RGU: Sandhya Devalla

Sandhya Devalla
6E, Berry Street
Aberdeen, AB25 1DL
Scotland, UK
Phone: +44 -1224 -631 334
e-mail: s.devalla@rgu.ac.uk
Summary
Dependable, self-motivated and sincere
Skilled in Environmental Analysis (trace level) and Metal speciation
Expertise in Membrane Technology
Excited by the challenge of real world applications
Education
PhD in Analytical Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, India 1998
MSc in Analytical Chemistry , University of Madras, Chennai, India 1991
BSc in Chemistry, Stella Maris College, University of Madras, Chennai, India 1989
Work Experience
Post Doctoral Work
August 2002 - Present
Post doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Process Integration and Membrane Technology, School of Engineering, Robert Gordon University, Scotland, UK
Objective- To design and test a cellulose acetate membrane-based dryer module for the dehydration of hydrogen gas produced in a laboratory scale hydrogen generator.
Description- Hydrogen gas produced in a laboratory scale hydrogen generator by the electrolysis of water is saturated with water vapour. This water vapour has to be removed in order to obtain high purity hydrogen gas (99.99%) required for laboratory usage. Membrane technology offers an attractive alternative to the existing silica gel -Nafion tubing dryer system with added advantages. Preliminary studies conducted using a cellulose acetate membrane dryer gave very promising results and showed that the membrane dryer clearly out performs the existing dryer system. We have developed a computational model in order to estimate the performance of this membrane dryer by varying the input values such as feed composition, feed pressures, feed flow rates, permeate pressures etc. The model will be used to design a cellulose acetate permeator module with the desirable characteristics so as to replace the existing dryer system.
August 2000 � July 2002
Worked as a Post doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
Objective- To study and to indirectly estimate the risk of arsenic toxicity to humans consuming large amounts of arsenic contaminated seafood.
Description-Developed a novel enzymatic hydrolytic procedure that enables the determination of the relatively new class of lipid soluble arsenicals in tissues for its subsequent analysis by HPLC-ICP-MS. The procedure was applied for the determination of arsenic species bound to the lipids in the kidney muscle and faeces of the North Ronaldsay sheep as well as in the seaweed lipid, Laminaria digitata.
January - November 1998
Research Fellow at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India
Objective- To detect the presence intramolecular long-distance photosensitised electron transfer between the donor and the acceptor moieties
Description-The objective was to synthesise suitable donor-spacer-acceptor systems of the type 9,10-dimethoxyanthracene-steroid-selenosilane using different steroids as spacers. Work was carried out towards the synthesis of such systems.
Doctoral Work
July 1992 - November 1997
Sensitive and selective methods based on Substoichiometric Isotope Dilution Analysis (SIDA) were developed for the trace level determinations of mercury, cadmium, and zinc. A simple and reliable extractive separation scheme was also developed for the sequential separation of these elements that are known to co-exist in various environmental matrices and interfere with one another in their determination procedures. Together with the separation scheme, the methods were successfully applied to various environmental samples. Analytical measurements were carried out using Liquid scintillation counting, Gamma-ray spectrometry and Geiger Muller counting for the radioactive isotopes. Inductively coupled Plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was used for the comparison of results.
Awards/ Scholarships Obtained
Prof. Werner Award for the best PhD thesis in Inorganic and Analytical chemistry, 1998, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, India.
Awarded the ‘Joint CSIR-UGC’ (India) Junior and Senior Research Fellowships and eligibility for lectureship, 1991 and was granted PhD Fellowship from July 1992 - June 1997.
Skills
Specialised in the area of trace environmental analysis and metal speciation for Sampling, Method development and Analysis in a wide variety of environmental and biological applications.
Specialised in various aspects of Membrane Technology such as modelling of Gas permeators, permeation analysis and surface characterisation of membranes.
Instrumental skills
Experienced in the handling of various instrumental techniques and chromatographic procedures such as Atomic Absorption Spectrometry(AAS), Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry(ICP-AES), Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry(ICP-MS) and hyphenated MS techniques, Liquid scintillation counter, Gamma-ray spectrometer, Geiger-Muller counter, IR, UV-VIS spectrometry, High performance liquid chromatography(HPLC), Gas Chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS), thin layer chromatography(TLC-both analytical and preparative), Adsorption column chromatography.
Handling of Radioactivity
Experienced in the handling of radioactive substances and disposal of radioactive waste since the PhD work involved the use of Radioisotopes. Carried out a wide range of experiments in radiochemistry at the 'National Workshop on Radiochemistry & Applications of Radioisotopes' organised by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre(BARC), India, Nov 27-Dec 4, 1995.
Computer Knowledge
MS Office, Chem Windows, ISIS Draw

Publications/ Conferences
1. Feldmann, J., Hansen, H., Sandhya, D., An appetite for arsenic: the seaweed-eating sheep from Orkney. 2nd International Conference on Trace Element Speciation in Biomedical, Nutritional and Environmental Sciences, Munich, Germany, 7 - 10 May 2001.
2. D. Sandhya and M. S. Subramanian ‘Radiometric determination of trace amounts of cadmium by liquid scintillation counting ’ Radiochimica Acta, 80, 1998, 109-112.
3. D. Sandhya and M. S. Subramanian ‘Radiometric determination of trace amounts of zinc using liquid scintillation counting’ Talanta, 46, 1998, 921-926.
4. D. Sandhya and M.S. Subramanian ‘Extractive separation of trace amounts of mercury, cadmium and zinc’ Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry: Articles, 224, Nos. 1-2, 1997 53-57.
5. D. Sandhya, S. Priya and M. S. Subramanian ‘Trace determination of zinc by substoichiometric isotope dilution analysis’ International Journal of AOAC, 79, No.5, 1996, 1205-1208.
6. D. Sandhya and M. S. Subramanian, Determination of cadmium by liquid scintillation counting, accepted in the 26th International Symposium on Environmental Analytical Chemistry,Vienna , Austria, April, 1996.
7. D. Sandhya and M. S. Subramanian, Sequential extractive separation and determination of mercury, cadmium and zinc, Chemists Meet-`96, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai Dec. 1996.[Abstr. No.PP-15].
8. D. Sandhya and M. S. Subramanian, Trace determination of cadmium by substoichiometric isotope dilution analysis using liquid scintillation counting. Chemists Meet-`95, Indian Institute of Technology., Madras, Chennai, Dec.1995. [Abstr. No. OP-27].
9. D. Sandhya and M. S. Subramanian ‘Determination of mercury by substoichiometric isotope dilution analysis.’ Radiochimica Acta, 65, 1994, 105-109.
10. D. Sandhya, R. Ilango and M. Subbaiyan, Extractive spectrophotometric determination of brucine and strychnine using acid dyes. XVI National Symposium, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, February 1991. [Abstr.No.I-2].