Power Plant Engineer

Venkata Manohar Palla, Ph.D.

***** ***** ****** **, # **** • Houston, TX 77042 • 409-***-**** • **************@*****.***

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

Worked as Project Engineer with more than four years of experience in designing, planning and execution of power plants from inception to completion of project at Shriram EPC Ltd. Responsibilities include the writing proposals to client, comparing present technologies, engineering and site-coordination, site supervision, reviewing the vendor quotations, vendor follow-up, organizing client/contractor meetings and resolving engineering and management issues, process design, preparing data sheets for equipments, procurement, and installation of equipment, PFD development with equipment sizing, reviewing P& ID’s and performed process hydraulics and pump sizing. Apart from this as a research assistant designed the lab scale concrete photocatalytic reactor, synthesized photocatalytic nano structured metal oxides and characterized the synthesized nanomaterials.

KEY SKILLS

• Proficient in process simulation tools like Aspen Plus, HYSYS, PRO/II, Aspen Dynamics, Mat Lab and Polymath.

• Experienced in material and energy balances, PFD, P&IDs, MINITAB (Six Sigma software).

• Sound knowledge in the design of heat exchangers, Boilers, Turbines, Reactors, Distillation and Absorption columns.

• Experienced in process hydraulics & pump sizing calculations.

• Familiarity in design of pressure safety valves (PSV) and pressure vessels with knowledge in ASME, API 520 & 521 and applicable scenarios.

• Familiarity with process hazard analysis (PHA), HAZOP and OSHA safety measures

• Worked on Control Station software in tuning PID controllers.

• Experienced in writing control philosophy for the boiler feed water treatment plant.

• Developed innovative and practical solutions to the technical problems associated in the completion of the project.

• Worked in a team in influencing and managing the internal and external suppliers to the product development process to ensure the timely success of the project.

• Strong proven ability to work cross functionally in multi disciplinary projects and teams.

• Excellent communication skills in communicating effectively with technical and non technical disciplines.

• Working knowledge in Microsoft Office – Word, PowerPoint, Excel–Macros (VBA) & MS Projects

• Highly motivated to learn new developments in technology and master them.

• Highly organized, self starter and has excellent work ethics.

EDUCATION

May 2012 Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas

May 2002 B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering, Andhra University College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam, India

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Research Assistant, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX August 2006 – May 2012

Dissertation Title:” Application of Nano Structured Metal Oxides / Field Sampling and Analysis of Water Pollutants”

• Designed the lab scale concrete photocatalytic reactors for the removal of air pollutants such as NOx and Ozone using Degussa P25 Titanium Dioxide nanopowder.

• Photo catalytically degraded the NOx and VOC in the laboratory by using the internally illuminated fibre optic photocatalytic reactor with fibers coated metal oxide modified TiO2 photocatalyst

• Synthesized photocatlaytic nanomaterials by different methods like Sol Gel, Solution Combustion Synthesis method, and conducted experiments in removal of water and air pollutants photocatalytically.

• Detect the presence of Atrazine in water, sediment samples, and extraction of atrazine in soil by using soxhlet extraction technique for the field samples from Rio-Grande river basin region followed by analysis with High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)

• Hydrothermally synthesized the Fe/Mn co-doped titania nanotubes to remove the water pollutants like Rhodamine B Dye and Arsenic III in water.

• Characterized the synthesized materials with TEM, SEM, EDAX, XRD and BET surface area analysis.

PROCESS ENGINEER EXPERIENCE

Project Engineer “Shriram EPC Ltd., Chennai, India” May 2002 – July 2006

7.5 MW Biomass Power plant – Ravikiran Projects Ltd, Karnataka, India 2002-2004

Engineering, Planning, Installation and Commissioning of 7.5 MW Biomass power plant

Responsibilities include in writing proposals to client, comparing present technologies, engineering and site-coordination, design, preparing the data sheets, procurement and installation of equipment, PFD development, P& ID’s review, writing control philosophy for the boiler feed water treatment plant, & pump sizing.

MALCO ALUMINA expansion project, Tamil Nadu, India 2003-2004

To increase the alumina production from 70 KTPA to 90 KTPA

Responsibilities include in calculating the material and energy balances, investigating the bottlenecks in the existing plant, optimizing the equipment and process from technical and commercial perspective.

7.5 MW Thermal Power plant – Grasim Industries Limited, Jodhpur, India 2004-2006

Engineering, Planning, Installation and Commissioning of 7.5 MW Thermal power plant

Responsibilities include in site supervision, vendor follow-up, reviewing the vendor quotations, organizing client/contractor meetings and resolving the engineering and management issues, PFD development, P& ID’s review, writing control philosophy for the boiler feed water treatment plant, & pump sizing.

EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS

• Simulation on production of Acrolein using ASPEN PLUS: PFD development, design specifications to increase product purity, optimization of column reboiler heat duties, sensitivity analysis and cost analysis were done using tools in ASPEN PLUS.

• Simulation on production of cyclohexane using tools in HYSYS.

• A report on production of Biofuels from algae as feed stock: Sustainability.

• 2K Factorial Design concepts in design of experiments using MINITAB.

• Undergraduate Final dissertation Project: “Production of Acetaldehyde”. Material and energy balances for a plant. Design of distillation column for the process and a review on market and economy of Methanol Plants.

PUBLICATIONS & CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

1. Ramesh Asapu, Manohar Palla, Bin Wang, Zhanhu Guo, Rakesh Sadu,Daniel H. Chen, “Phosphorus-Doped Titania Nanotubes with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity,” Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry, 2011.

2. Kayzad Vajifdar1, Xuejun Ye2, V. Manohar. Palla3, and Daniel H. Chen3, Photocatalytic Oxidation of Atrazine in water Using Nd-doped TiO2 Visible-Light Photocatalyst, Journal of Chemical engineering Communications, 2011( Under Review)

3. Manohar Palla, Daniel H. Chen, Rakesh Sadu, R. Asapu and George W. Spencer, "Removal of Rhodamine B Dye with Fe/Mn Co-Doped Titania Nanotubes," paper 403a, in AIChE Annual Meeting, October 16-21, 2011, Minneapolis, MN.

4. Manohar Palla, Daniel H. Chen, Jewel Andrew Gomes, Kevin Urbanczyk and Guy Falzarano, “Field Sampling of Water/Sediments for Atrazine and Amoxicillin Contaminations In the Rio Grande Basin,” paper 188f, to be presented in AIChE Annual Meeting, October 16-21, 2011, Minneapolis, MN.

5. Daniel Chen*, M. Palla, A. Vaddi, R. Asapu, and R.Yuan “Metal Oxide -Modified Catalytic Concrete Slab for NOx and Ozone Removal,” TOCAT 6/APCAT5, Sapporo, Japan, July 18-23, 2010.

6. M.Palla, A. Vaddi, R. Asapu, D.Chen, K. Li, and R.Yuan “Photocatalytic Concrete Slab for Passive NOx /O3 Pollution Control,” Paper 425a, AIChE Annual Meeting, Nov. 8-13, 2009, Nashville, TN.

HONOURS AND ACTIVITIES

• Dean’s List, Competitive Academic Scholarship, Lamar University, Aug.2006 – Dec 2011.

• Organized CHEMCON 2000, national symposium for chemical engineers.

REFERENCES:

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