About

Ravikrishna R


  • Designation: Professor
  • Phone: 044 22574175
  • Room No: KCB (NAC-1) Room 328
  • Department: Chemical Engineering
  • Institute: IIT Madras
  • Email id: rrk@iitm.ac.in

Research Areas

Bioaerosol emission and transport; Contaminant fate and transport across environmental interfaces; Aerosol Dynamics in Dense Urban Environments; Photocatalytic regeneration of activated carbon; Fate and transport of aerosols; Novel methodologies for analysis of pollutant transport.

Profile

Professional Experience

Professor

2018 - Present

Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras

Associate Professor

2013-2018

Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras

Assistant Professor

2006-2013

Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras

Research Associate

2000-2006

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA.

Education

Doctor of Philosophy

1995-2000

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA

Master of Technology

1993-1995

IIT-Madras, Chennai, India.

Bachelor of Technology

1989-1993

Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.

Research

  • Research in our laboratory is in the general area of Environmental Science and Technology. The predominant focus, however, is to study the fate and transport of pollutant constituents in the natural and anthropogenic environment. The motivation for this is to be able to characterise and predict the behavior of a pollutant when it enters the environment. This is done through a combination of measurements and modeling, using laboratory experimental microcosms, field measurements and computer simulation tools. This fate and transport information is useful in environmental risk assessment; risk management; remediation and control; and framing policies for environmental and resource management. We are also interested in developing methods for the treatment and remediation of waste in the environment. Special focus is on the transport of constituents across variosu environmental interfaces (air-water; sediment-water; soil-air) with a multi-media approach to risk assessment. There is also an overall interest in development of flux measurement protocols using inexpensive sensors. The following are some of the recent project research areas:
  • The long-term objective is to be able to predict the passive release (flux or rate) of bioaerosols from different surfaces bearing solid food wastes found in domestic and municipal waste. Bioaerosol release rates can be used as input to dispersion models to predict ambient concentrations and consequent health effects and also in global climate models. Current work is in progress to characterise the release of fungal spores from simulated solid waste surfaces in laboratory microcosms. In controlled experiments, the sensitivity of passive release to different air velocity and relative humidity are measured. A preliminary energy-balance based mathematical model is being developed to provide a framework for predicting the fungal spore release. Future work is also planned on the visualisation of the aerodynamics of fungal spore release using microscopy and particle image velocimetry (PIV). This is being done in collaboration with Prof. Baburaj (Applied Mechanics) currently funded by SERB - DST (2023-2026). Other long term objectives are to develop and execute methodologies to measure bioaerosol release fluxes from real solid waste processing facilities using drones and compare with model predictions. Some of this work is being done in collaboration with Prof. Sachin Gunthe (Civil Engg.)







  • The objective is to estimate the anti-microbial resistance (AMR) genes in Buckingham canal in Chennai - a water body flowing through Chennai city. This canal connects to the other water bodies in the Chennai watershed. Additional interest is in the estimation of the propagation of AMR to ambient air from water bodies. The project scope includes the analysis of various factors in water quality that influence the incidence of AMR in the Buckingham canal system. This work is in collaboration with Prof. Indumathi Nambi in the department of Civil engineering. This project includes the presence and transport of related micropollutants in the sediment-soil-water system.

  • The objective is to simulate the behavior and interaction of vehicle exhaust plumes in dense urban traffic to assess the specific behavior for the formation of hot spots in the micro-environemnt at the surface of roads. This affects the exposure to vehicle occupants in a dense traffic system. This is an experimentally challenging measurement and therefore the objective s to attempt to map the pollutant plumes using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Factors that influence this are the wake formation from moving vehicles, composition of road traffic and vehicle arrangement; interaction of plumes of variosu vehicles; interaction of plumes on a variety of surfaces on the road and in adjacent areas. Other problems of interest in the general domain of aerosol dynamics including aerosol behavior (deposition and resuspension) on paved roads, unpaved road shoulders, leaves on plants, indoor fans, cleaning tools, vehicle surfaces and on different filters used in urban traffic by humans. The goal is to obtain robust mathematical or empirical models to characterise all the processes to for better predictive capacity for various scenarios. This project is in collaboration with Prof. Vagesh Narasimhamurthy in the Department of Applied Mechanics

  • Fate and Transport of Non Aqueous Phase Liquids (NAPLs) under environments of moisture cycling (drying and rewetting) in Earthen Porous Media Redistribution of NAPL due to Water Evaporation Many contaminated earthen porous media (such as soils, dredged materials, sludges) may contain a significant amount of non aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs), which are often mixtures of several organic compounds. Often these are present in addition to other organic pollutants as well. Since these porous media are exposed to air, they can potentially undergo drying (due to evaporation) and rewetting (due to rain). In preliminary experiments conducted in the laboratory, it was observed that the NAPL phase undergoes redistribution under conditions of water evaporation. This redistribution (or spreading) is significantly higher than that observed due to normal capillary rise. The fate and transport of the NAPL bulk phase under these conditions can be important in understanding the fate and transport of individual constituents present in the porous media. Characterisation of the fate and transport of the individual solutes require the realistic prediction of the NAPL bulk phase transport. The objective of this project are to characterise the NAPL bulk phase transport as a function of different rates of drying, NAPL and soil characteristics. A non-invasive technique – magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in collaboration with Prof. Chandrakumar (Chemistry) at the IIT-Madras MRI center was also used to assess the 3-d imaging of this transport. This project was funded by SERB-DST with Co-PIs – Prof. Chandrakumar (Chemistry) and Prof. Abhijit Deshpande (Chemical Engineering) (2016-2022).

  • National Carbonaceous Aerosol Program (NCAP) – IITM is an Associate Institution in the Consortia of several Institutes in India led by IIT Bombay. (Co-Coordinators in IITM – Dr. S. M. Shiva Nagendra and Dr. Sachin Gunthe – Civil Engg., IIT-Madras) (2017-2024) The objectives of the program and our role are
    • Developing a national carbonaceous aerosol emission inventory.
    • Field emission factor measurement in four major sectors – Residential (cooking and lighting), Transport (diesel), Agriculture (field burning), Informal industry (brick production).
    • PMF modelling for quantitative source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols.
    • Regional chemical transport modelling with the India carbonaceous aerosol emission inventory for quantitative estimation of carbonaceous aerosol source contribution.
    • Obtain reconciliation of carbonaceous aerosol sources through top-down and bottom-up approaches at limited locations to evaluate and correct the emission inventory.
    • Understanding climate and clean air impact of carbonaceous aerosols through regional climate modelling.
    • Understanding influence of carbonaceous aerosols, on clouds and rainfall, through multi-scale models and general circulation modelling.
    This project has been funded by the Ministry of Environments and Forest – Climate Change Division (Government of India).

  • The objective is to study photocatalytic degradation of organic wastes using mixtures of carbon and titania. One of the applications for this is to explore the photocatalytic regeneration of spent activated carbon using titania embedded with the carbon. This problem has several engineering challenges including those of mass transfer, catalyst illumination and configuration of the carbon-titania mixture that need resolution. Laboratory experiments as well as modeling studies are being explored to study this.

  • Contaminated sediments in rivers, lakes and coastal regions are a source of chemical release to the overlying water and possible to air. General research interest is in the various aspects associated with the prediction of the fate and transport of chemicals a) within contaminated sediments and across the sediment-water interface and b) during various remedial options such as dredging, capping and monitored natural recovery. There is specific interest in the measurement and modeling of chemical release during dredging and post-dredging operations. One of the research interests in this area is to develop a model to take into account the effect of particle-size dependent contaminant loading in the bed sediment and the consequences to contaminant fate and transport during dredging-induced resuspension.

  • Publications

    Teaching

    Courses

    • CH 3030 - Mass Transfer Applications (2010-2013, 2017, 2018, 2019) - CORE.
    • CH 3520/3521 - Heat and Mass Transfer Laboratory (2008-present) - CORE.
    • CH 5370 - Environmental Quality - Monitoring and Analysis (2008-2020, 2022) ELECTIVE (An NPTEL course with the same title is also available).
    • CH 5460 - Unit Operations in Environmental Engineering (2008-2021) - ELECTIVE.
    • ID 1200 - Ecology and Environment (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) (Co-Coordination and Partial Instruction)
    • CH 1020 - Process Calculations (2015) - CORE.
    • CH 5020 - Experimental and Analytical Methods in Chemical Engineering (2006-2009)- CORE (With Prof. Arun Tangirala).
    • CH 6200 - Environmental Chemodynamics (2007,2008) - ELECTIVE.
    • CH 5280 - Air Pollution and Control (2008) - ELECTIVE.
    • CH 5050 - Advanced Theromodynamics (2020, 2021, 2022) - CORE.
    • CH 6021 - Research Methodology (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024).

    Students

    Ph.D.
    • Christi Jose (Hygroscopicity measurement of ambient aerosols) - Co-guided with Prof. Sachin Gunthe (Civil Engineering)
    • Shubham Anurag (AMR in Buckingham Canalc system in Chennai and propagation across interfaces) - Co-guided with Prof. Indumathi Nambi (Civil Engineering)
    • Subhash K (Simulation of vehicle plume interaction in dense urban traffic) - Co-guided with Prof. Vagesh Narasimhamurthy (Applied Mechanics)
    • Koulini G (Assessment and Treatment of Perfluorinated compounds in water) - Co-guided with Prof. Indumathi Nambi (Civil Engineering)
    • Mamatha K (Assessment of Indoor Air Pollutants) - Co-guided with Prof. S M Shiva Nagendra (Civil Engineering)
    M.Tech. / Dual Degree
    • -
    B.Tech.
  • Avaneesh (Development of Bioaerosol measurement techniques using UAVs)


  • Group Alumni
    M.S / Ph.D.
    • Ravinder, A. (Ph.D. - 2024) (Passive Release of Fungal Spores from fruits and vegetables)
    • Subha S. Raj (Ph.D. - 2022) (Characterisation of Cloud Condensation Nuclei) - Co-guided with Prof. Sachin Gunthe (Civil Engineering)
    • Dhivakar, G. (Ph.D. - 2019) (NAPL transport in Porous Media)
    • Saranya, G. (Ph.D. - 2017) (Passive Release of Fungal Spores from Simulated Solid Waste)
    • Savitha, R. (Ph.D. - 2017) (Synthesis of Titania Nanotubes - application in Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Compounds) - Co-guided with Prof. Raghuram Chetty
    • G. Swamy Undi (M.S. - 2015) - (Hydrodynamic Studies of a Fountain Type of Gas-liquid Contacting Device for Flue Gas Desulphurization) - (Co-Guided with Prof. Srinivas Jayanti)
    • Sivagami, K. (Ph.D. - 2013)- (Studies on Photocatalytic Ddegradation of Pesticides in a Slurry and Immobilised Bead Reactor) -(Co-Guided with Prof. Swaminathan T)
    • Abhilasha, K. (M.S. - 2013) (Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Chemicals Using a Titania-Carbon Mixture)
    M.Tech. / Dual Degree
    • Rakesh Yadav (M.Tech.) - 2022
    • Natraj Naik (M.Tech.) - 2022
    • Vindhya Vani (M.Tech.) - 2022
    • Santosh K (M. Tech) - 2020
    • Mayank Gupta (M. Tech) - 2020
    • Deveshish R (D. D) - 2020
    • Chandra Pranay (D. D) - 2020
    • Anarghya G (D. D) - 2020
    • Syama, S (M.Tech.) - 2019
    • Jencen Mathai (M.Tech.) - 2018
    • Siddasai, K (M.Tech.) - 2017 (Jointly with Prof. S. Jayanti)
    • Sarvesh, C (D. D) - 2017
    • Vijay Prasad (D. D) - 2015 (Jointly with Prof. S. Jayanti)
    • Anamika Rathor (D. D) - 2015
    • Pranay Wasekar (M.Tech.) - 2015
    • Merit Mathew (M.Tech.) - 2014
    • Subramanian, R. (D. D.) - 2014 (Jointly with Prof. S. Jayanti)
    • Saptaparna Sarkar (M.Tech.) - 2013
    • Tushar Dutta (M.Tech.) - 2013
    • Srinivas, J. (M.Tech.) - 2012
    • Venkatesh, M. (M.Tech.) - 2012
    • Arun K. Devassikutty (M.Tech.) - 2011
    • Adinarayanana, K. N. V. (M.Tech.) - 2011
    • Rama Rao, K (M.Tech.) - 2011
    • Mahesh Kanithi (M.Tech.) - 2010
    • Surendra Babu (M.Tech.) - 2009
    • Prathamesh Ekawde (M.Tech.) - 2009
    • Ravikumar, K (M.Tech.) - 2008
    B. Tech.
    • Avaneesh (2024)
    • Manish Kumar (2019)
    • Chandray K (2019)
    • Paras Kumar (2019)
    • Sri Charan P (2019)
    • Chaitanya (2018)
    • Nishanth (2018)
    • Yashasvini (2017)
    • Jaydeep T (2017)
    • Mohd. Afnaz (2016)
    • Sushanth A (2016)
    • Tharun T (2015)
    • Prasad B (2015)
    • Balaraju (2015)
    • Sivaprasad (2015)
    • Akshay T (2014)
    • Hemalatha K (2014)
    • Lalitha P(2014)
    • Srinivas N (2014)
    • Abhinav N (2013)
    • Gopikrishna M(2013)
    • Ramya R (2013)
    • Roshan Wathore (2012)
    • Prithviraj S (2012)
    • Ganesh Shankar (2011)
    • Nakeeb Nazeemuddin (2011)
    • Vijay P (2011)
    • Arpit Mundra (2010)
    • Ajay Singh Jadaun (2010)
    • Himanshu Jasuja (2010)
    • Anirudh Govindrajan(2009)
    • Pramodh M (2009)
    • Naresh Pavurala (2008)
    • Anil Chaitanya (2008)
    Past Project Staff
    • Dr. Jaivignesh, V (Monitoring of AMR genes and cofactors in waterbodies in Chennai region)
    • Jithin, K. P. (COALESCE, National Carbonaceous Aerosol Program)
    • Dr. Laxmi Prasad (COALESCE, National Carbonaceous Aerosol Program)
    • Adi Yogesh. (COALESCE, National Carbonaceous Aerosol Program)
    • Sujit Singh (COALESCE, National Carbonaceous Aerosol Program)
    • Dr. Shahul Hameed (COALESCE, National Carbonaceous Aerosol Program)
    Current and Past Collaborators
    • Dr. Abhijit Deshpande (Dept. Of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Baburaj A P (Dept. of Applied Mechanics, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Chandra T S (retd.) (Dept. of Biotechnology, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Chandrakumar N (retd.) (Dept. of Chemistry, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Indumathi Nambi (Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Raghuram Chetty (Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Renganathan T (Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Sachin Gunthe (Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Shiva Nagendra S M (Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Srinivas Jayanti (Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Swaminathan T (retd.) (Dept. of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Madras)
    • Dr. Vagesh Narasimhamurthy (Dept. of Applied Mechanics, IIT-Madras)
    External Students (B.Tech. Project)
    • Pramod Sripada (SASTRA University) - Currently pursuing Ph.D. at Monash University (Australia)
    Visiting Faculty
    • Dr. Suresh Dhaniyala (Apr - Oct, 2009) - Clarkson University, USA
    • Dr. Rainer Lohmann (2011, 2015, 2023) - University of Rhode Island, USA

    Contact

    Location:

    328, Krishna Chivukula Block (NAC-1), IIT Madras

    Call:

    044-22574175