Separation Science is crucial for the advancement of chemical process technology, particularly in Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS), Direct Air Capture (DAC), Net Zero Hydrogen (99.999%), Recovery of Monovalent ions and the removal of trace-level contaminants. Despite the availability of conventional materials, like, zeolites, alumina, activated carbon, and carbon molecular sieves, industries are still in the early stages of implementing environmentally friendly technologies for cleaner energy and water management to attain sustainability goals. Moreover, we are significantly behind in achieving the Net Zero targets set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as well as meeting the water quality standards outlined by the World Health Organization, particularly concerning the treatment of emerging contaminants for sustainable water management

This gap can be addressed by synthesizing advanced porous materials, such as Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs), Layered Double Hydroxides (LDHs), and Zeolitic Imidazole Frameworks (ZIFs), and validating their performance of separation processes at the lab scale. However, challenges lie in ensuring the selectivity, stability, and scalability of these materials under various real-life conditions, especially when transitioning from microgram to kilogram-scale process demonstrations. These challenges are further amplified when dealing with low concentrations, as in DAC and emerging contaminants. Therefore, performing these experiments with precision is a unique characteristic tool and being able to develop actual processes from them is the most tangeble output.

Having worked with both sides (academia and industry collaborators), my expertise in this domain could be able to bridge this gap, as the key insights gained from materials synthesis, experimental characterization and design of instrumentation test rigs is valuable in developing pilot and industrial-scale designs to the industrial collaborators. The data obtained will also aid chemists, computational researchers, and process engineers in tuning material properties and exploring the option of developing new systems or integrated separation processes for enhanced productivity. In short, the convergence of material science and process engineering is the key for advancement of Applied Research in Energy & Environmental domain. The following schematic represents the outline of my research statement.