FACULTY PROFILE

Dr Gunjan Kumar Agrahari completed his Ph D in the year 2013 from IIT Kanpur. Thereafter he worked as Post-doctoral Fellow at the Katholieke University, Leuven, Belgium. His research area during Ph D and Post-doc was Enhanced Chemical Separation Processes Employing Membranes. After joining RGIPT, he has initiated research in the area of Pyrolysis and Gasification of Biomass. Currently, he has been engaged in developing a gasification process to convert lignocellulosic agricultural residue to synthesis gas. His immediate goals include pyrolysis of methane to produce hydrogen and employing plasma gasification to treat large volumes of agricultural waste.

He has also completed a SERB-funded research project under the CRG scheme of ? 40 Lakh. The objective of the project was the extraction and recycling of rare earth metals from consumer waste. After the completion of the project, the developed facilities are being used for heavy metal extraction and recycling from various industrial waste using novel devices such as hollow fiber membrane contactors and coiled flow inverters.

 He has also initiated several small projects for undergraduate students. Currently, the ongoing projects include the conversion of agri-waste to biochar for water purification, the forward osmosis process for treating petrochemical industry wastewater, and the development of a catalyst for the conversion of synthesis gas to methanol.

Education
Ph D 2013 Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
M Tech 2007 Institute of Engineering & Technology, Lucknow
B Tech 2002 Bundelkhand Institute of Engineering & Technology, Jhansi 
Experience
2016 – Till Date Assistant Professor, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Jais, Amethi
2013 – 2015 Post-Doctoral Fellow, Katholieke University Leuven, (KU Leuven), Belgium
  • Mass Transport Operations-1 (Lecture and Laboratory)
  • Biochemical Engineering
  • Fluidization Engineering
  • Chemical Engineering Practices (Shared)
  • Community Internship (Shared)
  • Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics (PG)
  • Advance Separation Processes (PG + UG)
  • Hydrocarbon Thermodynamics
  • Chemical Reaction Engineering
  • Fluid Flow Operations
  • Solid Fluid Mechanics & Mechanical Operations
  • Energy Conservation and Waste Heat Recovery
  • Heterogeneous Catalysis & Reactor Design
  • Unit Operations Lab
  • Biomass & Biofuels Engineering
  • Pumps & Compressors
  • Universal Human Values
Research Interests
  • Membrane Processes
  • Microbial Fuel Cells
Research Projects
  • Membrane Solvent Extraction Processes For Extracting Rare Earth Elements From Leach Solutions Of Monazite Sands And Recyclable Consumer Products
    Under Extra Mural Research Grant (now Core Research Grant), Science & Engineering Research Board, Department of Science & Technology Government of India
    PI: Gunjan Kumar Agrahari, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology, Amethi
    CI: Professor Debashish Sengupta, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
    2018
Journal Publications

Novel Devices for the Extraction and Recovery of Rare Earth Metals Through Recycling of Waste (Under Review)

Gunjan K. Agrahari, NishithVerma, Prashant K. Bhattacharya “Application of hollow fiber membrane contactor for the removal of carbon dioxide from water under liquid–liquid extraction mode” Journal of Membrane Science, 375, (2011) 323-333. (IF: 6.578; Journal H-index: 200)

Gunjan K. Agrahari, Sajal K. Shukla, Nishith Verma, Prashant K. Bhattacharya “Model prediction and experimental studies on the removal of dissolved NH3 from water applying hollow fiber membrane contactor” Journal of Membrane Science, 390-391, (2012), 164-174. (IF: 6.578)

Gunjan K. Agrahari, AshutoshRawat, NishithVerma, Prashant K.Bhattacharya “Removal of dissolved H2S from wastewater using hollow fiber membrane contactor: Experimental and mathematical analysis” Desalination, 314, (2013), 34-42.(IF: 6.603; Journal H-index: 139)

Gunjan K. Agrahari, Niharika Pandey, NishithVerma, Prashant K. Bhattacharya “Membrane contactor for reactive extraction of succinic acid from aqueous solution by tertiary amine” Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 92 (2014) 2705-2714.(IF: 2.795; Journal H-index: 80)

Gunjan K. Agrahari, Nishith Verma and Prashant K. Bhattacharya “Removal of benzoic acid from water by reactive extraction using hollow fiber membrane contactor: Experiment and modeling” CLEAN-Soil Air Water, 42(7), (2014), 901-908. (H-index: 51)

Ashutosh Rawat, Gunjan K. Agrahari, Nishith Verma, Prashant K. Bhattacharya “Mathematical Analysis of Removal of Dissolved Acidic Gases from Aqueous Stream Using Membrane Contactor” International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications, 4(5), (2013), 290-294.

Conference Publications

Gunjan Kumar Agrahari “Ultrasonic assisted anaerobic membrane bioreactor for treatment of contaminated aqueous streams under mesophilic (30-40 ºC) or thermophilic (50-60 ºC) temperature ranges.”Workshop on The Recent Developments In Microbial Fuel Cell And Membrane Bioreactor Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Feb 02-03, 2018.

Gunjan K. Agrahari, S.K. Shukla, Nishith Verma, Prashant K. Bhattacharya “Removal of dissolved ammonia from wastewater employing hollow fiber membrane contactor” Proceedings of 11th World Filtration Congress, Graz, Austria, April 16-20, 2012.

Ashutosh Rawat, Gunjan K. Agrahari, Niharika Pandey, Prashant K. Bhattacharya “Mathematical Analysis of Removal of Acidic Gases from Synthetic Waste Water Stream Using Hollow Fiber Membrane Contactor and Comparison with Experimental Results” 4th International Conference on Chemical Engineering and Applications (CCEA 2013) Paris, France, October 12-13, 2013.

Studying the physical and chemical properties of rice Straw pellets with and without binder “International Inter-disciplinary Conference on Energy, Nano-technology and IOT (ENT-2023)” by National Institute of Technology, Puducherry, Karatkal, INDIA, 02-04 February 2023

Densification of Rice-Straw Biomass: Evaluation and Characterization of Pyrolysis Char (N0ET-2022) “International Conference on Net Zero Emission Technologies For Sustainable Development: Challenges and Opportunities” by Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology IIT-ISM) Dhanbad, INDIA, 12-13 December 2022

Books / Book Chapters

Yadav A., Agrahari G. K. and Agrahari S., “Geothermal energy: Exploration, Exploitation, and Production” in the book entitled “Status and Future Challenges for Non-conventional Energy Sources Volume 1” edited by Joshi S. J., Sen R., Sharma A. and Salam P. A., published by Springer (2022).

Agrahari G.K., Agrahari S., “Shale Gas: A Futuristic Non-conventional Energy Resource” in the book entitled “Low Carbon Energy Supply” edited by Sharma A., Shukla A., Aye L. (eds). Part of the Green Energy and Technology book series. Springer, Singapore, pp 413-430 (2018).

  • Convener, Department Undergraduate Committee (June 2021- October 2022)
  • Convener, Department Postgraduate Committee (October 2022 – Present)
  • Warden, Boys Hostel (July 2022-Present)

Dr Gunjan Kumar Agrahari

Assistant Professor
Chemical Engineering
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