PhD Student, IIT Madras
Preetika’s CV
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Education
B.E. (Chemical Engineering), Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, Karnataka, 2014
Research Focus
My research focuses on the formulation of alternative fuels by engineering conventional fossil fuels, such that air pollutants are significantly lowered. I work extensively towards understanding their microstructure to enhance the stability for long term storage.
Increasing air pollution from the automotive sector and public health concerns have now reinforced the necessity to channelize efforts towards cleaner energy alternatives and sustainable solutions. Diesel based emulsion fuels therefore emerge as a replacement to diesel over the years, typically formulated by stabilizing the interface of tiny water droplets dispersed in continuous diesel phase. Water-in-fuel emulsions are known to reduce the NOx and PM (particulate matter) emissions, enhance the combustion efficiency and can be used in the existing vehicle fleet with no modifications in the current fuel supply infrastructure. Nevertheless, emulsion fuels, like any other emulsions, are susceptible to destabilization, leading to a limited shelf-life.
An overarching goal of my thesis is to investigate the nanostructure of surrogate fuel formulations using their small angle X-ray (SAXS) and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom through the Science and Technology Facilities Council. In addition, I also collaborate with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, to explore the single droplet evaporation and breakup dynamics fuel droplets and Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Madras to run stable diesel based emulsion fuels to check emissions and performance in agricultural engines. I was also a Fulbright Nehru Doctoral recipient for the year 2021-2022 to the Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, California, USA to understand the coalescence dynamics and stability of foams and emulsions systems as a part of my PhD programme.