GUWAHATI:
Researchers of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati are identifying key action steps and research priorities to contribute towards green growth and sustainable development.
The rapid depletion of fossil fuels, anthropogenic emissions and ever-increasing energy consumption has triggered an increasing interest in the future energy system based on renewable resources. The use of abundant and readily-available feedstock and energy storage that do not contribute to carbon footprint are two global challenges that have caught the attention of researchers worldwide.
Aligning with the priorities of G20 Summit being hosted by India in 2023, IIT Guwahati is working towards developing affordable, high-performance and environment-friendly energy storage and production systems that are also sustainable. This will be the institute’s major contribution in building a sustainable future.
Highlighting the need for research on sustainability, IITG Officiating Director Prof Parameswar K Iyer said, “The development of inexpensive, high-performance, sustainable, and environmentally friendly energy storage and production systems is of utmost importance in the current scenario where energy demand is ever-increasing.”
In this context, multiple efforts are underway at IIT Guwahati towards achieving sustainable goals of green hydrogen generation and carbon dioxide sequestration.
These include the development of perovskite oxide-based catalysts for the generation of green hydrogen.
Prof Mohammad Qureshi, Department of Chemistry, IIT Guwahati, and his research team are working on developing Perovskite Oxide-based Catalysts to generate green hydrogen. They have achieved this by finding a correlation of differently structured materials with the electrochemical performances by designing a library of morphological electrocatalysts utilized for water splitting leading to the generation of hydrogen.
Elaborating on the impact of this research, Prof Mohammad Qureshi said, “We have progressed significantly in the electrolytic water splitting into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2). Notably, hydrogen is an energy carrier which can be used for various applications in fuel cells and in stationary and portable power generators without any greenhouse gas emissions.”
Akshai Kumar Alape Seetharam, head, Centre for Nanotechnology, IIT Guwahati and Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, IIT Guwahati, and his research team have formulated efficient ‘pincer’ catalytic systems that transform industrial / biomass wastes into hydrogen and speciality chemicals. Tiny amounts of these ‘pincer’ catalysts repeatedly convert large amounts of biomass-derived products to speciality chemicals and Hydrogen. Alcohols and related biomass derivatives, for example, can be transformed into speciality chemicals, fuels and hydrogen, that find extensive use in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, polymer industries and in the energy sector.
Elaborating on how this research will help in green growth and sustainable development, Dr Akshai Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, IIT Guwahati, said, “Though renewable energy sources, based on wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass have garnered considerable attention as alternatives to fossil fuels, most of these are naturally intermittent and fluctuating. Towards this end, our group has accomplished the development of efficient liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) systems based on abundantly available Biomass for efficient hydrogen storage and transport applications.”