| Professor Vivek Utgikar was a
recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru
Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship
for the academic year 2021-2022. He spent part of the
period from May 2022-July 2023 at the Institute of Chemical Technology,
Mumbai, India (ictmumbai.edu.in)
conducting research on the critical materials recovery in
collaboration with the faculty at the host institute. Research Project Title: Transforming Waste Into Resource: Recovery of Critical Materials From E-Waste Th research involved development of an innovative process for the recovery of rare earth elements from electrical and electronic waste (E-waste). Experimental investigations were conducted to verify the technical feasibility and economic viability of the process, and quantify its environmental impact through a life-cycle assessment. The process has the potential to convert the waste into a resource reducing the vulnerability of economies of the countries to supply fluctuations while also remediating the environment. The project will function as a seed for future collaborations between U.S. and Indian researchers to tackle global challenges in the critical materials resource recovery and environmental remediation arenas |