STAFF PROFILE
Professor Rajarathinam Parthasarathy
Position:
Professor
College / Portfolio:
STEM College
School / Department:
STEM|School of Engineering
Phone:
+61399252941
Campus:
City Campus
Contact me about:
Research supervision
Areas of research and consulting expertise
- Multiphase mixing in agitated vessels
- Solids suspension and solid-liquid mass transfer in agitated vessels in mineral processing
- Process intensification
- Anaerobic digester hydrodynamics
- Sludge rheology
- Siodegradation of polymer nanocomposites
- Nanoemulsions
- Laminar mixing studies on isolated mixing regions and caverns
Employment history
- 2012: Acting Director, Rheology and Materials Processing Centre, RMIT University
- 2008–2012: Program Director (Chemical Engineering), School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne
- 1999–present: Senior Lecturer, School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne
- 1996–1998: Lecturer, Department of Chemical & Metallurgical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne
- 1995: Research Associate, Ian Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide
- 1993–1995, Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 1992: Research Associate, The University of Newcastle Research Associates (TUNRA) Ltd, NSW
- 1984–1988: Production Engineer, Bombay Offshore Project, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India
Honours and awards
- 2012: The best poster award for "Studies on unmixed regions in a mechanically agitated anaerobic digester" Chemeca 2012, Wellington, New Zealand
- 2012: The best poster award for "Effect of baffles on solid-liquid mass transfer coefficient in high solid concentration mixing", Chemeca 2012, Wellington, New Zealand
- 2011: Innovation in curricula, learning & teaching – Team award, RMIT University
- 1988: International postgraduate award, University of Newcastle
Current research activities
- Improving the mixing performance of anaerobic digester using flow visualization and computational fluid dynamic studies
- Novel and cost effective mixing technique for anaerobic digesters in municipal wastewater plants using computational fluid dynamic simulation and electrical resistance tomography
- Intensifying solid-liquid mass transfer in agitated vessels with high solids concentration
- Process intensification of leaching in agitated vessels using cavitation
- Impact of temperature and thermal history on the rheological characterization of municipal sludge
- Rheological characterisation of the blends of primary and secondary sludge
- Rheological characterisation of the sludge under high temperature and pressure
Current teaching activities
- Process Principles (PROC2078)
- Chemical Engineering Specialisation (PROC2087)
- Process Systems Integration (PROC2091)
- Research Project (PROC2092)
- Process Plant Design and Economics (PROC2089), Course Coordinator
- Process Systems Design (PROC2088)
- Design Project (PROC1025)
Past teaching activities
- Chemical Engineering Design (PROC2076)
- Fluid Flow and Particle Mechanics (PROC2079)
- Transfer Processes (PROC2085)
- Advanced Chemical Engineering Specialisation (PROC2094)
- Process Control and Instrumentation Technology
- PhD, (Chemical Engineering), 1993, University of Newcastle, N.S.W, Australia
- MEng, (Chemical Engineering), 1983, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
- BTech, (Chemical Engineering), 1981, University of Madras, India
Professional affiliations
- Fellow, Insitution of Chemical Engineers (UK)
- Member, Australian Society of Rheology
- Core member, RMIT University Platform Technology Research Institute (PTRI)
- Core member, RMIT University WETT (Water- Effective Technology and Tools) Research Centre
Industrial experience
Offshore oil and gas production, start-up and emergency shutdown of process platform operations, pipeline pigging, production testing, computer simulations of oil-gas separation processes, process development of heavy crude oil upgrading and gas sweetening, process engineering lab feasibility study and development, performance evaluation of gas flow meters, safety auditing of LPG extraction plant
Industry and university collaboration
- IRSTEA, a public research institute in France which focusses on land management issues such as water resources and agricultural technology
- Melbourne Water Corporation, a company owned by the Victorian Government, manages Melbourne’s major sewerage infrastructure and treats about 40% of Melbourne sewage (about 330 million litres a day)
- South East Water, a company owned by the Victorian Government, providing water and sewerage services to over 600,000 customers in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
- CSIRO, Process Science and Engineering Division, Highett, Australia
- Kobe University, Japan
Leadership and contribution to profession
- Present: Acting Director, Rheology and Materials Processing Centre, School of Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, RMIT University
- 2008–2012: Program Director (Chemical Engineering), School of Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, RMIT University
- 2003–2008: Higher Degrees by Research Co-ordinator, School of Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, RMIT University
- Present: Co-Chair, International Symposium of Industrial Mixing 8, Melbourne, 2014
- Present: Member, Organising Committee, 15th Asia Pacific Confederation of Chemical Engineering Congress, Melbourne, 2015
- 2012–present: Vice-Chair, Education Subject Group, Institution of Chemical Engineers, UK
- 2010–2012: Chair, Education Subject Group, Institution of Chemical Engineers, UK
- 2012: Assessor of Chartered Membership Applicants, IChemE
- 2012: Member, IChemE accreditation panel to University of Adelaide
Peer assessment
- Assessor for Australian Research Council Discovery and DECRA grant applications
- Assessor of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Canada grant application
- Assessor Czech Science Foundation grant application
- Reviewer of manuscripts from the following international journals: The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, AIChE journal, Indudtrial Engineering Chemistry and Research, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, The Journal of Chemical Engineering of Japan, International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering, Chemical Engineering Communications
- Lotfiman, S.,Bhattacharya, S.,Parthasarathy, R. (2023). Novel method of measuring solids settling velocity in concentrated slurry under sheared conditions using electrical resistance tomography (ERT) In: Chemical Engineering Science, 267, 1 - 13
- Ravisankar, V.,Wu, J.,Bhargava, S.,Parthasarathy, R. (2023). Studying particle attrition in a solid-liquid agitated vessel using focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) In: Chemical Engineering and Processing - Process Intensification, 183, 1 - 13
- Medeiros Militao, I.,Roddick, F.,Fan, L.,Cueva Zepeda, L.,Parthasarathy, R.,Bergamasco, R. (2023). PFAS removal from water by adsorption with alginate-encapsulated plant albumin and rice straw-derived biochar In: Journal of Water Process Engineering, 53, 1 - 11
- Cueva Zepeda, L.,Griffin, G.,Shah, K.,Al Waili, I.,Parthasarathy, R. (2023). Energy potential, flow characteristics and stability of water and alcohol-based rice-straw biochar slurry fuel In: Renewable Energy, 207, 60 - 72
- Xayachak, T.,Haque, N.,Lau, D.,Parthasarathy, R.,Pramanik, B. (2023). Assessing the environmental footprint of plastic pyrolysis and gasification: A life cycle inventory study In: Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 173, 592 - 603
- Kennedy, S.,Roy Choudhury, N.,Parthasarathy, R. (2023). 3D printing soft tissue scaffolds using Poly(caprolactone) In: Bioprinting, 30, 1 - 11
- Cueva Zepeda, L.,Griffin, G.,Shah, K.,Bhargava, S.,Parthasarathy, R. (2023). A study of biochar physiochemistry and particle size distribution influencing the properties of water-based slurry fuels In: Environmental Research, 236, 1 - 10
- Tangirala, R.,Borra, A.,Satyavathi, B.,Thella, P.,Padmaja, K.,Madapusi, S.,Parthasarathy, R.,Bhargava, S. (2022). Calorimetric transformation studies for crystal growth kinetics of benzoic acid in binary mixtures during cooling crystallization In: Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 147, 6807 - 6815
- Lotfiman, S.,Bhattacharya, S.,Parthasarathy, R. (2022). A novel approach for measuring particle settling and settled bed build-up velocities in concentrated slurries using electrical resistance tomography In: Powder Technology, 411, 1 - 13
- Xayachak, C.,Haque, N.,Parthasarathy, R.,King, S.,Emami, N.,Lau, D.,Pramanik, B. (2022). Pyrolysis for plastic waste management: An engineering perspective In: Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 10, 1 - 17
Note: Supervision projects since 2004
11 PhD Current Supervisions25 PhD Completions and 6 Masters by Research Completions
Mixing, processing, Biodegrdable polymers, Polymer nanocomposites, Multiphase mixture: stirred-tank mixing, reactions, hydrodynamics.
- Pyrolysed tyre waste (EOLT) char as an additive in polymer composites (lead partner BIOPLANT LIMITED). Funded by: Cooperative Research Centres Projects (CRC-P) Grant from (2022 to 2025)
- Fast Track: Techno-economic analysis on improving biogas from anaerobic digestion on pre-treated sewage sludge (administered by Griffith University). Funded by: Race for 2030 Limited CRC - Competitive from (2022 to 2022)
- Revolutionary upcycling of landfill waste into hydrogen, fuels & materials. Funded by: CRC-P Cooperative Research Centre Project (Bioelektra) from (2021 to 2023)
- Evaluation of Processing Parameters and Equipment for Verification of Acceptance Testing for 2-part Resin Static Mixing at Industrial Scale. Funded by: Boeing Aerostructures Australia Pty Ltd - Scholarship from (2019 to 2021)
- Novel and cost effective mixing technique for anaerobic digesters in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Funded by: ARC Linkage Grant pre-2014 Round 2 from (2013 to 2016)