Faculty Development Programme held at great NIT AP

by S. Vishnu Sharma
Published: Jan 10, 2022, 20:02 IST
Updated: Jun 01, 2022, 13:52 IST

Faculty Development Programme at NIT AP was held from 3 to 7 January this year. NIT AP is encouraging its faculty and researchers towards advancements in the field of Biovalorisation.

With that purpose in mind, NIT AP organised a five day online faculty development programme on ‘Biovalorisation: Trend and Prospects of Value-Added Products’ from 3 to 7 January.

Inauguration of Faculty Development Programme

Addressing the inaugural event of the faculty development programme, Professor C.S.P. Rao, Director, NIT AP said majority of the waste is produced from domestic, agricultural and industrial practices.

Management and treatment of a large volume of waste is a very challenging task. Biological treatment of waste with micro-organisms is promising for the treatment of the broad spectrum of waste in an economical method.

Further, we can couple the treatment process to generate energy and by employing Biovalorisation value-added products can be produced from waste, he said speaking at the inaugural of faculty development programme.

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He further said the faculty development programme is emphasized on bridging the gap of ever-increasing demand for technologies that treat the waste in an effective and economical manner as well as resource recovery in the form of energy or platform chemicals.

This will encourage the researchers for carrying out their research with the aim of the utilization of waste as feedstock for the production of energy and valuable commercial products, he said speaking at the inaugural of the faculty development programme.

Advanced knowledge
This Five-day Faculty Development Programme was intended to impart advanced knowledge on bio-valorization of wastes to renewable chemicals and biofuels for faculties, scientists, and research scholars by covering the following core areas:

Ø Glyco genomics

Ø Bioconversion of organic waste

Ø Biomass Valorization

Ø Renewable chemical production

Ø Bio-economy

Ø Industrial waste treatment

Inaugural lecture
Dr. T. Jagan Mohan Rao, Head, Department of Biotechnology, NIT Andhra Pradesh delivered the inaugural lecture.

Delivering the inaugural lecture at the faculty development programme, he said with the rapid increase in world population and industrialization, the generation of waste from various sources is on a constant rise.

‘Handling the large volume of waste is a challenging task especially in developing countries like India. Conventional treatment methods were found to be very expensive and also pose challenges for safeguarding public health.’

The biological route using microbial cells offers a potentially cost-effective alternative to overcome the challenges in waste management and production of commercially important products by biovalorisation methods, he said delivering the inaugural lecture at the faculty development programme.

Especially by employing micro-organisms, we can transform the waste to generate commercial products such as biomass, bioethanol, biodiesel, food products, and other value-added products, he said.

Outcomes
The top outcomes from this five day faculty development programme are:

Ø Application of modern genomic techniques

Ø Technology translation from lab to industry

Ø Approaches for transforming waste into commercial products

Ø Integration of waste management for bio-economy.

Ø Food and environmental perspectives of industrial waste

Lecture
Dr. Ravindra Pal Singh, Research Scientist, National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute Mohali delivered a lecture on ‘Digging Glycogenomics of the human gut microbiota’ at the faculty development programme.

With the rapid increase in world population and industrialization, the generation of waste from various sources is on a constant rise. Handling the large volume of waste is a challenging task especially in developing countries like India, he said delivering the lecture during the faculty development programme.

‘Conventional treatment methods were found to be very expensive and also pose challenges for safeguarding public health.’

Especially by employing micro-organisms, we can transform the waste to generate commercial products such as biomass, bioethanol, biodiesel, food products, and other value-added products, he said delivering the lecture at the faculty development programme.