About NoPo
NoPo Nanotechnologies is India's only commercial manufacturer of Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs), produced through our proprietary HiPCO (High Pressure Carbon Monoxide) process. We are a fast growing, technically driven organization working at the frontier of advanced materials manufacturing, with applications spanning energy, composites, and next generation industrial technologies.
Key Responsibilities
A. CFD Modelling and Simulation
- Develop and execute CFD models for tubular reactors, multi-tubular reactors, gas flow systems, and high-temperature process equipment used in SWCNT production.
- Simulate fluid flow, Reynolds number / turbulence, temperature distribution, heat transfer, pressure drop, and gas residence time under different operating conditions.
- Select appropriate turbulence models, discretization schemes, boundary conditions, and numerical solution methods based on the physics of the process.
- Conduct mesh generation, mesh independence studies, convergence assessment, and numerical sensitivity analysis.
B. Reactor Design and Thermal Analysis
- Analyse temperature uniformity, hot spots, cold zones, and thermal gradients within reactors and associated heating systems.
- Evaluate heat transfer between heating elements, reactor walls, and process gases.
- Investigate the impact of reactor geometry, tube arrangement, heating configuration, insulation, and operating conditions on thermal performance.
C. SWCNT Process and Reactor Optimization and troubleshooting
- Model gas flow and residence time for CO-based SWCNT production processes, including HiPco or other relevant processes, as applicable to the company's technology.
- Evaluate gas distribution, mixing, recirculation, flow maldistribution, and pressure drop across reactor assemblies.
- Support the modelling of gas-phase reactions, species transport, and reaction kinetics where suitable kinetic data are available.
- Assess the effect of operating parameters on process stability, gas utilization, thermal efficiency, and potential reactor fouling.
- Collaborate with experimental teams to develop modelling approaches for complex R&D problems.
D. Validation, Troubleshooting, and Continuous Improvement
- Validate CFD predictions against experimental measurements, pilot plant data, temperature profiles, pressure measurements, and flow data.
- Investigate deviations between simulated and actual reactor performance and recommend corrective actions.
- Conduct parametric studies, sensitivity analysis, and design-of-experiments-based simulation studies.
- Provide engineering recommendations to resolve flow maldistribution, overheating, inadequate heat transfer, and pressure-drop issues.
- Support root cause analysis of reactor performance and equipment-related problems.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline.
- 3–5 years of hands-on experience in CFD modelling and simulation for industrial equipment, reactors, thermal systems, or chemical processes.
- Proficiency in at least one major CFD platform, such as ANSYS Fluent, ANSYS CFX, or OpenFOAM.
- Strong understanding of fluid mechanics, heat transfer, thermodynamics, and numerical methods.
- Practical experience with turbulence modelling, mesh generation, mesh quality assessment, convergence monitoring, and mesh independence studies.
- Working knowledge of energy equations, species transport, pressure-drop calculations, and residence-time analysis.
- Ability to define appropriate boundary conditions and material properties and critically assess simulation assumptions.
- Experience in interpreting CFD results and translating them into practical engineering recommendations.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, technical documentation, and communication skills.
Preferred Skills
- Experience in CFD simulation of chemical reactors, tubular reactors, multi-tubular reactors, or high-temperature gas-phase processes.
- Exposure to carbon nanotube synthesis, CVD, HiPco, gas-phase nanomaterial synthesis, or related advanced-materials processes.
- Experience with conjugate heat transfer (CHT), radiation modelling, and high-temperature thermal systems.
- Understanding of reacting-flow models, finite-rate chemistry, species transport, and chemical kinetics.
- Exposure to particle tracking, aerosol dynamics, nucleation, deposition, or population balance modelling.
- Experience in modelling electrical heating systems, heated reactor assemblies, refractory insulation, and thermal losses.
- Knowledge of statistical analysis, design of experiments (DoE), and correlation of simulation results with experimental data.
- Experience supporting pilot-scale equipment design, process troubleshooting, and technology scale-up.
Benefits
Best In the Industry