Dr. Saurabh Patankar gave a talk to Chemophilia event of American Institute of Chemical Engineers- ICT IOCB chapter on having a systems approach for valorising waste streams. The talk includes problems and possible solutions for several waste streams including agricultural waste, plastic waste, food waste and mining waste.
Catalysis for agricultural waste valorization
Dr. Saurabh Patankar bags best presenter award at Shanghai Cooperation Organization Young Scientist Conclave in Sustainable Energy and Energy Storage thematic area, for his talk on “Strategies to utilize agricultural waste”
V factor- A new metric to gauge profitability of manufacturing processes
Several metrics have been formulated to evaluate the environmental impact of chemical manufacturing processes. However, there are no formulas for simplified, back-of-the envelope estimation of their efficiency of resource utilisation and profitability, which are hugely influential when it comes to determining investments and, for academic users, justifying research into new conversion technologies.
V-factor = (Cost of product)/ (Cost of reactant) × Fractional yield × Fractional dollar output of sector
For more details refer http://biobus.swst.org/index.php/bpbj/article/view/47/61
Strategy for making high value chemicals form lignin
The second generation biorefineries, pulp and paper companies struggle to deal with a quarter to a third of the biomass which is composed of lignin. They end up using the recalcitrant lignin for its fuel value.
However, much higher revenue can be generated by isolating high value platform chemicals from lignin. Here is a recent work, wherein, vanillin was selectively isolated from kraft lignins at room temperature, atmospheric pressure using a recyclable catalyst.
RenewChemicals Laboratory 