Dr. Ruchi Agrawal is working as an associate fellow in the Sustainable Agriculture Division, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Gurugram. She is affiliated with Deakin University, Australia, and TERI-SAS University, New Delhi, as adjunct faculty. She has 15 years of R&D experience in nature-based solutions and sustainable agriculture research. She has expertise in developing sustainable agri-input nanoproducts, biopolymers, and green-biochemicals using biomass in an Integrated Biorefinery Platform. She has been honored with the prestigious ‘Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research’ (INSPIRE) fellowship, and the ‘Young Scientist Governor Award’ by the Government of India. She is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the University of Tennessee, and the ÅboAkademi University in Finland. She has demonstrated an impressive publication record with 15 patents in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, and 65 research articles in international journals. She serves as an editorial board member of high impact journals and is recognized as a coveted speaker in international forums.
During her Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship for Academic and Professional Excellence, Dr. Agarwal is developing high-value bioproducts to demonstrate novel approaches to meet Net-Zero targets set for India and combat climate change issues. This project will develop a novel single-pot process to valorize biorefinery-waste-lignin & produce jet-fuel by rapid catalytic hydrodeoxygenation driven by synergistic Lewis acids and metal catalysts. The process will be optimized for catalyst concentration, temperature, and time. Selected agents will be investigated to inhibit side reactions, thereby improving yields. Finally, life cycle and techno-economic analysis will be done to assess environmental and economic sustainability. This study will serve the dual purpose of reducing carbon emissions and developing carbon-negative jet-fuel.