IIT Guwahati identifies research priorities contributing to green growth, sustainable development

NEW DELHI: The researchers at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) identify steps and research priorities that contribute towards green growth and sustainable development. The research aligns with the priorities of the G20 summit host by India in 2023.

IITG is working towards developing affordable, high performance and environment-friendly energy storage and production systems that are sustainable in nature. The institute has been making efforts towards achieving sustainable goals of green hydrogen generation and carbon dioxide sequestration.

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Multiple researchers at IIT Guwahati have been working the development of perovskite oxide based catalysts for generation of green hydrogen, formulation of efficient 'pincer' catalytic systems to transform industrial and biomass wastes into hydrogen, photocatalysts to convert into solar enerygy to green hydrogen and inexpensive and less toxic analysis to mimic artificial photosynthesis.

In addition to this, aligning with the government of India's vision to reduce carbon emission by atleat 50% by 2050. IIT Guwahati's Nano Centre in collaboration with Chemdist group Pune has started developing various carbon capture technologies which are low on operational cost and affordable that lead to nano-fertilisers.

Highlighting the need for research on sustainability, IIT Guwahati, officiating director, Parameswar K. Iyer, said: “The development of inexpensive, high-performance, sustainable, and environmentally friendly energy storage and production systems is of utmost importance in the current scenario where energy demand is ever-increasing.”

Elaborating on the need of a mature hydrogen economy and a net-zero carbon footprint, Iyer, said: “The use of hydrogen will diversify energy sources as it significantly reduces not only the greenhouse gas emissions but also the environmental pollution during energy conversion. Hydrogen is typically produced from fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal. However, in recent years, renewable and sustainable energy sources have shown considerable potential in hydrogen production apart from photocatalytic, thermochemical, or electrolytic water splitting into hydrogen and oxygen.”