Interview with Abhishek Anand and RACHAEL JOVITA BARLA

Abhishek Anand :

1) Can you briefly describe your research project and your experiences far?

I am working under the supervision of Dr. Smita Raghuvanshi and prof. Suresh Gupta. My research topic is Process development for bio-mitigation of flue gases (CO², SOx & NOx) using bacterial route and production of value-added products. Different objectives of my research work are (1) To carry out the batch and continuous bio-mitigation studies for the simultaneous removal of CO², SOx, and NOx from simulated flue gases (2) To develop an appropriate downstream strategy for the recovery of the products obtained from bio-mitigation studies (3) To propose an economically viable integrated methodology for bio-mitigation of simulated flue gas by utilizing industrial waste streams as a growth media. We are using the carbon capture and utilization technique (CCU) i.e, the process of mitigating CO², SOx, & NOx, and further converting it into some value-added products such as fatty acids and fatty alcohols. This CCU technique has the ability to overcome the limitations of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) technique. We are using non-photosynthetic or chemolithotrophs microorganisms such as bacteria and lab-scale bioreactor for our study.

My experience so far is very good. Working on this project is quite challenging as well as interesting.

2) What do you think about the future scope in your research field?

Climate change and global warming are major issues in today’s world. To overcome these scorching issues, we need to work on the mitigation of greenhouse gases as well as gases that are responsible for climate pollution and acid rain. So far we are getting some promising results in our lab-scale work that motivates us to take it to next level. This work can be further implemented to pilot scale and then industrial scale. We can further work on the different mitigation techniques like the bio-refinery concept, development of cost-effective downstream bioprocessing strategy, and development of some economical process.

3) What were your motivations behind taking this project?

Since my UG study, I am interested in working on projects related to the environment. Climate change due to global warming is the blistering issue of the world nowadays, which affects marine life as well as the earth’s overall temperature in turn affecting life on earth in a variety of ways. CO², N2O, CH4, and CFC are the major constituents of greenhouse gases and these gases are responsible for global warming that leads to climate change. CO² is the main heat-trapping gas largely responsible for most of the average warming over the past several decades. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is reported to be 408 ppm as of 2017. It is said that the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by approximately 43% since the industrial revolution and is expected to further increase to 570 ppm in the 22nd century if the current trend continues. Therefore, this is the need of the hour to find some techniques that work on the “WASTE TO WEALTH” approach. The capture of greenhouse gases and mitigation methods became a worldwide interest among researchers and industrialists as well.

4) What would be your advice to students who are interested in your area of research?

I would like to say that if you are really interested in doing projects related to the environment please come forward and join the movement for protecting our mother nature from further deterioration. We need young enthusiastic researchers to find some novel techniques to protect our environment. Follow the advice of your supervisor, discuss with him/her your difficulties and learn from his/her way of thinking. This type of work needs a lot of patience so be hardworking, believe in yourself and never give up.

RACHAEL JOVITA BARLA :

1. Can you briefly describe your research project and your experiences far?

My research project is based on the bio-mitigation process. I will be working on experimental and theoretical investigations of non-photosynthetic bio-mitigation of flue gases (CO², SOX, and NOX) by chemolithotrophs in the bioreactor system. My primary goals are to 1) develop and evaluate the performance of bench-scale systems (Fixed-bed, suspended bed, and integration of both) for the simultaneous removal of flue gases (CO², SOX, and NOX). 2) To apply the different growth and kinetic models to the data obtained from the flue gas bio-fixation experiments and to obtain a robust kinetic model that simulates bacterial growth. 3) To develop the mathematical model of the bioreactor system and to validate the simulation results with the obtained experimental data. 4)To carry out the economic feasibility analysis and comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) for the developed bioreactor system.

My experience so far is reading exhaustive literature about the bio-mitigation process in detail, exploring every aspect. It is a very interesting topic; hence I’m looking forward to work on the project.

2. What do you think about the future scope of your research field?

There’s a lot of future scope in the mitigation process. Some of the conventional methods are already in use at the commercial level. The bio-mitigation process is a very recent approach for the abatement of air pollution caused by industries. A lot of research has already been done using photoautotrophs, which has been very successful. Research with chemolithotrophs has gained importance in the last 5 years. Hence this area of research is in much demand.

3. What were your motivations behind taking this project?

The limitations of the conventional physicochemical methods have paved the way for the bio- fixation method for the removal of CO², SOx, and NOx. It is one of the promising options for the remediation of flue gases because of its efficiency, useful end-products, cost-saving, and environmentally friendly process. The development of a new and clean process in treating air pollution is the need of the hour and doing research on it with this project is an excellent opportunity.

4. What would be your advice to students who are interested in your area of research?

Bio-Chemical Engineering is an emerging and very important field to study. The two fields combined opens up a vast scope of research. When this area of research is extensively explored, it can open a compilation of ideas.