Biomass Valorization Technologies

Dr. Kaustubh Chandrakant Khaire has been an active researcher and scientific writer for over 7 years. He received a B.Sc. degree (2014) in Biotechnology from Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Sambhajinagar (Maharashtra), and an M.Sc. degree (2016) in Biotechnology from Devi Ahilya Vishwavidhyalaya Indore (Madhya Pradesh), India after qualifying JNU-CEEB 2014. He received an Institute Fellowship (IIT Guwahati) in July 2017 for his PhD. He also earned his Ph.D. degree (2023) in Bioenergy from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (Assam), India. He received the best poster award in BSAEH-2021, Jaipur. He is a life member of the Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI); the Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI); the Society of Biological Chemists (SBC) and the Association of Carbohydrate Chemists and Technologists, India (ACCTI). His research interests include Bioenergy, Waste to wealth, Bioremediation, Environmental Microbiology, Biodegradation & Industrial Biotechnology. His journey has been driven by a curiosity to address global challenges like climate change through sustainable energy solutions. Driven by this passion, they focus on converting lignocellulosic biomass, especially agricultural and food waste, into biofuels using enzymatic saccharification and fermentation processes. His expertise lies in optimizing the production of bioethanol at a larger scale through the use of recombinant enzymes. He has published more than 15 research papers and 5 book chapters in national and international journals of repute on various aspects of Bioenergy and Biofuels.

Dr. Bikash Kumar is currently working as Assistant Professor at the Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Chhattisgarh, Raipur, India. He received his BSc (Hons-2012) and MSc (Distinction-2014) in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics from Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur (A Central University) and Pondicherry Central University respectively. Later, in 2014 he worked as a Junior Research Fellow at the Department of Microbiology, Central University of Rajasthan, India. In 2015 he enrolled for PhD and started his research at the Bioprocess and Bioenergy Laboratory under the research supervision of Prof Pradeep Verma from the Department of Microbiology, Central University of Rajasthan, India. Prior to this, he served as National Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. He also worked as Research Associate at the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Assam, India. His work is focused on the development of biomass pretreatment technologies, and microbial enzyme production (cellulases, laccase, xylanases) for greener energy and environment. The work has resulted in publications of more than 46+ research articles, review papers, and book chapters. He has edited 2 books for Elsevier and Springer. He has provided Editorial assistance to his PhD supervisor Prof Pradeep Verma in 11 books for CRC Press, Elsevier, and Springer and has been acknowledged. His work has attracted significant impact which is evident from 2976 citations with h-index - 25, i-10- index-29. He is a life member of the Biotech Research Society of India (BRSI); the Association of Microbiologists of India (AMI); the Mycological Society of India (MSI) and the Association of Carbohydrate Chemists and Technologists, India (ACCTI). He has received several awards from CSIR-SRF, JNMF scholarship, DST-SERB N-PDF, and AMI-Young Scientist Award. He is a reviewer of 20+ peer-reviewed research journals for Elsevier, Wiley, MDPI, Springer, Taylor, and Francis. Dr. Kumar is Associate Editor in Frontiers in Energy Research, Guest Editor for Special Issue in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, BMC Biotechnology for Sustainable Materials, and Green Technology, Resilience, and Sustainability, Review Editor for Frontiers in Chemistry and Frontiers in Energy Research.