National symposium: ‘Innovation in chemical sciences vital for solving problems’

Hazara University VC highlights importance of catalytic process in addressing health, environment concerns.


Express September 27, 2011

ABBOTABAD:


Science has made astounding progress in recent years by demonstrating how vastly improved computational tools are now available at low application of kinetic concepts. Science has also progressed in the process of catalysis to understand and predict diverse and complex chemical reactions, including biological systems, semi-conductor growth and corrosion.


This was stated by Hazara University (HU) Vice Chancellor (VC) Dr Sakhawat Shah while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of a three-day national symposium organised by Peshawar University Centre of Excellence at Baragali on Monday.

The symposium has seen the attendance of scientists, scholars and PhD and MPhil students from all over the country.

Shah said that the sustenance of modern civilisation hinges upon innovation in different areas of chemical engineering. There are vital problems in the domains of health, energy, and environment, which are challenging the very existence of modern communities. “The whole world is anxiously looking towards innovation in various fields of chemical engineering to solve these problems,” he claimed.

“Whether we are talking about tapping solar energy or designing more efficient and environment-friendly chemical processes, catalysis addresses all these issues,” said Shah.

On electric cars, Shah said that, “The problems being faced by scientists lie with efficient storage and transfer of energy, which can be addressed accordingly with knowledge in chemical engineering.”

The VC said that the mathematical models which describe chemical reactions and kinetic energy provide chemical engineers with tools to understand and describe chemical processes, such as food decomposition, microorganism growth, stratospheric ozone decomposition and complex biological systems.

“These models can also be used to design chemical reactors to optimise product yield, separate products more efficiently, and eliminate by-products that are harmful to the environment,” he explained.

As an example, the VC said, “While performing catalytic cracking of heavy hydrocarbon into gasoline and light gas, kinetic models can be used to find out the exact temperature and pressure at which the highest yield will occur.”

Shah said that the significance of catalysis can be estimated from the fact that 90 per cent of all commercially produced chemical products involve catalysts at some stage in their preparation. In recent years, the catalytic process has pumped products worth $1.2 trillion into the world economy, he added.

The VC requested participants to carefully observe the effects of pressure, equilibrium, free energy and the application of mathematical models which describe kinetics of chemical reaction.

Rationalism in experimentation, Shah explained, was a search to find reality and truth behind apparent phenomena, eventually seeing the triumph aiming at discovering the truth and leading to success in a system based on objective thinking and practical consideration to make human life more promising.

He said that over the years, scientific research has diverted the wealth of intellectual influence towards concrete problems, which has resulted in the rapid and coordinated progress of human society.

Centre of Excellence for Chemistry Director Professor Hassan M Khan also addressed the gathering and highlighted the aims and objectives of the three-day symposium.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2011.

COMMENTS (1)

Muzaffar | 12 years ago | Reply Appreciation for organizing such a symposium . I am purposefully including a few line as unfortunately as a society we have become so hala gula oriented that areas like the article is touching are not even touched or thought about by the common public or even people sitting in the helm of affairs and who are supposed to initiate these efforts. Hope we understand that there is a reason for we humans being called Ashraf ul Mukhlukat.....we have the BRAINS/MINDS. Would also like to give credit to Express Tribune for covering such events.
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ