Ph.D.
1. Vaishakh Nair (Jan. 2011 - Jun. 2016)

Thesis topic: Valorization of lignin and bioresidues via different techniques including catalytic fast pyrolysis, photocatalysis, functionalization and thermochemical activation

Recipient of Institute Research Award (2015) and GE Ecomagination Excellence Award for the best Ph.D. thesis in the area of Environmental Engineering (2016)

Current position: Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, NITK Surathkal

 

2. Deepak Ojha (Jan. 2013 - May 2017)

Thesis topic: Fundamentals of fast (co-)pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass and polymers for resource recovery

Current position: Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, IIT Roorkee 

 

3. Dadi V. Suriapparao (Jul. 2015 - Jul. 2018)

Thesis topic: Microwave-assisted pyrolysis of mixed feedstocks including lignocellulosic biomass, waste plastics, kitchen wastes and e-wastes for resource and energy recovery

Current position: Assistant Professor, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar

 

4. B. Rajasekhar Reddy (Jul. 2014 - Jul. 2019)

Thesis topic: Microwave-assisted pyrolysis of coals and biomass for high value chemicals and carbon nanomaterials

Recipient of Institute Research Award (2018-2019) for the best Ph.D. thesis

Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Delaware, USA

 

5. Piyali Dhar (Jul. 2014 - Jul. 2019)

Thesis topic: Chemical fractionation of lignin and biomass to valuable chemicals via non-conventional techniques

Recipient of Honorable Prime Minister's Fellowship for Doctoral Research (Partly sponsored by Thermax Ltd.) (2015-2018)

Current position: Researcher, Tata Steel Ltd., Jamshedpur

 

6. Ribhu Gautam (Jul. 2014 - Jul. 2019)

Thesis topic: Pyrolysis of marine biomass for the production of valuable chemicals and its kinetic analysis

Recipient of Keshav Ranganath Award (2018-2019) for the best Ph.D. thesis of the Institute

Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia 

 

7. Attada Yerrayya (Jul. 2015 - Jul. 2019) (Jointly with Prof. Upendra Natarajan, Chemical Eng.)

Thesis topic: Theoretical and experimental investigation of fast pyrolysis of lignin model compounds, and thermochemical conversion of lignin and biomass

Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia

 

8. Kavimonica Venkatesan  (Jul. 2015 - Jun. 2020) (Jointly with Prof. P. Selvam, Chemistry)

Thesis topic: Fast hydropyrolysis and catalytic hydrodeoxygenation of biomass and biomass model compounds to valuable petrochemicals (Thesis Submitted)

 

M.S. by Research
1. Anand Kumar Tripathi (Jul. 2013 - Apr. 2015)

Thesis topic: Characterization of thermal stability of engine oils and resource recovery from waste engine oils

Recipient of Smt. D.L. Saraswati Memorial Prize for the best project in the area of environmental engineering

Current position: Ph.D. research scholar, Energy Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay

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2. Sribala Gorugantu (Jul. 2012 - Jun. 2015)

Thesis topic: Pretreatment of cellulose via conventional and non-conventional techniques

Current position: Post-doctoral Researcher, Northwestern University, USA

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3. Dadi V. Suriapparao (Jan. 2013 - Jul. 2015)

Thesis topic: Energy and resource recovery from waste plastics, lignocellulosic biomass and  municipal solid wastes via microwave assisted pyrolysis

Recipient of the prestigious Bhagyalakshmi and Krishna Ayengar Award for the best M.S. research project in the Institute

   

4. V. Anand (2011 - Jun. 2016)

Thesis topic: Resource recovery from algae species (Arthrospira platensis and Schizochytrium  limacinum) via non-catalytic and catalytic fast pyrolysis

Current position: Barclays Bank, Chennai

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5. Siddharth R. Jain (2014 - 2016)

Thesis topic: Investigation of ethylbenzene oxidation to improve the yield and selectivity of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide

Current position: Cognizant Technology Solutions, Pune

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6. Danam Mahesh (Jul. 2017 - Jul. 2019) (Jointly with Dr. Rajnish Kumar, Chemical Eng.)

Thesis topic: Production of bio-crude via hydrothermal liquefaction of municipal solid waste  and biomass-polymer mixtures 

Recipient of Smt. D.L. Saraswathi Memorial Prize for the best project in the area of Environmental Engineering, 2020

Current position: Gulf Oil, Chennai

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M.Tech. and Dual Degree
1. Swetha Pendyala (M.Tech. 2014)

Thesis topic: Mechanistic modeling of cellulose deconstruction by enzymatic hydrolysis

Recipient of 48th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress Prize for the best project in the area of Biotechnology, 2014

Current position: Ph.D. Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai (2015-)

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2. Kranti Chandrakant Sute (M.Tech. 2014)

Thesis topic: Kinetics of adsorption of organic compounds on lignin-based materials

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3. Katta Lakshmi Kanth (B.Tech. & M.Tech. 2014)

Thesis topic: Photocatalytic degradation of dyes and dye mixtures

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4. Bhanupriya Boruah (M.Tech. 2015)

Thesis topic: Photocatalytic conversion of lignin to phenolic compounds using nano-TiO2

Current position: Ph.D. Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (2016-)

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5. Akella Ramalakshmi (M.Tech. 2015)

Thesis topic: Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of fast pyrolysis of glucose-based carbohydrates

Current position: Associate Software Engineer in Misys Software Solutions, Bengaluru

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6. M. Prasanna (B.Tech. & M.Tech. 2015)

Thesis topic: Particle size effect on kinetics of mixed wood saw dust and development of adsorbents based on pyrolysis chars  for dye removal

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7. Daniel Viju (B.Tech. & M.Tech. 2017)

Thesis topic: Application of the distributed activation energy model to the kinetic study of pyrolysis of Nannochloropsis oculata microalga

Recipient of Smt. D.L. Saraswati Memorial Award for the best project in the area of Environmental Engineering, 2017

Current position: Ph.D. Iowa State University, U.S.A. (2017-)

8. M.S.N. Kishore (M.Tech. 2018)

Thesis topic: Catalytic fast pyrolysis bahavior of aviation fuels

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9. A. Gouthaman (M.Tech. 2018)

Thesis topic: Preparation of boron nanoparticles by ball milling

10. Nouduri Chandrasekhara Abhinav (M.Tech. 2018)

Thesis topic: Microwave-assisted pyrolysis of petroleum crude sludge

 

11. Navele Nikesh Prakash (B.Tech. & M.Tech. 2018)

Thesis topic: Catalytic autoxidation of ethyl benzene

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12. Apurv Ghugare (M.Tech. (Catalysis) 2018)

Thesis topic: Stabilization of boron nanoparticles in jet fuels - a surfactant based approach

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13. Ann Mary Jose (M.Tech. 2019)

Thesis topic: Microwave assisted hydrogenolysis of kraft lignin using hydrogen donating solvent

14. Shaikh Karishma (M.Tech. 2019)

Thesis topic: Kinetic study on pyrolysis of aviation fuels and ablative materials by using microkinetic modeling and solid state kinetics

15. Akhil T. (B.Tech. & M.Tech. 2019)

Thesis topic: Sonolytic, photocatalytic and sonophotocatalytic degradation of alkali lignin in the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles

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Postdoctoral Researchers

1. Dr. Debalina Bhattacharjee (Feb. 2014 - Dec. 2015)

Research Topic: Production of nanostructures form lignocellulosic biomass via catalytic microwave pyrolysis

   

2. Dr. Chandni Rallan (Oct. 2016 - Feb. 2017)

Research Topic: Catalytic fast pyrolysis of polymers using mesoporous zeolites

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3. Dr. Shubhra Awasthi Shukla (Jul. 2015 - Oct. 2017)

Research Topic: Quantum chemical modeling of biomass-plastics pyrolysis and ethyl benzene oxidation

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4. Dr. R. Dhanalakshmi (Jul. 2017 - Jan. 2019)

Research Topic: Production of nano-boron for slurry fuel applications

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Exchange Visitors

1. Vinoth Chelladurai (Dec. 2014 - Mar. 2015)

Ph.D. University of Cranfield, U.K.

Research Topic: Fast co-pyrolysis of coal with biomass

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2. Sabrina Krugel (Jul. - Oct. 2014)

M.S. Dept. for Energy Process Engineering and Conversion Technologies for Renewable Energies, Technische Universitat Berlin, Germany

Research Topic: Fast pyrolysis of Indian coals