S Venkata Mohan
IICT, Hyderabad
Dr. S. Venkata Mohan has been working as a Principal Scientist at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, since 1998. He was a Visiting Professor at Kyoto University (2005) and Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Fellow at the Technical University of Munich, Germany (2001-02). His research interests are in Environmental Bioengineering, specifically in Advance Waste Remediation, Aciodogenesis, Microbial Electrogenesis, Photosynthesis, and Waste Biorefinery. Dr. Mohan recently successfully demonstrated a pilot plant for biohydrogen production from waste for MNRE and a waste-fed biorefinery platform for CSIR. Dr. Mohan is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize (2014) in Engineering Sciences. Dr. Mohan is a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering, Biotech Research Society of India, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Akademy of Sciences, Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation (AvH), International Forum on Industrial Bioprocesses, Institution of Engineers, International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability and Association for Biotechnology and Pharmacy.
Symposium on “Green Energy”
Low-Carbon Biohydrogen: Enabling through Biorefinery
Hydrogen (H2) is a sustainable and green alternative to fossil-based fuels. The acidogenic/dark-fermentation route is a critical biological process that produces a significant amount of H2 by metabolically utilizing wastewater/biomass/waste as a primary feedstock. Acidogenesis integrated with other processes (primarily biological) in a biorefinery mode tends to maximize resource recovery by putting back the residual carbon into use. It plays an important role in biorefineries by transforming waste into primary fermented products viz., fatty acids and H2, which can be further converted to platform chemicals and fuels. This communication will discuss the research being carried out at CSIR-IICT on biological H2 production process development employing a closed-loop biorefinery design with a multi-product portfolio in the sustainability framework.