Development of new methodologies for understanding the behavior of complex systems using contemporary theories in nonlinear dynamics, chaos, fractals and statistical physics is the focus activity. The adoption of a generalized approach permits interdisciplinary modeling and simulation with applications even in space-time turbulence (Phys. Rev. E, 2001, 056222). Along with new wavelet based noise reduction algorithms system nove inferences not possible due to the complex dynamics have now been made possible (US patent 2001, 6,208,951;. AIChE J 1999, 2461).

Kinetic modeling of chemical reactions, modeling and simulation of reactors, gallium and indium based catalysts for Friedel-Crafts type reactions ( J.Catal., 2000,192, 257), development of novel solid catalysts for fine chemicals etc. are some of the research areas.

The activities focus on the theory and applications of various Artificial Intelligence (AI) paradigms such as neural networks, genetic algorithms, genetic programming and fuzzy logic. These formalisms have been utilized for developing modeling and optimization strategies for a variety of chemical, biological and chemical engineering systems, for instance, steady-state and dynamic modeling of lab-scale, pilot-plant scale and commercial scale processes, nonlinear process control, fault detection/diagnosis, monitoring, and process optimization.

Recently, two novel hybrid formalisms integrating neural networks / genetic programming with the genetic algorithms have been proposed for process modeling and optimization (AIChE. J. 2001, 47(1), 126, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2002, 41, 2159). The principal advantage offered by the proposed methodologies is that process modeling and optimization can be performed directly from the process data, even in the absence of detailed knowledge about the physico-chemical phenomena (kinetics, thermodynamics, etc.) underlying a process.

Polymer / ceramic membrane based separations, including membrane development, adsorption separation and reactive separation are also part of the research and development activities.

A new evolutionary optimization technique, Ant colony optimization has been applied for the first time for batch, semi-batch and continuous reactors normally used in chemical industry. This can efficiently solve (1) the combinatorial optimization problem for the design of multiproduct batch scheduling and 2) the continuous function optimization problem for the design of multi-product plant with single product campaigns and horizon constraints. (Hydrocarbon Processing, 1999, 78, 97; Computers and Chemical Engineering, 2000, 24, 1901). Tools such as tabu search and support vector machines have also been developed and applied to a number of problems of interest to chemical engineering.

The main areas of activity of biochemical engineering group are applications of membrane separations in chemical and biochemical processes, microbial fermentation (enzymes, organic acids and secondary metabolites), immobilization of enzymes and ligands on polymeric and inorganic matrices for bioconversion of drug intermediates. Some of the major projects are recovery of antibiotics and enzymes using microfiltration and ultrafiltration, clarification of fruit juice and process development, and beta-carotene synthesis by yeast.