying the synthesis conditions, such as fly ash to alkali ratio, fusion temperature and hydrothermal reaction time. The conversion of n-heptane obtained over these catalysts was found to vary from 29.94 to 38.44°. The commercial 13X zeolite was also used for comparison of the catalytic activity with the prepared ones during cracking and was found to give a conversion of 38.25%. All cracking reactions were carried out in a fixed bed, down-flow reactor, at temperature of 450°C. For alkylation reactions, phenol and tert-butanol were used as the reactants to give mainly p-tert-butyl phenol. The catalytic activity of the prepared zeolite on this alkylation reaction was investigated and the results were compared with those obtained using 13X and H-beta zeolites. The conversions of phenol at 60°C were 19.6, 22.4 and 19.38% respectively with treated fly ash, H-beta and 13X zeolite, respectively, as the catalysts after 4 h. All alkylation reactions were carried out batchwise in a 500 cm3 PARR reactor at atmospheric pressure. The catalyst loading was 10% and phenol to t-butanol ratio was 2:1.

015690   Mohapatra N K;Awasthi S K;Singh R P (NO, H.B. Technology Institute, Kanpur-208 002) : Refining of ricebran oil and its effect on loss of Oryzanol. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 44(abstr).

Commercial samples of ricebran oil designated as RBO-I, RBO-II, RBO-III and RBO-IV containing 6.5, 10.5, 15.8 and 30.0% FFA; 4.3, 5.1, 5.2 and 5.4% unsaponifiables and 3.2, 3.8, 4.1 and 5.4% waxes, respectively were degummed, dewaxed and bleached. Thereafter, these samples were subjected to physical refining at 220-280°C under 3 mm Hg pressure for 1-4 h. All these oils were also alkali refined at around 70°C using 16-22 degress Be' lye to reduce the FFA content below the permissible level of 0.25%; RBO-I was also directly alkali refined after bleaching. During physical refining, the FFA was brought down to around 1% in 3 h followed by conventional alkali refining. It has been observed that in prolonged period of physical refining colour, diene conjugation and trans isomers increased suggesting the limitations of physical refining. The results conclude that combination of physical and conventional alkali refining for high FFA oil was quite effective. However, the nutritional value of oil in terms of oryzanol content is high in case of only physical refined oil followed by physical cum chemical refining and chemical refining alone in that order.

015689   Mitra T K (NO, Welding Research Institute, BHEL, Tiruchirappalli-620 014) : Welding of aluminium and aluminium alloys. I. Introduction to aluminium and aluminium alloys. WRI Jl 2001, 22(1), 24-30.

Aluminium alloys are designated on the basis of principal alloying element present in a particular alloy. The four-digit AA series formulated by the American Aluminium Association is most widely used. The European norm also follows a similar designation system. The Indian designations are also similar but use a five digit numbering system. The alloys are further classified into two groups : precipitation hardenable or age hardenable alloys, commonly referred to as heat-treatable alloys and work hardenable or strain hardenable alloys, commonly referred to as non-heat-treatable alloys. A temper designation system is also followed to indicate whether the alloy is in a work hardened or heat-treated condition, apart from just mentioning the grade of the alloy for any particular application. Aluminium and aluminium alloys are used in both wrought and cast forms to fabricate components and assemblies for industrial applications. Welding forms a very important part of the joining processes for aluminium.

3 illus, 7 tables, 9 ref

015688   Mandal B;Sarkar P (Department of Polymer Science and Technology, University of Calcutta, 92 A.P.C. Road, Kolkata-700 009) : Screen-printed electrodes with non-conducting polymers and electron mediator for glucose estimation. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 28(abstr).

Reports the optimization study of enzyme (GOD) on a screen-printed electrode and performance of some nonconducting polymers as binding agent and also the performance of a screen printed glucose biosensor when an electron transfer mediator was incorporated. Initial tests were focused on finding out the minimum enzyme activity required to generate appreciable response from the system. A series of tests were performed using enzyme immobilized electrodes with enzyme activities ranging from 5mU to 200mU. A number of polymeric and nonpolymeric binders were used for immobilization of enzyme on WE for each set of optimization study. An electron transfer mediator complex (TBF-TCNQ) was used in glucose sensor and the performance were compared with those of the glucose sensors where no electron transfer mediator was used. It was observed that the binding polymer matrix plays an important role on the response. Electron transfer mediator enhances the performance considerably.

015687   Koul V K;Koul S;Tikoo C L (Regional Research Laboratory, , Canal Road, Jammu) : Process optimization of extraction and purification of Bixin from Annatto. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 37(abstr).

Annatto is the seed of the tropical bush Bixa orellana, Annatto and its products bixin and norbixin are excellent source of natural edible colours. These colours are basically carotenoids, having colour shades of yellow, yellow-orange to orange. Describes the process optimization of extraction of crude bixin from annatto seeds by water and mechnical agitation followed by its purification to obtain bixin by solvent extraction. The various process parameters optimized during this study are as follows: temperature, water/seed ratio, Solvent/crude ratio, Number of extractions and time of each extraction. The optimization was carried out by performing different sets of experiments and varying only one parameter, at a time, in each stet of experiments. For extraction step, four extractions of one hour each and refluxing in 1:20 crude/solvent ratio, yielded maximum percentage of pure bixin with carotenoid percentage of carotenoid was calculated using spectrophotometric analysis.

015686   Haridas A;Majumdar S (Regional Research Laboratory, , Trivandrum-695 019) : Role of nutrient in toluene degradation in a coir pith biofilter. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 31(abstr).

Role of nutrients in a biological process is emphasized. Biofiltration is a cheap and effective method for purification of air stream with dilute contamination of volatile organic carbon. Toluene is one such compound. The biological degradation of toluene was studied in a bench scale biofilter where coir pith was used as filter media. Nutrients play a crucial role in facilitating the degradation efficiency. Nutrient level in the biofilter media is to be maintained at a particular level, below which, the efficiency of the biofilter reduces. Under optimized condition. Depletion of nutrients became slower and infrequent replacement of nutrient laden pith only at the topmost layer of the biofilter was enough for maintaining the good removal efficiency.

015685   Gupta N;Puri S;Gupta R (Department of Microbiology, University of Delhi, South Campus, New Delhi-110 021) : Concomitant production of an alkaline protease and a biosurfactant from Bacillus sp.. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 34-5(abstr).

Concomitant production of an alkaline protease and a biosurfactant was obtained from a Bacillus sp. in a medium containing complex carbon and nitrogen sources. The production of protease was optimized using response surface methodology resulting in high enzyme yields (1939 U/ml) with a 2.6 fold increase in protrease production as compared to mean observed response (750 U/ml) at zero level of all variables. The enzyme was SDS-stable with optimal activity at pH 11. The protease was active over a wide temperature range of 20-80 C with major activity between 45 and 70 C. the protease was compltely stable for 1 h in 0.1% SDS and retained 70% of its activity in the presence of 0.5% SDS after 1 h of incubation. The enzyme was active in presence of surfactants (ionic and non-ionic) with 29% enhancement in activity in Tween-85 and was also stable oxidizing agents with 100 and 60% activity in presence of 1% sodium perborate and 1% H2O2 respectively. The enzyme was also compatible with commercial detergents. Wash performance analysis revealed its efficacy in removing grass and blood strains at various temperatures. The enzyme was also able to bring about a substantial degumming of raw grey silk. In conjunction with the protease, the organism also produced high amounts of a biosurfactant (yield 79.1 mg/ml).

015684   George Thomas D;Varughese S (Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai-600 036) : Fracture behaviour of polymer modified asphalt. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 41(abstr).

Common method of improve the binder properties of asphalt is by mixing it with polymers. Polymer modified asphalt helps in improving the high temperature rutting and the low temperature cracking resistance of asphalt. Analyses the fracture behaviour of PMA at low temperature, i.e., below the glass transition temperature of asphalt. The incorporation of a second phase of polymer to asphalt increases the resistance of asphalt to crack initiation and growth. The micro-mechanism operating in PMA, responsible for such behaviour is discussed. it is seen that plastic shear yielding of the PMA matrix is the mechanism by which polymer particles increase the fracture toughness of asphalt. From stress analysis and from the knowledge of fracture mechanics, the effect of change in the microstructure of PMA on the asphalt fracture behavior is analyzed. Based on the shear yielding mechanism, a model similar to an approach adopted to study the fracture behavior of rubber toughened thermosetting polymers, is proposed to account for the relationship between the microstructure of PMA and its fracture behavior.

015683   Chattopadhyay S;Bhojwani S S;Bisaria V S; Srivastava A K (Department of Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110 016) : Production of podophyllotoxin by plant cell cultures of Podophyllum hexandrum. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 34(abstr).

Podophyllum hexandrum is an Indian medicinal herb, which grows in the norhtern Himalayan region of India. The rhizomes of this plant are well known sources of podophyllotoxin, which are the starting material for the synthesis of anticancer drugs etoposide and teniposide. Podophyllotoxin is presently being extracted directly from the plants and therefore the plant has been declared as an endangered species. mass cultivation of Phexandrum by in vitro techniques is, therefore, highly desirable to eliminate the dependence on plant for the production of podophyllotoxin. P. hexandrum was successfully cultivated in 3.0 L stirred tank bioreactor in batch and fed-batch modes of operation. Statistically optimized culture medium was used for the batch cultivation of Podophyllum hexandrum. A maximum biomass of 21.4 g/L (DW basis) and podophyllotoin content of 13.8 mg/L was obtained in batch fermentation of P. hexandrum in 26 days under optimized culture conditions. A fed-batch system was designed to extent the log phase of growth of P. hexandrum. The fed-batch cultivation was able to enhance the biomass and podophyllotoxin accumulation to 55 g/L (DW basis) and 49 mg/L respectively in 76 and 72 days respectively. These high level of biomass and podophyllotoxin accumulation were not feasible under batch cultivation. The fed-batch cultivation has also demonstrated significant increase in productivity. A 22± increase in volumetric productivity of podophyllotoxin..

015682   Chakravarti R;Sahai V (Department of Biochemical Engineering & Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110 016) : Defined medium for the production of compactin by Penicillium citrinum. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 31(abstr).

Chemically defined medium has been shown to be a productive medium at the production stage for compactin fermentation using a mutant strain of Penicillium citrinium. Compactin yield of 174.9 mg/l was obtained using the medium. This medium not only yields high productivity but it also facilitate spectrophotometric estimation procedure of compactin. Effect of buffering compound i.e. KH2PO4 and surfactants like Tween 80 on the fermentation was studied. Process parameters e.g. spore concentration and initial pH were also studied to optimize the fermentation.

015681   Bhaskar M;Valavarasu G;Balaraman K S (R&D Center, Central Petroleum Corporation Limited, , Malali, Chennai-600 068) : Manufacture of group II base oils from hydrocracker bottoms-evaluation of technological options. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 41(abstr).

Pilot plant studies were carried out to explore the possibility of manufacturing group II lube base oils from hydrocracker bottoms. Various technological options to produce Group II base oils, namely isodewaxing of hydrocracker bottoms and solvent dewaxing of vacuum fractions obtained from hydrocraker bottoms were investigated. Studies were carried out using hydrocracker bottom feedstock obtained from an indigenous fuel refinery. Isodewaxing experiments were conduted in a high pressure pilot plant reactor over an indigenously developed Pt-SAPO-11 catalyst at a reactor temperature of 340°C, pressure in the range of 60-140 Kg/cm², liquid hourly space velocity of 1.0 hr^-1 and H2/oil ratio of 400 lit/lit. The lab-scale solvent dewaxing experiments were conducted using commercial solvent (MEK and Toluene with a solvent mix ratio of 50:50). The solvent dewaxing of hydrocraker bottom vacuum cuts resulted in low pour point (-9°C to 120°C) and high viscosity index (104-124) lube base oils. The isodewaxing of hydrocracker bottom with indigenously developed catalyst yielded low pour point and high viscosity index base oils meeting Group II specifications for lighter grades.

015680   Bhaskar M S (Departmentof Chemical Engineering, G H Patel College of Engineering & Technology, Bakrol Road, Vallabh Vidyanagar-388 120) : Production of furfural from biomass using rice hulls as a raw material. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 42(abstr).

Furfural is derived from bio-mass by a process in which the Hemi-cellulose fraction is broken down into monomeric 5-carbon sugar units which then are dehydrated to form Furfural. An attempt has been made to establish the recovery of Furfural from biomass. Though this is an established system, under the present scenario of requirement of industrial feed stock from renewable resources as our fossil and natural resources - mineral oils - all getting deleted, a product with wider applications from a renewable raw material like agricultural residues, which is available plenty in India.

015679   Bhaskar M;Jagadeesh S;Conrad S D (Department of Chemical Engineering, St. Joseph's College of Engineering, Jeppier Nagar, Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai) : Bio-polymers for challenging mellenium. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 33(abstr).

Industrial growth, urbanisation, wrong agricultural practices are responsible for pollution and loss of environmental quality. Nature's built-in mechanism and self regulation ability can not tackle novel pollutants since nature is unfamiliar to it. Exploited its balancing capacities to ultimately make our environment comfortable. Making ecofriendly products is a part of this process. Bioplastics is one such reality which can help us to overcome the problem of pollution caused by plastic. Bio-plastics can be used for manufacture of variety of containers, articles and packaging material which otherwise are produced using non-degradable plastics. Gives an overview of the fast developing area of bioplastics.

015678   Bhakhar M S;Mehta N;Nair R;Samani V (G.H. Patel College of Engineering & Technology, Department of Chemical, , Bakrol Road, Vallabh Vidyanagar-388 190) : Microbial production of dextran in batch fermenter. Proc Indian Chem Engng Congr 2001, 54, 32(abstr).

Dextran-surcase is the term given to the enzyme or group of enzymes responsible for the synthesis of Dextran from sucrose. Although many different species of the general leuconostic, Lactobacillus and Streptococcus are known to synthesize an extracellular Dextran-sacrase under appropriate growth conditions. The Dextran production (and hence the enzyme) is species specific. By far the most extensively studied dextransucrase is that elaborated by leuconostoc Mesenteroides strain NRRL B-512 (F). Dextran biosynthesis was studied experimentally in batch fermenter under non-aerated condition. The experiments were carried out under optimum working condition. A kinetic model, for Dextran biopolymer synthesis has been proposed for batch fermenter. The model include balances on cell mass (Cx), product Dextran concentration (Cp) expressed in terms of activity and a single substrate (Cs). The kinetic parameters in the model had estimated with the help of experimental data by least square method. The estimated values of kinetic parameters are then used in the model gives better results. The equation are solved numercially by semi-implicit fourth order Runge-Kutta method. The predicted values of concentrations of cell mass, product concentration, substrate concentration are then compared with the experimental data and the predictions are in satisfactory agreement.