Specialisation:

Heat Transfer

Energy Storage

Energy Conversion Systems

Solar Thermal Engineering

Refrigeration and Air-conditioning

Major Professional Contributions:

Over the span of 20 years, Prof. Muthukumar has made notable contributions to the energy sector. He successfully commercialized porous radiant burners (PRBs) operated with LPG, biogas, CNG, methanol, and ethanol, achieving remarkable fuel savings of up to 60% in real-time applications and emission reductions of up to 85% compared to conventional burners. This led to multiple technology transfers.

Recently, his team has been involved in the development of PRBs operating on LPG blended with hydrogen, intended for cooking and other industrial applications. His group has also published two BIS standards for ethanol- and methanol-canister cookstoves.

For the first time in India, his research team designed and developed metal hydride (MH)-based hydrogen storage and purification systems with capacities ranging from 11,000 to 55,000 liters. These systems offer long-term hydrogen storage and can purify hydrogen from 10% to 99.99% purity.

Additionally, his team developed an MH-based three-stage hydrogen compression system capable of compressing hydrogen from 2 bar to 500 bar, utilizing heat inputs ranging from 25°C to 150°C. These technologies have been transferred to NTPC for commercial implementation.

His team also designed and tested MH-based cooling and heating systems with capacities ranging from 1 kW to 15 kW.

To improve the livelihoods of the farming community in northeastern India, his group designed and developed several large-scale solar dryers with capacities ranging from 25 kg to 500 kg. These dryers are integrated with thermal energy storage systems for drying high-value agricultural products and herbs. This technology has been transferred to over 100 farmers across the region.

Furthermore, for the first time in India, his group designed, fabricated, and successfully commissioned a 1.3 GJ high-pressure steam accumulator embedded with PCM-based heat storage, operating between 220°C and 280°C, at a solar thermal power plant.

Consultancy Areas:

Refrigeration and Air-conditioning

Hydrogen Energy 

Porous Radiant Burner 

Thermal energy storage

Sorption heating and cooling systems

Energy Auditing

Thermal management in batteries.

Sector Associated With:

Clean & Renewable Energy

Hydrogen Energy

Energy Storage 

Gas Burners & Appliance

Refrigeration  & Air-conditioning

Cold storage

Sustainable Energy Solution

Sectors Interested to Offer Service:

Clean & Renewable Energy

Hydrogen Energy

Energy Storage 

Gas Burners & Appliance

Refrigeration  & Cold storage

Sustainability and Life cycle assessment. 

Professional Experience

Keywords

Hydrogen storage,  Hydrogen purification and compression, Porous Radiant Burners, Thermal Energy storage, Refrigeration & Air-conditioning.