Chemical Engineering Department of G H Patel College of Engineering & Technology (GCET), a Charutar Vidya Mandal institute, Vallabh Vidyanagar, organized two-day National Symposium on “Green Chemistry & Technology for sustainable development” during 18-19 January. The programme was sponsored by Charutar Vidya Mandal and by the Gujarat Council on Science and Technology (GUJCOST). About 160 delegates from industries, academic and R & D organizations from various parts India participated in technical sessions. The symposium was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Dr. R V Jasra, Senior Vice President, Reliance Technology Group, Er. Ravinder Gaur, Member Secretary, S& T Programme, DST, Govt of India, and Er. Shri Bikhubhai B Patel, Chairman, Charutar Vidya Mandal. In their address they stressed on the need for more and more interdisciplinary research for dissemination of knowledge. Dr. Himanshu Soni, Principal GCET, Dr. Kaushik Nath, Organizing Chair and Head of Chemical Engineering Department GCET, and the organizing secretaries Dr. Anand Metre, Prof M S Bhakhar and Prof. Dipen Chauhan were also present.
There were total seven invited lectures in the plenary session. The topics covered all the advanced green chemistry and technology namely alternative pathways, new catalyst development, green energy, bioprocesses and biocatalysis, pollution prevention etc. Dr. Kamalesh Prsad, Principal Scientist, CSMCRI, Bhavnagar, Dr. Pankaj Poddar, from NCL, Pune, Dr. Vasundhara Singh, PEC University Chandigarh, Dr. Sanjay Sengupta from NISCAIR, New Delhi, Dr. Deepak Kunzru former professor of IIT Kanpur, Dr. Manish Mishra, Sardar Patel University, and Dr. Akshya Gupte from NVPAS, Vallabh Vidyanagar were among the invited speakers. The symposium was structured to maximize interaction between established investigators, younger scientists, and students.
As many as 15 chemical industries were event partners in the form of sponsorship and technical support. The organizing committee brought out a book of abstracts of all the papers that were presented during the symposium. The department also organized 4th Chemial Engineering alumni meet on 19th January. The students of Chemical Engineering department also performed an enjoyable Musical evening, which included songs, dances, and other items at a part of the programme.
