M.Sc., Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India, 2000
Ph.D., National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India, 2006
Postdoc, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, 2008
Joined Bell Group: Spring 2008
Research: Biomass Pretreatment and Chemical Synthesis of Transportation Fuels
Interests: Movies and badminton
Biomass is a rich and natural source for sugars from which one can obtain lots of biofuel compounds, especially gasoline and chemical additives. But, the recalcitrant nature of this source made the work very hard since it does not dissolve in any conventional organic solvents because of its numerous constituents like cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, alkaloids, terpenoids, etc. Ionic liquid is a choice of solvent which can dissolve anything including biomass. Our objective is to study the maximum solubility of biomass in procured or synthesized ionic liquids and obtain number of biofuel candidates or chemical intermediates through chemical technology.
Office: 510-642-1536, Lab: 510-643-3535
