The Research and Development Council of New Jersey presented one of its highest awards last night to Kamalesh K. Sirkar, PhD, distinguished chemical engineering professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Sirkar, an internationally regarded expert in the field of membrane separation technologies, holds a total of 22 patents; he received the honor for his patent to remove volatile organic pollutants from waste gas streams produced from manufacturing processes before the toxic pollutants are released to the atmosphere. Sirkar resides with his family in Bridgewater.
The Council also honored Jyh-Yao Raphael Li, PhD, of Parsippany, a postdoctoral fellow who worked alongside Sirkar and is a co-inventor of the patent.
A more detailed look at the invention shows that the two chemical engineers successfully developed a method and apparatus for removing potentially toxic organic compounds from a multicomponent gas and vapor mixture. Their invention can be used by many industries from printing plants to wastewater facilities.
Using Sirkar and Li's method, some 98 percent of any volatile organic pollutant can be recovered and the treated gas safely released. The method employs an air/waste gas stream flowing through the bores of hollow fibers as fine as human hair. At the same time, a vacuum pulls the pollutants out through the membrane coating on the outside surface of the hollow fibers.
Sirkar, who is the Foundation Professor for Membrane Separations and directs NJIT's Center for Membrane Technologies, is now working on a water purification process and a more efficient, faster and less costly desalination process. He has studied industrial uses of water and how industries might recycle wastewater.
Sirkar was recently awarded the Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is also the recipient of the Themis Medicare Chemcon Disti
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Contact: Sheryl Weinstein
sheryl.m.weinstein@njit.edu
973-596-3436
New Jersey Institute of Technology
8-Nov-2006