Dr. Dhamodharan K
Assistant Professor
Specialization
Solid and liquid waste management, waste to energy, Resource recovery
dhamodharan@thapar.edu
Specialization
Solid and liquid waste management, waste to energy, Resource recovery
Biography
Dr. K. Dhamodharan has been associated with the Department of Energy and Environment, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab as an assistant professor since July 2021. He is a Ph. D in Environmental Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), India, and M. Tech in Energy and Environmental Engineering from the Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India. Before coming to Thapar, he worked as a Postdoctoral fellow at Agricultural Research Organization(ARO), Israel, and received a prestigious fellowship from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, State of Israel.
He has research experience in waste management from 2010 onwards. In IITG, he designed and developed a unique biogas reactor (ABBR) for the conversion of institutional food waste for his Ph. D. followed by working more on the conversion of other organic waste to biogas. In his M. Tech thesis, he worked in CSIR – CLRI laboratory, on the conversion of tannery waste fleshing and wastewater into biogas. He worked as a research associate in an Integrated Solid Waste Management on Ecotourism Zones of Sikkim project. In ARO Israel, he worked on hydrothermal carbonization to recover valuable compounds from organic waste.
Projects:
|
S.No. |
Project title |
Funding agency |
Status |
|
1 |
Hazardous Waste Audit |
Punjab Chemicals and Crop Protection Limited |
Completed |
|
2. |
Anaerobic Fermentation of Constructed Wetland Biomass Emerged in Sewage Treatment |
Seed Grant |
Ongoing |
|
3. |
Sustainable utilization of secondary sludge of the leather industry for bricks/ paver blocks formation |
Punjab Effluent Treatment Society For Tanneries |
Completed |
|
4. |
Sustainable Utilization of Steel Industry ETP Sludge for the Production of Value-Added Products |
Hero Steels Limited |
Ongoing |
|
5. |
Recovery of HCl acid from the spent acid from the pickling unit |
Steel Strips Wheels Limited |
Completed |
|
6. |
Sludge Stabilization from the Metal Processing Industry and Recovery of Value-Added Products |
Joginder Castings Pvt. Ltd. |
Ongoing |
|
7. |
Sustainable Approach to Utilize Sewage Treatment Plant Sludge for Paver Blocks/ Tiles Production |
Khilari Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. |
Ongoing |
| 8. | Sustainable Utilization of Brine Sludge for Paver Blocks/ Tiles Production and other value-added products | Bodal Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., Rajpura | Ongoing |
Publications:
So far, Dr. K. Dhamodharan has published his research work in reputable international Energy and Environment journals, including Science of the Total Environment, Fuel, Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, and Bioresource Technology. He also contributed to book chapters for international publishers, including Elsevier and Springer. According to Google Scholar, his work is cited over 1,000 times.
Journal Papers: 11
Patents: 01
Book chapters: 05
Book: 01
International conference presentations: 10
Invited Talks: 06
M.Tech Thesis Guided: 05
M.Tech Thesis ongoing: 01
Ph. D ongoing: 05
Research Interest:
His core research interests are in waste-to-value-added product recovery, either in the form of energy or value-added chemicals, i.e., Gasification of MSW/Biomass for Hydrogen Production, Biomethanation of organic solids, Physicochemical conversion of industrial sludges, and others. He is also interested in Integrated solid waste management and rural development through resource recovery. He is not limited to the above interests; he is open to collaborating on environmental projects that address real-life problems.
BOOK
- Kalamdhad, A, S., Singh, J., Dhamodharan, K., 2018. Advances in waste management. Springer Nature