Faculty

Dr. Snigdha Khuntia is working as Assistant Professor at School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), Ahmedabad University. She has done her B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IGIT Sarang, BPUT Orissa. Snigdha has done her M.Tech and Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG). Her research areas are advanced oxidation processes, ozone based water/wastewater treatment, biosorption, adsorption, heavy metal removal from wastewater. Additional research includes mass transfer study of ozone, oxygen using millibubbles and microbubbles, kinetics and decomposition of ozone in water, synthesis of adsorbents for metal removal.

Current Research Interests

• Removal of NOX and SOx
• Ozone based water/wastewater treatment
• Heavy metal removal from wastewater by chemical process
• Biosorption of heavy metals
• Fabrication of ozone contactor
• Hydrodynamic study of gas bubbles

M.Tech Thesis
Thesis Title: Reduction of hexavalent chromium using Spirilina sp. Biomass (Adviser: Dr. A. K. Golder).

• Performance of biosorption of Chromium using Spirulina sp. Biomass using batch and column study.
• Synthesis of algenate + biomass spherical beads and sorption study of Cr(V).
• Kinetic and thermodynamic study of biosoprtion

Ph.D. Thesis
Thesis Title: Removal of ammonia, arsenic and dyestuff from water by ozone microbubbles (Adviser/s: Prof. Pallab Ghosh and Dr. Subrata K. Majumder).

• Performance of ozonation of water/wastewater.
• Mass transfer study of ozonation process.
• Performance calculation of pilot plants for bubble columns and microbubble systems.
• Investigation of oxidation mechanism of inorganic pollutants such as ammonia, and arsenic using ozone microbubbles.
• Investigation of oxidation mechanism of organic pollutants such as azo-dyes using ozone microbubbles.
• Qualitative and quantitative detection of hydroxyl radicals.
• Modification of activated carbon based adsorbents, synthesis of zirconium based adsorbents.
• Characterization of adsorbents to use in As(III) and As(V) adsorption.
• Modeling of experimental data obtained.

Journal Papers

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S. K., and Ghosh, P., Microbubble-aided water and wastewater purification: a review, Rev. Chem. Eng., 28, 191−221 (2012).

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S. K., and Ghosh, P., Removal of ammonia from water by ozone microbubbles, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 52, 318−326 (2013).

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S. K., and Ghosh, P., Oxidation of As(III) to As(V) using ozone microbubbles, Chemosphere, 97, 120−124 (2014).

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S. K., and Ghosh, P., A pilot plant study of the degradation of Brilliant Green dye using ozone microbubbles: mechanism and kinetics of reaction, Environ. Technol., 36, 336−347 (2015).

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S. K., and Ghosh, P., Quantitative prediction of generation of hydroxyl radicals from ozone microbubbles, Chem. Eng. Res. Des, 98, 231–239 (2015). 

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S. K., and Ghosh, P., Adsorption of As(V) on zirconium based adsorbents, Desalin. Water Treat., 57, 1766-1778(2016).

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S.K., Ghosh, P., Catalytic ozonation of dye in a microbubble system: Hydroxyl radical contribution and effect of salt. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 4, 2250–2258, (2016).

Khuntia, S., Sinha, M.K., Saini, B., An approach to minimize the ozone loss in a series reactor: A case of peroxone process. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 6, 6916‒6922, (2018).

Saini, B., Khuntia, S., Sinha, M.K., Incorporation of cross-linked poly(AA-co-ACMO) copolymer with pH responsive and hydrophilic properties to polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane for the mitigation of fouling behavior. J. Membr. Sci. 572, 184‒197, (2019).

Khuntia, S., Sinha, M.K., Saini, B., Conversion of NO2 through ozonation and peroxone process in gas and aqueous phase: Finding the suitable process through experimental route, Chem. Eng. J. 387, 124082 (2020).

Saini, B., Vaghani, D., Khuntia, S., Sinha, M.K., Patel, A., Pindoria, R., A novel stimuli-responsive and fouling resistant PVDF ultrafiltration membrane prepared by using amphiphilic copolymer of poly(vinylidene fluoride) and Poly(2-N-morpholino)ethyl methacrylate, J. Membr. Sci. 603, 118047‒118059 (2020).

Khuntia, S., Sinha, M.K., Mohan, G., Evaluation of Reaction Kinetics for Removal of NOx by Ozone and Hydrogen Peroxide, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 59, 40, 17806–17814 (2020).

Khuntia, S., Sinha, M.K., Singh, P., Theoretical and experimental investigation of the mechanism of the catalytic ozonation process by using a manganese-based catalyst, Environ. Technol. 42, 632‒639 (2021).

Khuntia, S., Mohan, G., A comparative study of the catalytic and non-catalytic ozone based processes for simultaneous of SO2 and NOX removal, J. Indus. Eng. Chem. 106, 152-159 (2022).

Ghosh, M., Khuntia, S., Dalai, S., Effect of Molar Ratio of Feed on the Facile Synthesis of Silicon Nano-Sheets from Laboratory Waste Glass, Springer Proceedings in Materials, vol 15. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2572-6_10. (2022)

Singh, A., Khuntia, S., Enhanced Generation of Hydroxyl radicals by OMS-2 catalyst for flue gas absorption,Materials Today: Proceeding, 57, 279-284 (2022).

Saha, P., Jampa, S.S., Sinha, M.K., Khuntia, S., Hybrid membrane process for water treatment: a short review, AQUA-Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society, 72, 608-622 (2023).

Vala, S., Gawali, S.A., Jampa, S.S., Sinha, M.K., Khuntia, S., Ultrafiltration study of the polysulfone membrane modified with branched polyethyleneimin, AQUA-Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society, (accepted) (2023) https://doi.org/10.2166/aqua.2023.098.

Gawali, A., Gawali, S., Jampa, S.S., Sinha, M.K., Pandya, J., Shinde, S., Khuntia, S., Study on water and gas permeation characteristics with ZIF-8 mixed matrix membranes, AQUA-Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society, 72, 1097–1114 (2023).

Mwigo, B., Suthar, D., Gulamhussein, M.A., Sinha, M.K., Jampa, S.S., Vala, S., Khuntia, S., Implementation and utilization of Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) based membranes in wastewater treatment: A review, Materials Today: Proceedings, 77, 240-246 (2023).

Monograph

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S. K., Ghosh, P., 2015, Removal of Ammonia, Arsenic and Dyes from water by Ozone Microbubbles, ISBN: 978-3-659-77877-3.

Book Chapter

Khuntia, S., Sinha, M.K.,  Majumder S.K., Ghosh, P., Calculation of Hydroxyl Radical Concentration Using an Indirect Method-Effect of pH and Carbonate Ion, in Recent Advances in Chemical Engineering, Select Proceedings of ICACE 2015.

Conference/Presentations

Khuntia, S., Gagrai, M. K., Das C. and Golder, A. K., Effect of background ions on reduction of Cr (VI) to Cr (III) using saline water algae, Res. J. Chem. Environ., 15, 450−453 (2011).

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S. K., Ghosh, P., Enhanced oxidation of ammonia using ozone microbubbles, International Conference on Frontiers in Chemical Engineering (ICFCE-2013), NIT Rourkela, Odisha, India, 351−356, ISBN 978-93-80813-24-0, 09−11 December (2013).

Khuntia, S. and Golder, A. K., Hexavalent chromium reduction by immobilized green microalgae in continuous treatment, 2nd International Conference on Algal Biorefinery (ICAB-2014): A potential source of food, feed, biochemicals, biofuels and biofertilizers,  Technical University of Denmark, Lybgby, Denmark, August 27−29 (2014).

Khuntia, S., Sinha, M. K.,  Majumder S. K., Ghosh, P., Calculation of hydroxyl radical concentration-An indirect method, International Conference on Advances in Chemical Engineering (ICACE-2015), NITK Surathkal, Karnataka, India, (Accepted) 20−22 December (2015).

Sinha, M. K., Khuntia, S., Purkait, M. K., Preparation of Thermo Responsive PSF Ultrafiltration Membrane, with Cross Linked PVCL-co-PSF Copolymer for Easy Cleaning, International Conference on Advances in Chemical Engineering (ICACE-2015), NITK Surathkal, Karnataka, India, 20−22 December (2015).

Khuntia, S., Majumder, S. K., Ghosh, P., Oxidation of Arsenic (III) in Ozone Assisted Microbubble System, 7^th IWA Aspire Conference, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 11–14 September (2017).

Singh, A., Khuntia, S., 2021, Enhanced Generation of Hydroxyl radicals by OMS-2 catalyst for flue gas absorption, International Symposium on materials of the millennium, Nov 19-21, PDEU Gandhinagar, 2021.

Ghosh, M., Khuntia, S., Dalai, S., Effect of Molar Ratio of Feed on the Facile Synthesis of Silicon Nano-Sheets from Laboratory Waste Glass, International Symposium on materials of the millennium, Nov 19-21, PDEU Gandhinagar, 2021.

Courses

• Instrumentation and Process Control (2018)
• Membrane Science and Technology (Chemical) (2017-2018)
• Heat Transfer (Chemical) (2016-2017)
• Fluid Mechanics (Chemical and Mechanical) (2016)
• Power plant and mechanical operation (Chemical and Mechanical) (2015-2017)

Labs

• Chemical Engineering Lab 1  (Chemical) (2015-2018)
• Heat Transfer Lab (Chemical & Mechanical) (2016-2017)

• Faculty incharge of the AIChE student chapter of Ahmedabad University
• Member of AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers)
• Judge of the poster presentation in , CHEMTECH-2018, Ahmedabad 23-25th January 2018.

Reviewer for Journals (From 2015-2018)

• Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (Elsevier)
• Environmental Chemistry Letters (Springer)
• New Journal of Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry)
• Water Science and Technology (IWA Publishing)
• Chemosphere (Elsevier)

 
Invited Lectures/External thesis evaluator

• Heat Transfer (Applications in Human Life and Nature), Shroff S.R. Rotary Institute of Chemical Technology, Ankleshwar, Gujarat, 04 May 2016.
• Nano materials and Application, Marwadi Education Foundation Group of Institutes, Rajkot, Gujarat, 16 September 2016.
• Invited as the external evaluator for the MTech Project by Department of Chemical Engineering, PDPU Gandhinagar, May 25, 2018.

Simultaneous removal of NO_X and SO₂ from the flue gas: A low temperature ozone based process

Funding Organization: DST_SERB (EARLY CAREER RESEARCH GRANT)

Duration: 3 years (2018-2021)

CURRENT REQUIREMENT: NIL

Project Details

Removal of NO_X and SO₂ from flue gases has been a serious problem for the nation since two decades. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) is considered as one of the most effective method for removal of NOx and studied extensively. Simultaneous removal of NO_X and SO₂ can be achieved by a combination of wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) and SCR. But the individual treatment strategy poses expensive investment and operating cost. To overcome these limitations, various new methods have been proposed such as wet scrubbing, adsorption, electron beam irradiation, corona discharge, dielectric barrier discharge, radio frequency discharge, and electrochemical-catalytic cells etc. Except wet scrubbing and adsorption process, the other methods mentioned above require high cost of energy. Wet scrubbing process is performed under ambient temperature and it is highly adaptable to various flue gas loads. At the same time it results in high volume of liquid wastes and lower efficiency.

Synthesis of Magnetic Catalyst Coated Microbubbles for Removal of Trace Pollutants
Funding Organisation: DST (WTI)
Duration: 3 years (2021-2024)
CURRENT REQUIREMENT: Ph.D. Students (2 Nos.)

Project Details

India sustains a whopping 16.8% of the total world population and has a huge requirement of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). With such huge demand, unused and untreated pharmaceuticals have become one of the recent threats in the municipal wastewater treatment plants. Studies have reported that, the urban wastewaters are the most important source of pharmaceutical compounds in the aquatic environment. The available wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are designed to remove organic pollutants, mainly estimated as dissolved organic matter, solids and nutrients but not pharmaceutical compounds. In addition to that, most of the WWTPs are only designed for the primary and secondary treatment processes, and do not show promising result in removal of PPCPs found in trace amounts. Therefore growing attentions have been paid to the removal of the PPCPs due to their potential ecotoxicity in past few years. Use of ozone is a well-known method for removal of various organic and inorganic compounds present in wastewater. However, lower solubility of ozone in water, higher equipment and operational costs and lack of special mixing techniques have limited the use of this process to venture new possibilities. Therefore, an integrated process for the enhanced dissolution of ozone as well as generation of ROS needs to be studied for the removal of the trace pharmaceuticals from water. This can help to attract the use of ozone based technologies in the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater.