Meet on industrial catalysis

Briefing local newspersons, seminar organising committee chairman P S Rao, executive director at Indian Oil Corporation8217;s Gujarat Refinery, said it was the city8217;s to host a seminar of this scale, which would involve scholarly deliberations on the subject of environment 8212; an issue that has engendered hot debates among scientists all over the world. Chemical Engineering Department, MSU, head Prof N Subrahmanyam and IPCL senior executives A B Halgeri and S J Patel also addressed and enlightened the gathering on different aspects of catalysis.

The experts said in view of the emphasis of scientists on green technologies, necessitated by environmental and ecological concerns and the depleting natural resources of the feed stocks for chemical processing, the seminar will focus on exploring novel and eco-friendly processes and improving efficiency of the existing processes. Besides presentations by experts from leading organisations the world over, a parallel poster session featuring over 20 papers by young researchers from academia and research laboratories in India will be held during the seminar.

The seminar will be inaugurated by Dr S J Chopra, director, Engineers India Limited and the key-note address delivered by Dr T S R Prasada Rao, former director of the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun. The deliberations will comprise emerging trends in the area of industrial catalysis pertaining to petroleum and petrochemical processing, fertilisers processing, speciality chemicals synthesis, environmental catalysis besides other related issues like technological advancements and checks on industrial and environmental disasters, the organisers added.