Major thematic clusters:
- Fluid Mechanics & Mechanical Operations (~15 questions) — Pumps (vane, peristaltic, plunger), conveyors, ball mills/Bond’s law, particle settling (Stokes’ law, hindered settling), fluid rheology (dilatant, pseudoplastic, Bingham plastic), cyclones, orifice meters, drag coefficient.
- Heat Transfer (~10 questions) — Radiation heat transfer coefficient, Biot number, Nusselt number correlations, baffles in shell-and-tube exchangers, natural convection, dropwise condensation, unidirectional conduction temperature profiles.
- Mass Transfer & Separation Processes (~15 questions) — Distillation (McCabe-Thiele, total reflux, relative volatility), absorption columns, flux/diffusion (equimolar counter-diffusion), surface renewal theory, filtration, water treatment (coagulation/flocculation), NPSH for pumps.
- Thermodynamics (~12 questions) — Entropy change in cyclic processes, Gibbs/Helmholtz free energy, fugacity-Gibbs relation, chemical potential, triple point degrees of freedom, adiabatic flame temperature, COP of refrigerators, dew/bubble point concepts.
- Reaction Engineering (~8 questions) — Reactor types (PFR, CSTR, batch, semi-batch), Peclet number, space velocity, zero-order kinetics, back-mixing, autothermal reactors, series reactor arrangement for nth-order reactions.
- Process Control & Instrumentation (~6 questions) — Laplace transforms, first-order system response, U-tube manometer order, amplitude ratio for sinusoidal input, temperature sensors (pyrometer, thermocouple, RTD).
- Process Calculations & Economics (~6 questions) — Stoichiometry (carbon in CO₂), cost indices, six-tenths rule, payback period, material balance (steady-state accumulation).
- Petroleum Refining & Petrochemicals (~12 questions) — Catalytic reforming/cracking, IBP, cetane number, VDU stripping steam, drilling rig components (Kelly, derrick), petroleum fraction boiling points, dewaxing, naphtha reforming, middle distillates.
- Inorganic/Fertilizer & Polymer Technology (~8 questions) — Viscose rayon manufacturing, caustic soda (membrane cell process), superphosphate/SSP manufacture, PVC production, rubber processing (calendaring, mastication), prilling towers, sulfite pulping.
- Environmental & Safety Engineering (~5 questions) — Particulate matter size hazards, electrostatic precipitators, catalytic converters, noise safety, groundwater hardness.
Key observations:
- Numerical/formula-based questions are prominent (relative volatility, mass transfer coefficient units, carbon mass calculation, amplitude ratio)
- Dimensional analysis and units are frequently tested (mass transfer coefficient units, thermal conductivity SI units, filter resistance units) — a recurring theme rewarding formula fluency.
- Many questions test conceptual “why” over rote memorization — e.g., Q75 (activation energy vs. reaction rate), Q88 (extensive vs. intensive properties in Q100), Q94 (relative volatility ordering)
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