PhD Studentship - “Chemical Process Design Through Machine Learning”

To Prof.Dr-Ing Burger Jakob

(Technical University of Munich)

I am writing to express my interest in the pre doctoral program in Machine Learning in Chemical
Industry at institute of biotech & sustainability beginning soon at your department.
Will Durant said and I'll quote “Knowledge is the progressive discovery of our ignorance”. It’s not
only a quote but a motto of life for me. Pursuit of knowledge has always been my obsession and
the propelling force behind all my achievements. My decision to pursue graduate study blends
harmoniously with my eventual objective of taking up research-oriented career in Process
Chemical Engineering with specialization in biochemical.
The four year undergraduate study has taught me that Engineering is as much as an art as
it is a science. Creative instinct, excel fellowman ship and perceptiveness are the very gist of
engineering. My fields of interest range over a wide spectrum of areas between the combination
of Unit Operation and Unit Process; however I am especially fascinated by Industrial
Stoichiometry, Fluid Mechanics & Dynamics, Heat & Mass Transfer, Chemical Reactor Design,
Industrial Instrumentation and Engineering Management. My academic grades at undergraduate
level are the testimony of my interest in communications engineering. I am confident that my
undergraduate study has provided me with sufficient knowledge of fundamentals in order to take
up any one of these as my specializations in my graduate study. During my bachelors, I have done
a thorough study of Process Simulation and Modelling. I have also simulated a complete model of
different unit operation of Chemical industry in Aspen Hysys & Plus and also in Chemcad Version
6. I have worked on Specialty Chemicals which were also part of my final year project in which I
had to implement a design knowledge on Production of Metanilic Acid Using Oleum, and
designing of Absorption Column was associated with me.
Currently, at this moment I am serving as
lab assistant at Higher College of Technology HCT Abu Dhabi Mens Campus UAE in Chemical
Engineering Technology UAE, Previously I was working at Sharif College of Engineering &
Technology UET Lahore Pakistan, as a Lecturer in the same domain. Both these opportunity has
given me enough exposure to update and revised my knowledge and to utilize my knowledge in
practical environment to work efficiently and successfully as a part of team or as an individual.
My master’s level research was based on the topic Up gradation of carbon black char formed as a
byproduct during pyrolysis from waste tires. Firstly it was the complete characterization of
pyrolytic char carbon to dig out the potential of carbon contents and its ability to conversion to
activated carbon. In the contemporary study, the yield of activated carbon from lavish tires was
scrutinized. This research these mainly enrapt on the impacts of activating maladys, such as
timeframe required for activation of carbon, temperature and consonance of activation agent, on
the essence of the activated carbon manufactured by physically methods viable to energy.
I am looking forward to joining a central topic of the thesis will be the concept of Process design
through machine learning algorithm. Moreover, it is an algorithm that estimates an unknown
dependency between system inputs and its outputs from the available data:-
1. Machine learning, (ML) design can be used to develop empirical models that
accurately classify the toxicological endpoints from large scale data sets.
2. Common machine learning algorithms include artificial neural network (ANNs),
fuzzy logic (FL), and genetic algorithms (GA).
3. For a chemical process design, we will focus on the hybrid techniques, according
to which we combine multiple algorithms to construct methods and tool.
4. ML algorithms can be implemented in a variety of programming languages and
software such as C++, Matlab, Chemcad, Aspen Hysys and plus and Primavera.
In most of computation, the two main limited resources are time and memory. In machine
learning, there is a third one: - Training data in terms of preprocessing of inputs and
adjustment of parameters.
After obtaining my degree, I plan to pursue a postdoc placement
with in field of phospholipidosis, process industry and chemo metrics. I am keen to continue my
education in this subject and to perform my own research which can contribute to the benefit of
mankind.
Many thanks for your consideration…

Mr. Hassan Saleemi

Lab Assistant, Chemical Engg
HCT Abu Dhabi Men’s Campus