Prof. J. B. Lal Memorial Lecture Department of Chemical Engineering IIT Roorkee

The Exciting World of Chemical Engineering and the Life of a Teacher in a University Prof. M.M. Sharma Emeritus Professor of Eminence, University Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai Fellow of Royal Society, London, Indian Academy of Sciences and Indian National Science Academy Winner of prestigious S.S. Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences and Vishwakarma Medal PADMA BHUSHAN and PADMA VIBHUSHAN Awardee

Date: November 9, 2020 (Monday) Time: 5:00 pm

Venue: WebEx (Meeting Number: 158 019 6751, Password: jblal)

About the Speaker: Prof. Man Mohan Sharma FREng (born May 1, 1937 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan) is an Indian chemical engineer. He was educated at Jodhpur, Mumbai and Cambridge. Prof. Sharma obtained Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (1958) from UDCT (ICT) and subsequently MSc (Tech.) in 1960. He obtained Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering) (1964) at Cambridge University with PV Danckwerts. In 1990, he became the first Indian engineer to be elected as a Fellow of Royal Society, UK. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan (1987) and the Padma Vibhushan (2001) by the President of India. He has also been awarded the Leverhulme Medal of the Royal Society, the S.S. Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences (1973), FICCI Award (1981), the Vishwakarma medal of the Indian National Science Academy (1985), G.M. Modi Award (1991), Meghnad Saha Medal (1994). Professor Sharma made tremendous contributions to chemical engineering science and technology. His studies on Bronsted based catalysis in CO hydration and subsequently 2 kinetics of COS absorption in aqueous amines and alkanolamines brought out linear free

energy relationship between CO2 and COS absorption in solutions of amines and alkanolamines. He has contributed extensively on the role of microphases in multiple reactions which he pioneered. He also became an independent Editor of Chemical

Abstract of the talk Chemical Engineering (CE) is versatile as it is tuned to micro or molecular level as well as meso or equipment scale and finally with the macro-scale integrated plants. CE unlike other branches of engineering, has strong links with chemistry and chemical biology. CE knows no boundaries and it has a tradition of being an EVOLVING DISCIPLINE. Chemical Engineers work in an amazingly diverse sectors of industries and can justifiably classified as LIBERAL ENGINEERING degree. New frontiers will open in biotechnology-based products, particularly in downstream processing, new strategies in separations, nanotechnology, product engineering, formulation engineering, chiral engineering, utilisation of renewable raw materials particularly lignin (e.g. from sugarcane bagasse). CO2 removal on large scale from lean streams will require smart CE. Astute scale-up will demand smart CFD. Teaching and Research in academia can be very stimulating, exciting and even entertaining. Innovations in teaching are as demanding as in research and transmission of thoughts, in a clear and effective way, to disbelieving students requires extraordinary skills. Academic institutions are natural habitats for research where we have spiritual freedom to pursue BLUE SKY research and open up frontiers of sciences, create new trajectories and lead to innovations. The output of PhDs per million

Professor J.B. Lal was the founding head (1966 - 69) of Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (formerly known as University of Roorkee), Roorkee. In the honour of Professor Lal, a lecture series entitled "Professor J.B. Lal memorial lecture series" was started in academic session 2018- 19. Distinguished speakers in previous two editions were Prof. D. V. Khakhar, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay, Ex-Director, IIT Bombay (in 2018) and Prof. G.D. Yadav, Vice Chancellor, ICT Mumbai, R.T. Mody Distinguished Professor, Tata Chemicals Darbari Seth Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Innovation, J.C. Bose National Fellow, Padma Shri (2019) awardee.