Prof. Prasad Dhurjati' Talk

Jan 28, 2015 - 15:00

Jan 28, 2015 - 16:00

Room No. 130 Department of Chemical Engineering

Seminars

Prof. Prasad Dhurjati Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Mathematical Sciences University of Delaware Newark DE 19716 USA.

Abstract: We will discuss a green and inexpensive technological alternative using biotechnology for harnessing the energy potential of coal. Communities of microorganisms can be injected below ground to feed on coal in a mine and convert it to methane gas. It is potentially a game-changing technology with immense commercial benefits. Energy in coal is usually extracted by burning it in capital-intensive power plants that throw toxic particulates and heavy metals into the atmosphere. Coal is justifiably considered to be a dirty fuel source. The US DOE estimates that about 90% of the global fossil fuel reserves consist of stranded coal that is at depths that cannot be mined by human miners “Microbial miners” can survive at much greater depths. Toxic byproducts remain trapped in the coal seams instead of being released into the atmosphere. Using microbes as miners can effectively change coal from a dirty to a clean fuel source. The microbial community is at the heart of the biotransformation of coal to methane gas. The interface of energy biotechnology and mining provides a rich source of research challenges. The goal of our research is to characterize and model the microbial communities and the fluid flow below ground in order to ensure high yields reaction rates and selectivity. Three distinct models have been developed using mathematical and “agent-based” artificial intelligence approaches. Both biochemical reaction engineering and fluid flow considerations are important for these models. Such models can be used for the understanding of metabolic bottlenecks to design nutritional interventions and to monitor and control the overall process.About the speaker : Prof. Prasad Dhurjati is a Professor at the University of Delaware USA specializing in Biotechnology and Computational research. He obtained his B. Tech. degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 1977 and a Ph.D. in (bio)chemical engineering from Purdue University USA in 1982. His research specialization is in Bioprocessing Genetic Engineering Artificial Intelligence Knowledge-based expert systems for diagnosis Bioinformatics and Systems Biology. He is the author of over a hundred publications that have been cited over two thousand times with a H-index of 25. In 1986 he was awarded the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award ($500 000 and certificate from President Ronald Reagan). He has mentored about 20 masters and doctoral students 20 postdoctoral associates and about 50 undergraduate research theses. In 2004 he was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. In 1988–89 he was a visiting scientist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris.