Abhay Athaley Email & Phone Number

Colorado, United States

Center of Bioenergy Innovation (CBI)• Understanding value chains, markets, and technology for sustainable chemicals and fuels from biomass• Lead process designer in developing and improving process designs for lignin valorization for the development of sustainable chemicals such as butanediol, β-ketoadipate, mixed acids and alcohols and aviation fuel from biomass.• Lead process engineer in developing a conceptual bio-refinery to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from biomass.• Conducted techno-economic and life cycle analysis for Reductive Catalytic Fractionation (RCF) of lignin with Butanol-water as solvent as well as Oxidative Catalytic Fractionation (OCF) of lignin using poplar as biomass.• Developed a conceptual process for pyrolysis for producing biochar for carbon capture processes. Bio-Optimized Technologies to Keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment (BOTTLE) Consortium. • Developed conceptual process designs and understanding supply chain and market for “Recycle by Design” (RBD) monomers and polymers, specifically vinyl acrylates, polyesters, and polyurethanes.• Developed life cycle analysis models for different end-of-life processes for rubber passenger tires.

Newark, Delaware, United States

• Working on the project – Sugars to Bio-products Scalable Platform Technology.• Designing a novel production processes for cascade conversion of glucose to Dimethylfuran by developing a biphasic, double reactive microreactor and micro-extractor and integrating it with a continuous flow cycloaddition-dehydration slurry reaction for bio-based p-Xylene production.• Developing flowsheet models for solvent selection for the conversion of glucose to Dimethylfuran. • Developing custom model for the micro-reactor incorporating kinetic and energy balance models of the reaction in Aspen Custom Modeler and comparing the performance of the micro-reactor with standard reactors such as continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and plug flow reactor (PFR).• Performing hybrid LCA and Prospective LCA for the cascade conversion of glucose to Dimethylfuran and evaluating the toxicity of different solvents used in the process and examining the environmental impact of the process in terms of global warming potential, water depletion, and eco-toxicity.• Developing custom models by incorporating partition coefficients of the components and solubility of solvent with an aqueous solution for a novel micro-separator. • Developing and designing a novel biotransformation process of glucose to mixed alcohols using synthetic syntrophic consortia of Clostridium organisms to produce mixed alcohols.

New Brunswick, New Jersey

Thesis - Integrated Design, Analysis, and Optimization of Chemical Production from Biomass Feedstock.Advisor – Dr. Marianthi Ierapetritou • Designed novel production processes by implementing a new method for hydrolysis of biomass using molten salt hydrate and integrating it with the production of furan derivatives such as p-Xylene, butadiene, surfactants, jet-fuels, and lubricants from renewable second-generation biomass, as well as repurposing food waste such as potato peels thereby reducing minimum selling price by ~15%.• Designed a novel production process for producing Performance-Advantaged Polymers such as a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) from lignin via One-Pot Biocatalysts and Controlled-Radical Polymerization and integrated with the above process to design a bio-refinery.• Designed a production process for producing mixed alcohols from Mixalco® process from a novel fermentation process using syntrophic bacteria consortia from Brown Algae.• Applied flowsheet modeling for producing various furan derivatives and Performance-Advantaged Polymers using Aspen Plus, integrating heat integration, and performing economic analysis using Aspen Economic Analyzer.• Performed input-output Life Cycle Analysis using Simapro® to evaluate and examine environmental impacts and sustainability with oil-based processes.• Optimizing the bio-refinery configuration by incorporating multi-objective optimization to produce various chemicals and fuels from different biomass feedstock with respect to economic and environmental impacts considering processes and market uncertainties.• Solving the optimization problem using non-linear optimization solvers and carrying out sensitivity analysis and scenario-based analysis to the optimization model using two-stage stochastic programming.

New Brunswick, New Jersey

Teaching Assistant for Design and Economics Class in Chemical and Bio-chemical Engineering Department.

Conducting and Grading Lab Experiments for undergraduates

Nagpur

• Administered the operation of Waste Tire Pyrolysis Plant to produce low-grade industrial fuels.• Spearheaded the commissioning of a recycling plant of PET bottles to low and medium grade polymer granules valued at $150k.• Oversaw the operation of the recycling plant of PET Plastics and handled the procuring of raw materials and selling of Finished products.

Jamnagar Area, India

• Involved in the pre-commissioning and commissioning activities of Diesel Hydrotreater (DHDT).o Updated and verified PnID’s and isometric drawings of the DHDT plant.o Inspection of equipment including distillation columns, compressors, and reactors in association with Inspection Personnel.o Involved in Loop Flushing activities like cardboard blasting, Rotomol flushing, Pigging, Alkali boil out, Air blowing, Steam blowing, Chemical Cleaning, etc.• Maintained the operations of Diesel Hydrotreater (DHDT)• Operated various equipment including compressors, pumps, heaters, etc.• Trained in the field of fire and safety.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Chemical And Biomolecular Engineering, 3.95

Master’S Degree, Chemical Engineering, 3.95

Activities and Societies: Graduate Student Organisation, Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. Rutgers Indian Graduate Students' Association

Bachelor’S Degree, Chemical Engineering, 3.7

Activities and Societies: - Member of Student Council in College. - Volunteered and Conducted “Project Presentation” Event in EXCELSIOR’08.