Research Interview - Dr. Pratik Sheth
Dr. Pratik Nitinchandra Sheth is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at BITS Pilani. His main research areas are Biomass Gasification, Pyrolysis, Modeling, and Simulation. Our team at IIChE BITS Pilani chapter had a discussion with him on his research work and also about a few anecdotes during his research career.
Q: What are the major milestones throughout your research career? What led you to pursue research in Chemical Engineering?
After my +2, I joined Gujarat University. In the late 1990s, chemical engineering was one of the most sought-after fields. I was the merit class representative at my university. During my bachelor’s degree, I was intensely involved in teaching and extracurriculars like quiz competitions. After completing my bachelor’s, I cleared the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) Exam and got admission to Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, in August 2001.
I chose a dissertation as I was not very interested in working in production plants. As part of one of my major projects, we developed our very own digital control system. Using a motorized control valve, we control the output flow rate of the Plate and Frame Heat Exchanger. The project was done under the supervision of Dr. R K Gupta, my mentor and the HOD of the Chemical Engineering Department at the time. During my master’s program, I worked on a project for the BITS Technical Fest APOGEE, a gasifier, which was nominated as one of the best projects that year. I also developed a Computational Fluid Dynamics code using Fortran. Programming in various languages taught me an important lesson, “If your logic is clear, then the programming language is not a barrier.”
I submitted my Ph.D. Thesis in 2009 and my mentor and guide was an inspiration that pushed me always to do and publish excellent work. My drive to do excellent research led me to publish in journals of high impact like Bio-resource Technology and Energy Conservation and Management. After 2010, I completed one Department of Science and Technology funded project, two industry projects, and one pedagogy project on energy technology with Dr. M S Soni.
I worked on Biomass Cookstove up-gradation, funded by the institute itself. A research article which I have published along with a BE student, Tanmay Jain was featured in the Energy journal. I believe that publication in a high-impact journal is about novelty; The only condition is that the work should not be general or routine; It should be progressive and applicable research. It need not be out-of-the-way, but it should be new. As part of my recent projects, I am working on a project with Dr. Abhishek Dhoble, it is gearing up, and we will be identifying and profiling the excreta of indigenous cows. My current work also involves modifying Steam gasification, Carbon Dioxide gasification, and Oxy-gasification. We also worked on a project enhancing the efficiency of cookstoves by identifying and formulating an Energy Utilization test.
Q: How would you describe your teaching career? How did you decide you want to be a part of the world of academia?
After my Ph.D., I took two students as my research mentees, one of them took up a project in the field of biomass gasification. We decided to develop my previous project on Biomass gasification with certain industrial applications and changes focused on creating a hydrogen-rich gas. Biomass gas, also known as producer gas, is a mixture of the gases, Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen gas. We thought to ourselves if we can somehow obtain a hydrogen-rich gas instead. To do so, we used a catalytic treatment, through a water-gas shift catalyst, HTS in a fixed bed reactor. Using that we could find the optimum operating conditions and temperature for the reaction as well as the optimum ratio of Carbon-Monoxide. Supervising students who were diligent and sincere, and working on fascinating projects made me decide that I want to take up an academic role.
I was interested and also further exposed during my Masters to the fields of Modeling, Simulation, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Computational Transport Phenomena. I used to take charge of the work for the labs in Chemical Engineering courses, teaching students how various software such as Aspen works, using models for a microscopic level which were differential and integral equations. This also led me to teach courses like Advanced Mass Transfer and Transport Phenomena in my career’s early stages.
Q: How did your journals benefit the community? Is there any particular research work that you consider as your best?
One of the ways to check any journal’s implications is by checking the number of citations that the journal has. My 2009 Ph.D. research article on Bio-resource Technology has 400 + citations. It is essential to display the idea of your research project correctly. Many people view it from their perspective, so it becomes necessary to describe your concept qualitatively. People need to read the article first to understand if there were any takeaways or not. Presenting every aspect of your paper in the best possible way allows the reader to gain the most out of your research work.
Q: You have recently adapted a well-known Chemical Engineering book ‘Transport Phenomena by Bird, Stewart, and Lightfoot’, how was your experience throughout the entire process?
Some experts would even recognize this book as “The Bible of Chemical Engineering”. Dr. Bhanuvardhan Reddy (co-author of the adapted book) and I found the task of adapting the book challenging and exciting. I felt I was well prepared for the challenge since I had taught the course almost 5 to 6 times to the Chemical Engineering students at BITS Pilani and had my own hand-written notes that helped me in the process. Every minute detail of the book, including the theory, the practice problems, and even the cover page was taken care of. The biggest challenge we had was to tackle the changes that needed to be made to a significant part of the problems and a chunk of the theory. We even managed to add a new chapter titled ‘Computational Transport Phenomena’ to the adapted version of the book.
Q: With the current advent of Artificial Intelligence, a large number of research projects involve using the power of data to solve modern problems in Engineering. What is your take on the same, will you be using this approach in your research work somewhere down the line?
According to me, every bit of information is stored as “data” and is passed on from one generation of researchers to the next generation. The purpose of this data is to be retained and optimized to produce better results. Artificial Intelligence can be applied wherever there is a bulk of information present and is known to produce good results. However, my current research doesn’t require the use of such methods and if required down the line I will apply those techniques in my research.
Q: How would you describe your emotional attachment to BITS Pilani? Can you describe some of your memories at this college as a student?
Of course, I have love and respect for BITS Pilani, where I have spent most of my academic and personal life. There’s a feeling of “you own it”. You feel like this is my institute and at the same time, you consider it your responsibility to take it to new heights. I always feel that I must do better work and it should be of the level that makes my institute proud.
During the first semester, I stayed in Ram Bhawan’s front wing (101–106). We used to play music in the corridors and also play table tennis & cricket a lot. I was very active during APOGEE. My friends & I took a trip to Shimla, we enjoyed it a lot. I’m in touch with many of my friends to date. There was no Library building and No New Academic Block (NAB) at one point of time, so I have seen how the institute has transitioned.
Q: What is your advice for budding chemical engineers? Is the craze for the IT sector with high-paying jobs a recent phenomenon or did it exist amongst the students of your generation?
The students who want to pursue a career in Chemical Engineering need to invest themselves in cutting-edge research and try to solve the issues of society. There are fields which are very important to the world currently such as Energy, Waste management, Hydrogen Energy, etc. It is essential to focus on quality rather than quantity. If a field excites you, perform a literature review, try to learn more, search about the most influential people working in that research field, and question yourself if there is a way you can cope with the challenges in that field? Be ready to face failures throughout your career. Many times experiments fail, but one should never be demotivated, it is essential to keep trying and never to give up. Also, opt for a direct Ph.D. program only when you are very sure about what you want to pursue. Otherwise, opt for a Master’s program, and only if you truly enjoy the field you have pursued projects in, then apply for a Ph.D.
It is not a new trend for students to join the IT Sector. Even 20 years ago, students opted for the same and many of my seniors got a job in the IT Industry. Many of my B.E. batchmates took up a position in TCS even after completing a Master’s from IIT Chennai. Hence, it is not something new and here at BITS, everyone gets an opportunity to pursue what they enjoy by opting for electives so that they get an excellent platform to pursue what they want in life.
Q: What will be your advice to students who want to decide on a particular field of research that they want to pursue?
The field selection is based upon many factors such as your passion, applicability of the research, need in the society, availability of funding, etc. So I believe that you should target the research field where issues and bottlenecks are present, and you must try to tackle those particular issues. You will get recognition for tackling those issues and you must always evaluate your research with the applicability, practicality, technical and economic feasibility. My research was applied and not scientific or theoretical, so my advice is from that point of view. There is no straightforward answer as to which field you should choose, but what strikes you is something you should look into.
