Dr. K. S. Mohandas

email: %%ksm33@hermes.cam.ac.uk

I hail from Kerala, the lovely `God’s own country’ in south India. I obtained my Bachelor degree in Chemistry from the University of Kerala and Masters from the Banaras Hindu University. I joined Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) of India through the 27th batch of the BARC Training School and later joined the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India as scientific Officer. I obtained my Ph.D degree from the University of Madras. Presently I am on leave from my department to pursue research work in the Cambridge University.

 

My doctoral thesis is entitled ‘Some Electrochemical and Electrometallurgical Studies of Technological Importance in Molten Sodium chloroaluminate Medium’. The work is concerned with the development of a low-temperature (about 250oC) electrochemical process for producing sodium metal by electrolysis of molten NaAlCl4, through sodium ion conducting Beta Alumina Solid Electrolyte (BASE). The work essentially involved the electrochemical investigations of the basic and applied aspects of NaCl-AlCl3 binary molten salt system. I have studied the transport and thermodynamic aspects of the binary system, and designed, built and operated an electrolytic reactor assembly for the study of the sodium production process. During electrolysis the graphite anode disintegrated and it led to detailed investigations on the electrochemical behaviour of carbon electrodes in molten chloroaluminate medium. These investigations gave me an opportunity to study the molten salt electrochemical intercalation in graphite, Graphite Intercalation Compounds and sodium-chlorine secondary battery.

 

Most of my work was concerned with reactive chemicals and materials and hence I am conversant with the design and operation of experimental systems for handling of such materials. For the past couple of years, I am fascinated by the FFC Cambridge process for the direct reduction of metal oxides by molten salt electrolysis. Now I work in the lab where the process was discovered in 1997 and I hope to make some humble contributions to the understanding of the novel molten salt process with my research here.

Please click on this link to see two presentations and a paper that I have prepared on the FFC Cambridge Process:

Oxygen Removal

FFC Process

FFC Process Paper

 

List of publications

 Journals   

1.    Design, construction and operation of a laboratory scale electrolytic cell for  

       sodium  production using a b”-alumina based low-temperature process

       K.S. Mohandas, N. Sanil, and P. Rodriguez, J. Applied Electrochemistry, 32, 1383-

      1390 (2002)

 

2.    Electrochemically induced aluminium chloride intercalation in graphite in the molten

       sodium  chloroaluminate medium

       K.S. Mohandas, N. Sanil, M. Noel and P. Rodriguez, Carbon 41, 927-932 (2003)

 

3.       Electrochemical behaviour of graphite and reticulated vitreous carbon in sodium chloroaluminate melt  at low  temperatures : A galvanostatic study

       K.S. Mohandas, N. Sanil, and P. Rodriguez, Bulletin of Electrochemistry, 19, 165-174

      (2003)

 

4.    An electrochemical investigation of the thermodynamic properties of the system

        NaCI-AICl3 at sub-liquidus temperatures

        K.S. Mohandas, N. Sanil, Tom Mathews and P. Rodriguez, Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B, 32B, 669-677 (2001)

 

5.    Anodic behaviour of carbon materials in NaCI saturated NaAlCI4 fused electrolyte at low temperatures: A cyclic voltammetric study

        K.S. Mohandas, N. Sanil, M. Noel and P. Rodriguez, J. Applied Electrochemistry, 31, 

        997-1007 (2001).

 

6.    Construction and calibration of a conductance cell for electrical conductivity measurements

        of molten salts at elevated temperatures

K.S. Mohandas, N. Sanil and P. Rodriguez, Bulletin of Electrochemistry, 16, 1 (2000)

 

7.        Measurement of theoretical and practical decomposition voltages of sodium chloride in

        b-alumina-molten sodium chloroaluminate system

        K.S. Mohandas, N. Sanil and P. Rodriguez, Bulletin of Electrochemistry, 33, 1 (2000)

 

8.    A novel electrochemical measurement of reversible decomposition potential of sodium chloride at sub-melting temperatures

        K.S. Mohandas, N. Sanil and P. Rodriguez, Current Science, 75, 1166 (1998)

 

9.    A Paradigm shift in the electrowinning of metals

       P. Rodriguez and K.S. Mohandas: Current Science, 2001, vol. 81, pp. 443-444.

 

10.  FFC Cambridge process and removal of oxygen from metal-oxygen systems by molten salt

       electrolysis:  An Overview

       K.S. Mohandas and D.J. Fray, Trans. of Indian Institute of Metals Vol 57, December 2004 pp 579-592.

 

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