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Dr. Omprakash Sarkar

Luleå University of Technology

ORCID iD 0000-0003-2568-2979
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About

My research journey started in 2012 as a project assistant in the project entitled “Mission Mode Project on Hydrogen Production through Biological Routes” at CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, India, under the Guidance of Dr. S. Venkata Mohan. I worked extensively on acidogenic fermentation to synthesize carboxylic acids and molecular hydrogen (H2) from renewable feedstocks such as biogenic waste and wastewater. During this period, I gained significant research experience in the use of different waste/wastewater utilization as feedstock. The research experience I gained, along with the publications in high-impact journals, helped me receive a “CSIR-Senior Research Fellow” (SRF) scholarship for PhD registration. Later in 2015, with this scholarship (SRF), I joined the Ph.D. program and continued working on waste for various biobased products. During my doctoral studies, my main research interest was in renewable fuels and platform chemical production, such as acidogenic/dark fermentative biohydrogen, green hythane/H2-enriched CNG (H2+CH4), short chain carboxylic acids (C2-C5), medium chain carboxylic acids (C6-C7), gas fermentation of H2/CO/CO2, and bioelectricity. Simultaneously, my research expanded from a small-scale reactor up to designing and operating pilot reactors, which has given me a strong background in process optimization and scale-up. I have designed, developed, and operated a 10-m3 pilot plant for the production of biohydrogen and carboxylic acids from organic-based feedstock. To translate the technology, I have designed a full-scale commercial plant (100 m3). To determine the sustainability of biohydrogen and carboxylic acids at the pilot scale from renewable feedstock, I used life cycle assessment tools (SimaPro).

I also used the fluorescently labeled population-specific probes (FISH) that aided in identifying the individual cells in complex microbial assemblages as well as their in-situ interactions. Further, I have also used molecular techniques/approaches based on 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequence analysis towards the direct investigation of the community structure, diversity, and phylogeny of microorganisms, aiming to elucidate the role of certain microorganisms in the performance of the bioreactor and improve the conversion of feedstocks to the desired products.

Additionally, I got an opportunity to work and gain knowledge as well as contribute my expertise to many national and international projects such as (i) Indo-Danish Research and Innovation Cooperation, (ii) Bio-e-MAT, low-cost and efficient materials for bioelectricity production from waste (Tampere University, Finland; IIT, Delhi; Yildiz Technical University, Turkey), and (iii) India-UK Joint Project on Industrial Waste Challenge 2017, (iv) Sustainable wastewater treatment through bio-photoelectrocatalysis and biofuel production-IMPRINT Project (MHRD-Govt. of India), (v) Valorization of waste to carboxylic acids by integrated acidogenic fermentation (DBT, India).

As a researcher (LTU, Sweden), I designed and developed an innovative biocatalyst (assembly of potential microbial strains), exploring its efficiency towards the high-rate conversion of organic/inorganic carbon sources to platform chemicals. During my postdoc, I successfully synthesized carboxylic acids up to 50 gCOD/L with an acidification factor above 70%.

Apart from this, I have designed and developed a synthetic microbial consortium for the production of biochemicals (C2-C5) to (C6 and C7 carboxylic acids) through the chain elongation process (reverse β-oxidation) utilizing Swedish Forest-based cellulosic biomass (soft and hardwood) and integrating a novel organosolv pretreatment method.

Employment

  • Luleå University of Technology

Education

Education history is unavailable.

Projects & Funding

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Publications (12)