Platform Chemical Biorefinery

Satinder Kaur Brar is full professor at York University, Canada. She is leading the research group on the Bioprocessing and Nano-Enzyme Formulation Facility (BANEFF) at INRS. Her research interests lie in the development of finished products (formulations) of wastewater and wastewater sludge based value-added bioproducts, such as enzymes, organic acids, food bioproducts, platform chemicals and circular economy. The facility has so far led to the successful supervision of 30 PhDs, 8 Master’s and 6 postdoctoral students. She has collaborative programs with several industries in Canada and researchers from Argentina, Spain, Chile, Switzerland, France, Vietnam, China, USA, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Morocco, Tunisia and Ivory Coast. She Editor-in-Chief of Nanotechnology for Environmental Engineering (Springer Journal) and has more than 400 publications, including ten books and handbooks that are academic standards and 6 patents.

Full Professor, York University, Ontario, Canada

Saurabh Jyoti Sarma is a researcher at INRS-ETE, Canada, and has completed his Ph.D. from the same institute. He is one of the associate editors of “Nanotechnology for Environmental Engineering”, an international journal of Springer. He is also a guest editor of “Biofuels” (Special issue: Biorefinery for fuels and platform chemicals), an international journal published by Tailors & Francis. Before joining INRS-ETE he had received a research fellowship from DST, government of India and for nearly 3 years he had worked as a research fellow at IIT Guwahati, India. He is a recipient of prestigious merit scholarship for foreign students (FQRNT) offered by Government of Canada; postdoctoral research fellowship of University of Calgary, Canada; doctoral research fellowship of INRS-ETE, Canada; supplementary grant for doctoral study from CRIQ, Canada as well as travel grant (Brazil) offered by ministry of international relation, Quebec, Canada. His expertise includes pilot scale (2000 l) fermentation, pilot scale ultrafiltration and nano-spray drying technology, preparation and characterization of nanoparticles for biorefinery and environmental uses, designing and application of microbial electrolysis/electro-synthesis cells for biofuel such as hydrogen and biobutanol production, and solid state fermentation for enzyme production. Including research articles, book chapters and journal editorials, he has about 64 publications.

Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (Eau, Terre et Environnement, INRS-ETE), Québec, Canada

Kannan Pakshirajan is a Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. He researches on biological removal of heavy metals and xeonobiotics such as phenolics, dyes, polycyclic aromatic compounds, perchlorate, etc. from contaminated water, air and soil, and resource recovery, mainly biofuels, from waste materials. He is a recipient of many awards and honours, which include besides others Hiyoshi Young Leaf Award, BOYSCAST Fellowship (by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India), Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Award for Young Scientist, National Academy of Sciences India (NASI) Young Scientist Award, Bioresource Technology Journal Top Reviewer Award (by Elsevier Publications). He has authored and co-authored over 90 peer-reviewed journal publications, produced seven PhDs and currently guides nine PhD students.

Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India