Materials Recycling Laboratory

About

Arunabh Meshram, Assistant Professor

  • Specialization: Non-Ferrous Extractive Metallurgy
  • Areas of Interest: Recovery of valuable products, Industrial Waste Management, Electronic waste recycling
  • Email: arunabhm@iitk.ac.in
  • Office: Faculty Building 409
  • Phone: +91 512 259 2268
  • CV: (Click here)

Education

Doctor of Philosophy

2019

Metallurgical Engineering-IIT BHU, Varanasi, India

Bachelor of Technology

2015

Metallurgical Engineering-NIT Raipur, Raipur, India

Professional Experience

Assistant Professor

Dec 2021 - Present

Materials Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur

Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, NIT Raipur

Jul 2019 - Nov 2021

Temporary Faculty

Materials Recycling Laboratory

The Materials Recycling Laboratory in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering is oriented towards the development and application of new recycling strategies for efficient material recovery and generation of valuable products.
With emphasis on addressing the environmental issues associated with improper recycling routes for various Metallurgical and E-waste, the members of MRL are dedicated to design strategies for higher material recovery and reduction of waste. Energy and material balance is investigated for enhanced understanding of the processes and the resultant products.
Reducing the environmental burden and bringing the ‘lost’ material back to its cycle is the primary target of MRL. Engineering process economics and operation parameters play a crucial role in determining the overall efficiency of the processes. Newer alternatives to the conventional processes are also investigated at MRL, with the spirit of circular economy and material cycle.


Why recycle?

With the waste streams accumulating in different landfills, the potential hazards of groundwater and land pollution increases. Leaching of heavy metals from these waste streams into the water can cause adverse effects in the surroundings. Addressing the recycling of the waste streams with proper scientific and technological investigations can relieve the environmental burden, simultaneously releasing the untapped potential of these wastes as raw materials for various processes.



Recovery and Recycling


Recovery and recycling of waste streams is inherently interdisciplinary research, with conventional extractive metallurgy at the core, surrounded by chemistry, physics, materials science, metallurgical thermodynamics and kinetics.
To develop valuable materials from various wastes, MRL investigates processes that include initial characterization of the waste, suitable pretreatment and recycling process. Valuable materials developed in the process are characterized and evaluated for determination of applications in respective areas. Process optimization at every stage of the process is aimed at ensuring efficient recovery.



Metallurgical and Electronic waste recycling

MRL investigates metallurgical wastes like aluminium dross, jarosite, pollution dust, slags etc., electronic wastes like end-of-life solar panels, spent Li-ion batteries, waste printed circuit boards and plastic wastes.


Solar Panel recycling: understanding open and closed loop end-of-life photovoltaic module recycling (Trivedi et al., 2023)

Aluminium dross recycling: exploring the possibilities in pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy and hydrothermal routes for development of valuable products (Srivastava and Meshram, 2023)



Prospective Students


Students willing to join Materials Recycling Laboratory can contact me at arunabhm@iitk.ac.in with an updated CV to discuss possible research work. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the research conducted at MRL, the prospective students are encouraged to discuss their potential ideas on materials recycling with me.



Teaching

  • Laboratory class: MSE314A, Process Metallurgy Lab
  • Transport Phenomena: MSE626A
  • Electronic and Metallurgical waste recycling: MSE662A

Research Group


Ph.D. Students


Ankur Srivastava
Joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2021

B. Tech: Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering from UIET, CSJM University, Kanpur, U.P (2019)
M. Tech: Department of Metallurgical Engineering from IIT (BHU), Varanasi (2021)
Specialization: Recycling of Aluminium Dross, Non-Ferrous Extractive Metallurgy

Harish Kumar Trivedi
Joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2021

Joint Supervision: Prof. Rajeev Gupta and Prof. Arunabh Meshram
M. Tech: Materials Science Programme, IIT Kanpur (2019-2021)
Specialization: Extractive metallurgy, Chemistry and Materials recycling, End-of-life Photovoltaic Modules

Neha Maurya
Joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2024

MSc: MSc in Physics(2022)
BSc: BSc in Mathematics, 2020
Specialization: N.A



BT-MT Dual Degree/M.Tech. Student


Aritra Kumar Das
Joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2023

BSc: B.Sc. hons. in chemistry
MSc: M.Sc. in Chemistry
Specialization: Chemical recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), quantitative and qualitative analysis of organic and inorganic samples, synthesis of organocatalysts, spectroscopy

Siddhant Shikhar Gupta
Joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2023

B.Tech: Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, National Institute of Technology Durgapur
Specialization: Extractive Metallurgy, Recycling and Recovery of spent lithium-ion batteries

Shivam Shantanu
Joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2024

B.Tech: Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Kazi Nazrul University, Asansol



B.Tech. Student


Harsh Kumar Singh
Joined the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2021

Senior undergraduate



Alumni


Pallabi Roy
M.Tech., Graduated in 2024

B.Sc. in Physics from Bethune College, University of Calcutta (2019)
M.Sc. in Physics from University of Calcutta (2021)
Specialization: Extractive metallurgy, Condensed Matter Physics, Material Science

Kaushik Roy
M.Tech., Graduated in 2024

B. Tech Chemical Engineering from Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata
Project associate CRTDH Lab, Department of Chemical Engineering, and IIT Gandhinagar
Specialization: Chemical Engineering, Materials Recycling, Solar Panels

Contact

Location:

Faculty Building (FB) 408, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, IIT Kanpur, UP - 208016, INDIA

Lab:

Materials Recycling Laboratory, Western Labs, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, IIT Kanpur, UP - 208016, INDIA

E.mail:

arunabhm@iitk.ac.in

Phone:

+91 512 259 2268