Manali Dhawan Email & Phone Number

Kingsport, Tennessee, United States

Evanston, Illinois, United States

Computational Design of Novel Alternative Routes to Nylon Intermediatesworking on collaborative project with INVISTA teamPI: Dr. Linda J. Broadbelt

Michigan, United States

Advisor: Dr. Scott Calabrese Barton✦ Valorization of biomass to value-added fuels and chemicals by electro-catalytic processes➤ Metal-Catalyzed Electrocatalytic Hydrogenation of Furfural in Near-Neutral Electrolytes• Investigated the activity of various metal catalysts on the electrocatalytic hydrogenation of furfural to maximize the Faradaic efficiency of the system• Studied the effect of electrolyte pH and applied potential by potentiostatic measurements to optimize the reaction parameters for higher furfural conversion, products yield and Faradaic efficiency• Reaction kinetics and plausible mechanism deduced by modeling and catalyst textural characterization➤ Current research: • Studying the effect of metal and metal oxide nanoparticle catalysts on the electrocatalytic hydrogenation of furfural• Catalyst characterization to study the active sites for hydrogenation• Empirical studies to understand the catalytic mechanism of hydrogenation

Course Name: CHE 431 - Chemical Reaction Engineering• Mentored 100+ undergraduate students • Conducted recitation lectures for solving complex chemical reaction engineering problems using Python

Course Name: CHE 431 - Chemical Reaction Engineering• Mentored 120+ undergraduate students • Conducted recitation for solving chemical reaction engineering problems using MATLAB• Supervised office hours, designed and graded exam questions

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Advisor: Dr. Ganapati D. Yadav✦ Valorization of biomass to value-added fuels and chemicals by catalytic processes ✦➤ Catalytic process for simultaneous production of biodiesel and glycerol carbonate from renewable triglycerides• Developed an efficient one-pot cascade transesterification process to co-produce renewable fuel - biodiesel and green solvent - glycerol carbonate using in-situ generated glycerol • Synthesized and characterized reusable calcined Mg-Al Hydrotalcite catalyst• Optimized experimental parameters to achieve maximum conversion and product selectivity• Analyzed reaction kinetic parameters for scale-up➤ Interesterification of triglycerides with methyl acetate for the co-production of biodiesel and triacetin• Designed an alternate process to transesterification to utilize glycerol formed in the biodiesel production process• Produced a higher value added co-product - triacetin, a plasticizer and fuel additive, in addition to biodiesel by interesterification process• Synthesized, characterized and screened various heterogeneous base metal and supported metal oxide catalysts for the reaction• Optimized reaction parameters and modelled kinetics of the reversible reaction by micro-kinetic modeling in Python➤ Chemo-selective etherification of 5-hydroxymethyl furfural with ethylene glycol to produce 5-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl) furfural• Produced a fuel additive - 5-(2-hydroxyethoxymethyl) furfural from renewable bio-derived feedstock - 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF)• Designed a chemo-selective and reusable supported metal substituted heteropolyacid catalyst for etherification reaction to obtain high conversion and selectivity while minimizing side reactions• Characterized the catalyst to investigate the mechanistic role of acidity on the reaction

✦ Production and characterization of cellulase by Aspergillus niger using agro-wasteCharacterized cellulase enzyme production by A. niger fungus extracted from saw dust at varying environmental parameters to obtain optimum conditions for cellulase production

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering

Ph.D. Green Technology

M.Tech Green Technology

B.E. Biotechnology