R V College of Engineering realized the need for skilled Chemical Engineers in the exponentially growing technological environment. This implanted the idea of adding Chemical Engineering branch and in the year 1982 the department of Chemical Engineering was established. Since then the department has grown by leaps and bounds and imparted quality education and groomed students in all facets of education: character, technical competency and overall personality. The National Board of Accreditation has accredited the department for 5 years in the year 2003 and again for 5 years in the year 2008; this is a testimony to the high standards the department has maintained in technical education. The department has been recognized as a research center by Visveshraya Technological University, Belgaum from 2002.

Mission

To achieve national and international recognition through education and research.
To impart interaction with the industries involved in the synthesis and processing of chemicals and materials.
To continuously upgrade the skills of faculty and technical staff.
To develop as a centre for excellence in the areas of clean and sustainable technology
To emphasis the need and importance of innovation

Vision

To impart quality education which advances engineering fundamentals and promotes innovations in the areas of Energy Technology, Environmental Technology, Biotechnology and New materials.

Academic Program

Courses offered

o B.E. in Chemical Engineering
o MSc (Engg) by research
o PhD program affiliated to VTU

The department has qualified, dedicated and experienced faculty and technical staff. The faculty student ratio is 1:11. There are 4 faculties who have completed their PhD and 8 faculties are pursuing PhD. The faculty is assisted by well trained supporting staff.
Chemical Engineers take fundamental research to the factory and the world around us. Concrete evidence of the impact of chemical engineering on society is everywhere. The creation of virtually every product that we use on a daily basis, rely upon, and often take for granted, requires processes and materials developed and/or manufactured by Chemical Engineers. Examples include plastics and advanced materials, compact discs, micro-chips in computers, pharmaceuticals, batteries, and commodity chemicals (e.g. fertilizers, paints, oils, fuels, etc.). Considering the following areas the department offers the following courses: Chemical Reaction Engineering, Fluid Dynamics and its application to processing, Mass Transfer and its application to processing, Heat Transfer and its application to processing, Separation of mixtures of chemical components, Control of process equipment, Thermodynamics of pure species and mixtures, Process safety / hazards involved with chemicals and processes, Biotechnology, Environmental engineering, Materials engineering, Food process engineering , Nanotechnology.

The Department has well equipped classrooms with audio-visual aids. It has its own library facility with sufficient number of books and journals to facilitate research activities in the department.

Following are the state of art laboratories.

• Mechanical Operations Lab,
• Instrumental Analysis & Pollution Control Lab,
• Computer Applications Lab,
• Process Control Lab,
• Reaction Engineering Lab,
• Momentum Transfer Lab,
• Heat Transfer Lab,
• Mass Transfer Lab,
• Research Lab.

Some of the important instruments / equipments available are

• UV - VIS Spectrophotometer,
• Gas Chromatograph,
• Cyclone Reactor,
• Computer Controlled Process Control Units,
• flame photometer and a Boiler.

The department is well equipped with modern laboratories which can be used for research. The total area available for teaching learning process in the department is 2000 Sq.meters. 

The Department organizes seminars and training programme from time to time. Some of the programs held in recent past are:

• One week ISTE/AICTE – STTP Short Term Course on Downstream Processing
  
• One week training programme on Simulation of Chemical Engineering system using C
  
• Two days National level students technical Symposium (REACT)
  
• Two days National seminar Conference on Recent trends in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CHEMBIOT)
  
• One day workshop on soft skill development programme conducted by Deccan Herald.
  
• One day Seminar on Vermi-composting –an Avenue for Entrepreneurship for Farmers
  
• One day seminar on Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp
  
• One day seminar Career Opportunities in Chemical Engineering
  
• One day Seminar Emerging trends in Nano-Biotechnology
  
• One day Seminar on MAT LAB applications, ASPEN, CFD, Simulation and Modelling
  
• Seminar on Modeling Viral Dynamics and the Impact of Drug Therapy
  
• Seminar on Food Processing & Food Preservation
  
• Seminar on Entrepreneurship awareness camp
  
• Seminar on Recruitment and role of Chemical Engineers and British Gas Company
  
• Seminar on Promotion of Industry Institute Interaction by IIChE

Conference / Seminars / Workshops conducted in the department 2011

1. An invited lecture was by Mr Srinivasan Bharat from Zentech INC, Texas USA on offshore designs.

2. An invited lecture was delivered by Supriya Rao, Manager, India Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland on Scope for Higher education in Scotland.

3. Dr R Suresh, delivered a talk on Development of Green Technology during Faculty development program on Green Chemistry and Environment between 17th to 19th Feb 2011at R V College of Engineering., Bangalore

4. A Two day workshop 'FRP-2010' was organized by D Rangnath at RVCE, Bangalore, 23rd to 24th September 2010.

5. A Two day workshop on introduction to new syllabus has been conducted in the department to educate faculty on introduction on new subject

6. An invited lecture was delivered by Mr. Manjunath Shastry SHELL, Kaulampur on off shore platforms and chemical engineering.

7. REACT -2011, Annual Techno Cultural Fest of the Chemical Engineering department was organized on 4th and 5th November 2011. The detail information is mentioned below:

a. 45 Technical papers were received across the nation for paper presentation and 12 papers short listed for the presentation and 5 were selected for poster presentation.
b. The industry defined problem given by PRAXAIR India Ltd and programmed was co- ordinated by Mr. Sunandan Lala general Manager project, PRAXAIR.
c. There were ten informal events conducted by students of our department

Faculty:

1. Jagdish H Patil, "A study on effect of volatile fatty acid on biomethanation of hyacinth", International Journal of Advanced Biotechnology and Research, Vol 2, Issue 2, 2011, pp 257-262, IISN 0976-2612

2. Jagdish H Patil, " A comparative study on anaerobic co-digestion of water hyacinth with poultry litter and cow dung" International Journal of Chemical Sciences and Applications, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 2011, pp 148-155, ISSN 0976-2590

3. Jagdish H Patil, Anerobic digestion of water hyacinth with primary sludge" Research Journal of Chemical Sciences, Vol 1, Issue 3, 2011, pp 72-77, ISSN 2231-606X.

4. Sukumar Roy and Shilpa Hiremath, A method for the synthesis of nano-porous hydrated alumina, IN246750, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (Date of Publication of Granted Patent: 18/03/2011 Journal No. 11/2011).

5. Hemanth, L.R., "Development of Microcrystalline cellulose from groundnut shells for degradation of cadmium", National symposium on Innovative and Modern Technologies for Agricultural Productivity, Food Security and Environmental Management organized by School of Applied Biotechnology on July 22-23, 2011 at Mangalore, Karnataka.

o The Department has well qualified and dedicated staff. Eight staff members in the Department are pursuing PhD.
o Faculties in the Department have published several papers in various national and International Journals.
o Some of the papers that have appeared in the proceedings are:

o National Conference on Novel Products and Processes in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
o National Conference on Recent Trends in Polymer Science and Technology
o National Conference on Development Cum Environment Friendly Future Industrial Fuels
o National Seminar on Protein Engineering, NSPE

o Staff members are also involved in assisting VTU in developing EDUSAT content for online transmission of certain courses.

Students:

The students in Chemical Engineering Department who have bagged ranks for consecutive three years.

2010

1) Amita Jacob – II rank
2) Baljayanthi Ghosh – VIII rank
3) Bharat Ramakrishnan – IX rank
4) Amogha – X rank

2009

1) Prameela – III rank
2) Deepthi S– IV rank
3) Harshavardhan Dhamini – V rank
4) Anirudh R A – VI rank
5) Ankur Ghosh – VII
6) Kapil Seth – IX
7) Dheeraj Joshi – X

2008

1) Priya Ravi Ganesh – I rank
2) Maitreye Sen – IV rank
3) Ritika A Soni – VIII rank

The students have also received awards like

1. The best outgoing student of RV College of Engineering by TCS for the year 2006-07.
   
2. “IISc. Young Engineer’s Fellowship 2006” award.
   
3. “Honeywell Scholar of the Year 2007” an Award for Meritorious Academic Performance.

Besides students have

o Attended the NEN E-Leaders' Workshop on 24th Sep 2011.
o Member of Students in Free Entrepreneurship (SIFE) chapter of RVCE.

Research and Development

Department is a Research Centre recognized by VTU. The department undertakes research in Biochemical Engineering, Simiulation and Modelling, Process Development and optimization. The thrust areas:

o Extraction of Rauolfia Vammotoria Using Reverse Miscellar Extraction: Extraction of Reserpine from Raoulfia vommotoria using Reverse Micellar Extraction: This work involves study on extraction behavior of Reserpine using RME at varied conditions and optimize the process parameters for better efficiency with respect to quality and quantity.
o Synthesis of Hydrazine using cyclone reactor: Designed and fabricated cyclone reactors and conducted experiments for preparing hydrazine in the new reactor system
o Development of Bio-fibre reinforced Sandwich structures: Developed and characterized Polyurethane foam cored natural fiber reinforced sandwich structures for domestic applications.
o Permeability and filtration studies on ceramic filters: Three types of novel gas separation materials for gas separation viz: Zeolite membranes on ceramic support, polymer composite membranes on ceramic support and mesoporous materials as gas adsorbers has been developed in collaboration with BHEL
o Innovative Approaches for Improving the Hot/ Wet performance of Bismaleimide / Carbon Fiber Composites: Developed Bismaleimide resin for the preparation of composite materials for use in marine environment
o Biomethanation of water hyasinth: This involves optimizing the parameters to get highest yield of biogas.
o Analysis of polymer film coatings and causes for drag reduction for under water bodies: Theoritical analysis of drag reduction on various bodies using simulation.
o Fabrication and characterization of fiber metal laminates for gun barrel application using filament winding method: Preparation of fiber metal laminate flat specimens using Aluminium / steel, carbon fiber, glass fiber and evaluation of mechanical properties to replace existing metal based gun barrels
o Modeling of Reactors: This involves study on mixing of reactants followed by reaction using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Mixing is being quantified using existing computational fluid dynamic package. This quantified mixing information is proposed to be used to model the reactor performance.
o Design and synthesis of metal based sensitizers for nanocrystaline TiO2 Solar Cells: This project is on the development of a photoelectric conversion device, using a metal based dyes sensitized semiconductor, materials which has high conversion efficiency as well as high practicability alternate to the proven solid state photovoltaic cell is required
o Heat & Mass Transfer Studies on Electroless Gold Plating Bath: This work is to study the effect of heat transfer, mass transfer & fluid flow in Electroless gold plating bath on the deposition rate to improve the performance of bath and Electrochemical analysis of the plated samples.
o Feasibility Studies on the use of various biomasses in the existing 100 kW biomass plant at RVCE: The plant is meant not only to supply power to the campus but also provide R & D facilities in the biomass gasification area. We have facilities to conduct studies using various biomasses and solid wastes.

The Department is working on many research projects sponsored by various organizations like BHEL, DRDO, NRB, GE, other Universities etc.
Department of Chemical Engineering has signed under TIFAC scheme an MoU with CTI-BHEL for a project on "Permeability & Filtration studies on Ceramic Filters".

Cocurricular and Extracurricular Activities

o Chemical Engineering Association (ChEA) is a students professional body in the Department which organizes Technical Talks, Technocultural Fest, Industrial Tours.
o Techno Cultural Fest "REACT" is organized by ChEA every Year.
o Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) has a student Chapter which is active in conducting programmes in association with IIChE regional Centre, Bangalore.
o Many Faculty members are life members of IIChE, and ISTE.
o Students are encouraged to present papers in seminars organized by other colleges and students win many prizes.
o Students of chemical engineering participate in extracurricular activities such as acting, Debate, Music (instrumental and vocal), Quiz and have brought laurels to the department.
o Entrepreneurship activities in the department encourage the students to take entrepreneurship as a serious career option and some of the students are in the process of establishing their own enterprise. This also gives students an opportunity to innovate. One of the enterprise proposed is based on the students innovation.

• Chemical Engineering Association(ChEA) is a students professional body in the Department which organizes Technical Talks, Technocultural Fest, Industrial Tours.
  
• Techno Cultural Fest “REACT” is organized by ChEA every Year.
  
• Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) has a student Chapter which is active in conducting programmes in association with IIChE regional Centre, Bangalore.
  
• Many Faculty members are life members of IIChE, and ISTE.
  
• Students are encouraged to present papers in seminars organized by other colleges and students win many prizes.
  
• Students of chemical engineering participate in extracurricular activities such as acting, Debate, Music (instrumental and vocal), Quiz and have brought laurels to the department.
  
• Entrepreneurship activities in the department encourage the students to take entrepreneurship as a serious career option and some of the students are in the process of establishing their own enterprise. This also gives students an opportunity to innovate. One of the enterprise proposed is based on the students innovation.