DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

During last 18 years (4 years pre-PhD + 14 years post-PhD), Dr. Gardas has gained considerable experience in the field of solution thermodynamics, fluid phase equilibria, measuring and predicting of physico-chemical properties, structure-property relations and physical chemistry of ionic liquids.

1. Thermodynamic and transport properties of several pure liquids and liquid mixtures of non-electrolyte compounds have been measured. Experimental data were used to get the insight into intermolecular forces and microscopic structure of liquids, which are also useful in the process and product design calculations involving separations, heat transfer, mass transfer, and fluid flow.

2. The Flory statistical theory and the ERAS (Extended Real Associated Solution) model were applied to estimate and interpret the volumetric properties of binary and ternary liquid mixtures.

3. Contributed in building high pressure measurement set-up for the density measurement as a function of temperature and pressure (J. Chem. Eng. Data 52 (2007) 737-751).

4. Earliest and timely study made on the high pressures density measurements for the series of ionic liquids in wide ranges of pressure and temperature and explained about the isothermal compressibility, isobaric expansivity and thermal pressure coefficient of ionic liquids. First paper of series of 5 papers on this work was published in J. Chem. Eng. Data in 2007 has been received more than 345 citations.

5. A new model was developed based on a QSPR approach for describing the densities in wide ranges of pressures and temperatures (Fluid Phase Equilib. 263 (2008) 26-32, Citations: 255+). This model is now widely known and cited as “Gardas and Coutinho Model”.