Research Projects

Considering the current climate crisis, immediate action is a requisite thing. Common climate catastrophe that has been noticed all across the globe are flash floods, extreme summer and winter, increased droughts, warming and rising oceans, loss of species, deteriorating food security, more health risks, poverty and displacements. India, one of the fastest-growing economies, faces a major threat due to these climate impacts. India is the 3rd largest emitter of CO₂; however, per capita CO₂ emission is quite low. This gives us an edge in developing indigenous technologies to curb and mitigate these CO₂ emissions. Adsorption-based carbon capture technologies have been the favorites as they can be easily driven by low-grade energy sources like waste heat, automobile and industrial exhausts and solar. For any adsorption-based system to work with high efficacy, synthesis+selection of adsorbent and design of adsorbent reactors are the two major governing factors. In the current project, a thorough experimental and numerical investigation will be carried out considering both aspects. A prime focus will be given to the synthesis of novel activated carbon derived from various renewable and non-renewable waste like biomass and petroleum industry waste. By this, two-fold issues can be addressed, one being the mitigation of CO₂ emissions and the other being waste management (which is also a great challenge for any developing economy). After the synthesis, the novel ACs will be used in adsorbent reactors for detailed heat and mass transfer analysis, which is a numerically challenging topic to explore. The output of which can help the product to be commercialized, and designs of reactors can be used in real-time pre- and post-combustion CO₂ capture systems in Indian Scenario. Considering the experimental portion of the project, after identifying the best precursor which may lead to a surface area greater than 3000 m²/g, a thorough optimization of process parameters will be carried out for the synthesis part. In the later stage, a rigorous numerical analysis will be carried out to simulate the adsorption phenomena of CO₂ from a multicomponent mixture onto the newly developed activated carbons under fluidized conditions. Based on the heat and mass transfer analysis, the compact and efficient reactor geometry will be identified by availing various geometric modifications such as the inclusion of internal branched fins with cooling jackets, fins with honeycomb structure, and addition of phase change material. Considering the latest NITI Ayog report on ‘CCUS: Policy Framework and its Deployment Mechanism in India’, it is very clear that there is an urgent need to develop indigenous CCUS technologies to attain a clean and sustainable future for next generations. The findings of the current project will serve as a basis for developing low-cost adsorption CO₂ capture applications and can be a good step towards “AatmaNirbhar Bharat”.