Sasidhar Varanasi

Education

Ph.D. State University of New York at Buffalo

M.S. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (India)

B.S. Andhra University, Waltair (India)

Courses Taught

• CHMG 722 Elmnts Of Transport Phenomena
• CHMG 770 Bioseparations
• CHML 306 Separation Process Design I
• CHML 316 Cmpt Simulation&Dsgn
• CHML 339 Separation Process Design Ii
• CHML 423 Process Control
• CHML 470 Bioseparations
• CHML 485 Core Chemical Eng Concepts
• ENGS 401 Internship For Engineering

Research & Scholarly Activities

I joined Manhattan College in Fall 2017 after being a member of the faculty of Chemical Engineering at the University of Toledo (UT) for almost three decades. I received an MS from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India in 1977 and a PhD from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo in 1983. At Buffalo, I did my doctoral research in the area of interfacial phenomena under the supervision of Distinguished University Professor Dr. Eli Ruckenstein, who was a recipient of the National Medal of Science from President Bill Clinton. For my doctoral dissertation, I studied electro kinetic transport phenomena in porous media. Soon after receiving Ph.D., I joined the University of Toledo (UT) as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, and was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 1993.

While my initial research thrust was in the area of Colloid and Interfacial Science, I diversified into the area of “alternate energy” around 2005 and, in particular, to biomass conversion to fuels and value-added products. Along with my colleagues at UT, I developed a new and cost-effective technology for the fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass using ionic liquids, which has subsequently become the platform technology for the DOE laboratory Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI) in Emeryville, CA for biomass deconstruction. I authored, with my colleagues at UT, more than 60 peer-reviewed publications in this area in high-impact ACS and RSC journals and received 20 patents. Majority of our patents have been licensed to start-up companies, and one of them, SuGanit Systems Inc. has a pilot-scale facility for second generation biofuel production operating on the University of Toledo Campus. We have received funding in excess of thirteen million dollars ($13M) in support of our work from federal, state, and private sources, including the National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, USDA (NIFA), US Air Force Office, Ohio Third Frontier Commission, and SuGanit Systems Inc.. I have supervised over 25 graduate students in the areas of ionic liquid pretreatment of lignocellulose, bio-refining methods based on Furan platform, and fermentation technologies for converting biomass-derived sugars to fuel precursors and organic acids for materials production.

I routinely participate as a panelist and ad-hoc reviewer by federal agencies including National Science Foundation (CBET: Energy for Sustainability division), DOE and ARPA-E to evaluate new technologies related to biomass conversion and for adjudication of NSF–CAREER awards. I am a senior member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Chemical Society, and Society of Industrial Microbiology and regularly chair sessions at international conferences in the area of biofuels and products. I received Outstanding Researcher Award from the College of Engineering at UT in 1994, and Outstanding Researcher Award from the University of Toledo in 2015. I have taught majority of the required under-graduate courses in the chemical engineering curriculum at UT.

Publications

A. Vadlamani, B. Pendyala, S. Viamajala, and S. Varanasi, “High Productivity Cultivation of Microalgae without Concentrated CO2 Input”, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2019, 7 (2), pp 1933–1943

B. Maddi, S. Viamajala, and S. Varanasi, “Pyrolytic fractionation: A promising thermos-chemical technique for processing oleaginous (algal) biomass”, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2018, 6 (1), pp 237–247

Y. Shirazi, H. Tafazolian, S. Viamajala, S. Varanasi, Z. Song,M. Heben, “High yield production of fatty nitriles by one-step vapor phase thermos-catalysis of triglycerides”, ACS Omega, 2017, 2 (12), pp 9013–9020

B. Maddi, A. Vadlamani, S. Viamajala and S. Varanasi, “Quantification of triglyceride content in microalgae/oilseeds using thermo-gravimetry”, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 128 (2017) 232-237

B. Urban, Y. Shirazi, B. Maddi, S. Viamajala, and S. Varanasi, “Flash Pyrolysis of Oleaginous Biomass in a Fluidized-Bed Reactor”, Energy Fuels, (2017), 31, 8326-8334

A. Vadlamani, S. Viamajala, B. Pendyala, and S. Varanasi, “Cultivation of Microalgae at Extreme Alkaline pH Conditions: A Novel Approach for Biofuel Production”, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. (2017), 5, 7284-7294

S. Alipour, P. Relue, S. Viamajala, and S. Varanasi, “High Yield 5-(hydroxymethyl) furfural production from biomass sugars under facile reaction conditions: a hybrid enzyme- and chemi-catalytic technology,” Green Chemistry, 19: p1782, 2017.

S. Alipour, H. Omidvarborna, P. Relue, S. Viamajala, and S. Varanasi, "High concentration levulinic acid production from corn stover." RSC Adv., 7, p 19384, 2017.

S. Alipour, H. Omidvarbornab, S. Varanasi, D-S., Kim, “A review on synthesis of alkoxymethyl furfural, a biofuel candidate” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017, 71, pp.908-926.

S. Alipour, H. Omidvarborna, S. Viamajala, P. Relue and S. Varanasi, "Enzymatic and catalytic hybrid method for levulinic acid synthesis from biomass sugars." Journal of Cleaner Production 161: p256, 2017.

Y. Shirazi, S. Viamajala, S. Varanasi, “High-yield production of fuel- and oleochemical-precursors from triacylglycerols in a novel continuous-flow pyrolysis reactor”, Applied Energy, 2016, 179, pp 755-764.

G. Abel, S. Viamajala, S. Varanasi, and K. Yamamoto “Toward Sustainable Synthesis of PA12 (Nylon-12) Precursor from Oleic Acid Using Ring-Closing Metathesis”, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2016, 4 (10), pp 5703–5710

A. Y. Mudiyanselage, H. Yao, S. Viamajala, S. Varanasi, and K. Yamamoto,” Efficient Production of Alkanolamides from Microalgae”, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2015, 54 (16), pp 4060–4065

Godwin Ameh Abel, Kim Oliver Nguyen, Sridhar Viamajala, Sasidhar Varanasi and Kana Yamamoto, “Cross-metathesis approach to produce precursorsof nylon 12 and nylon 13 from microalgae” RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 55622–55628

Ajith Yapa Mudiyanselage, Sridhar Viamajala, Sasidhar Varanasi, and Kana Yamamoto, “Simple Ring-Closing Metathesis Approach for Synthesis of PA11, 12, and 13 Precursors from Oleic Acid” ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. 2014, 2, 2831−2836

Professional Experience & Memberships

American Institute of Chemical Engineers (Senior Member)

American Chemical Society (Senior Member)

American Society of Industrial Microbiology (Member)