Arnav S. Malkani, Ph.D. Email and Phone Number

Chemical Engineering Research and Development• Characterized multiple steps in the process to generate an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) by leveraging aspects from reaction engineering, separation processes, and crystallizations to advance process understanding.• Prepared batch documentation to support process scale up, piloting, and tech transfer of small molecule APIs.• Developed a kinetic model to profile a reaction and validate its mechanism across scales using Reaction Lab.• Mentored an intern to investigate the impact of different carbon treatment methods on impurity rejection.

• Wrote and executed standard operating procedures.• Liaised with Environment Health and Safety officials.• Maintained overall lab safety.

Bingjun Xu Group• Identified the active site on copper catalysts for the electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) at low overpotentials through a combination of reactivity, characterization, and operando spectroscopy studies.• Constructed design principles to optimize the selectivity of the CO2RR towards C2+ products by elucidating the impact of reactant mass transport and electrolyte cations on the reaction pathway.• Designed a first of its kind operando spectro-electrochemical stir cell to track adsorbed reaction intermediates using surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS) and quantify products simultaneously.• Prepared metal catalyst thin films (copper and gold) on silicon crystals for spectroscopic investigations using a combination of polishing, cleaning, wet etching, and electroless, electrolytic or e-beam deposition techniques.• Collaborated with research groups working on different electrochemical reactions at the department, university, national and international level by providing mechanistic insights from SEIRAS that resulted in six publications.• Broadened the scope of SEIRAS to probe surface adsorbates on both metal film and metal nanoparticle catalysts.• Set up a transmission IR cell for catalyst characterization at cryogenic temperatures under vacuum. • Built a high-pressure batch reactor for electrochemical reactivity experiments.• Mentored graduate, undergraduate and high school researchers in the group.

Chemical Engineering Laboratory - Kinetics UnitChemical Engineering Thermodynamics

Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics

Jefferson Tester Group• Converted model compounds in food waste streams into biofuel using a hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) reactor.• Built a heat exchanger to sample the reactor’s bio-oil and analyzed its composition using an elemental analyzer.• Modeled a similar HTL reactor setup for a higher throughput screening of different feedstocks using Aspen Plus.Paul Steen Group• Prepared water-repellent coatings on cleaned metal surfaces by chemical vapor deposition (CVD).• Characterized the sample’s surface roughness using profilometry and hydrophobicity by measuring droplet contact angles, contact angle hysteresis, and surface energy gradients on it.• Modeled the effect of forces on droplets by varying shape parameters using Mathematica.

Oil, Gas & Hydrocarbon Department• Learned the basics of pumps, valves and piping and reviewed PFDs and P&IDs of the company’s plant sites.