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VNIT Nagpur Chemical Engineering Department

Dr. Mahesh N. Varma​

Brief Bio

Brief Bio
Dr. Mahesh N. Varma
Professor
Department of Chemical Engineering
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology Nagpur,
Maharashtra, India. Pin-440010
Email – maheshnvarma@gmail.com, maheshnvarma@che.vnit.ac.in
Phone - +91-9273083142, +91-712- 2801570

Education

Sr. No.DegreeYearSpecializationUniversity
1B.Tech2000Amravati University, India
2M.Tech2004Indian Institute of Technology Madras
3Ph.D.2009Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India

Contact Details

Phone:Email:Address:
9273083142maheshnvarma@che.vnit.ac.inCHE-1/8, Department of Chemical Engineering, VNIT Nagpur,
712-280-1570maheshnvarma@gmail.comMaharashtra – 440010, India

Research Interest

Research Interest
Reaction Engineering
Biochemical Reaction Engineering
Biofuel
CFD
Separation Using Ceramic Membrane
Sr. No.TitleFunding AgencyRoleYearAmount (in Lakhs INR)
1Synthesis and Application of Ionic Liquids for deep-desulfurization of liquid fuelsCSIR New DelhiCO-PI2011-201418.3
2Removal/Reduction of water from NCWA and Spent AcidOrdnance factory BhandaraPI2017-201911.73
Sr. No.TitleFunding AgencyRoleYearAmount (in Lakhs INR)
1Confirming Coal as raw material for manganese oxidationManmohan Minaral & chemical Pvt LtdPI20130.56
DescriptionAuthor(s)PublisherISBNYear
Sr. No.Patent TitleApplication No.DatePresent Staus
Sr. No.Title
1. Novel Separation Techniques in Process Industries, 23/11/2009-27/11/2009, AICTE Sponsored
2. Analytical Equipments for Chemical Analysis, 01/02/2013-03/02/2013, Self Sponsored
3. Advances in Separation Processes, 03/06/2013-07/06/2013, Self Sponsored
4. Analytical Application of Spectroscopy and Chromatography, 16/12/2013-20/12/2013, Self Sponsored
5. Reaction Engineering and Research Methodology, 25/01/2014-25/01/2014, VNIT Sponsored
6. Molecular Dynamic Simulation, 02/01/2014-02/01/2014, VNIT Sponsored
7. Safety & risk analysis, 05/04/2014-05/04/2014, VNIT Sponsored
8. Advances in Explosive and Propellants, 17/04/2015-18/04/2015, DRDO Sponcered
9. Recent Trends in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, 27/01/2016-31/01/2016, Self Sponsored
10. Advances in Explosive and Propellants, 20/04/2016-24/04/2016, DRDO Sponcered
11. How to write research paper?, 22/02/2017-26/02/2017, Self Sponsored
12. Advances in Explosive and Propellants, 15/03/2017-19/03/2017, DRDO Sponcered
12. Workshop On Research Conception, Techniques and Publication (with hands on) RSTP-2018, 17/12/2018-21/12/2018, Self Sponsored
13. 5th National Workshop On Advance In Explosive And Propellants (AEP – 2019), 05/03/2019-09/03/2019, DRDO Sponcered
14. Summer School on Research Conception, Technique and Publication, 15/05/2019-01/07/2019, Self Sponsored
Sr. No.ResponsibilityInstituteRoleYear
1. Head, Department of Chemical Engineering, 2018-2021
2. Associate Dean ( Hostels), 2018
3. Chairman (DASA Admission), 2020-2021
4. Hostel Warden, 2011- 2018
5. B. Tech Admission Committee Member, 2011-2017
6. NBA Departmental coordinator, 2012 – 2014
7. Departmental Library Coordinator 2009-2010
8. Departmental Exam Coordinator (DEC) 2011-2012
9. Class Committee Chairman, B. Tech Forth Semester 2012
10. Faculty Advisor for batch BT11CHEXXX Chemical Engineering 2012-2015
11. Curriculum development committee member, 2013
12. Class Committee Chairman, B. Tech Forth Semester, 2014
13. Class Committee Chairman, B. Tech Forth Semester, 2016
14. Class Committee Chairman, M.Tech. 2nd & 4th sem, 2017
15. Faculty coordinator Mentors, 2017
16. Infrastructure Up gradation Committee, 2018-2021
17. Class Committee Chairman, MTech II Sem and MTech IVth Sem, 2021
18 Lab in charge (Chemical Reaction Engineering Laboratory), 2010-till date
Sr. No.Awards
1Top ranker in university during B.E. in Chemical Engineering
2National Doctoral fellowship (AICTE) for PhD in Chemical engineering
S.No.Paper Citation
Journal Paper Publication
1. Varma, M.N. and Kannnan, A, “Enhanced food sterilization through inclination of the container walls and geometry modifications”, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Volume 48, Issue 18, August 2005, Pages 3753-3762. Impact factor 2.315
2. Varma, M.N. and Kannnan, A, “CFD studies on natural convective heating of canned food in conical and cylindrical container”, Journal of Food Engineering, Volume 77, Issue 4, December 2006, Pages 1024-1036. Impact factor 2.276
3. Varma, M.N. and Madras, Giridhar, “Synthesis of biodiesel from castor oil and linseed oil in supercritical fluids”, Industrial Engineering and Chemistry Research, Volume 46, Issue 1, January 2007, Pages 1-6. Impact factor 2.587
4. Varma, M.N. and Madras, Giridhar, “Synthesis of isoamyl laurate and isoamyl stearate in supercritical carbon dioxide”, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Volume 141, Issue 1, April 2007, Pages 139-147. Impact factor 1.940
5. Varma, M.N. and Madras, Giridhar, “Effect of chain length on enzymatic hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters in supercritical carbon dioxide” Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Volume 144, Issue 3, March 2008, Pages 213-223. Impact factor 1.940
6. Varma, M.N. and Madras, Giridhar, “Kinetics of synthesis of butyl butyrate by esterification and transesterification” Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, Volume 83, Issue 8, March 2008, Pages 1135-1144. Impact factor 2.504
7. Kurian, V.; Varma, M.N. and Kannnan, A, “Numerical studies on laminar natural convection inside inclined cylinders of unity aspect ratio”, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Volume 52, Issue 3-4, January 2009, Pages 822-838. Impact factor 2.315
8. Varma, M.N. and Madras, Giridhar, “Effect of chain length of alcohol on the lipase-catalyzed esterification of propionic acid in supercritical carbon dioxide”, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Vloume 160, Issue 8, April 2010, Pages 2342-2354. Impact factor 1.940
9. Varma, M.N. and Madras, Giridhar, “Kinetics of enzymatic synthesis of geranyl butyrate by transesterification in various supercritical fluids”, Biochemical Engineering Journal, Volume 49, Issue 2, April 2010, Pages 250-255. Impact factor 2.579
10. Varma, M.N.; Deshpande, P.A. and Madras, Giridhar, “Synthesis of biodiesel in supercritical alcohols and supercritical carbon dioxide”, Fuel, Volume 89, Issue 7, July 2010, Pages 1641-1649. Impact factor 3.357
11. Sonawane, S.S.; Rathod, A.P.; Wasewar, K.L.; and Varma, M.N., “Nanocomposites for food packaging applications”, Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment, Volume 15, issue 2, 2011, Pages 721-723. Impact factor 0.636
12. Ajmire, S.R.; Chavan, N.B.; Varma, M.N.; Wasewar, K.L and Saudagar, R.T., “Review on biodiesel synthesis”, International Journal of Biotechnology, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Volume 1, issue 1, 2012, pages 41-51.
13. Gadhe, A.; Sonawane, S.S.; Varma, M.N, “Optimization of conditions for hydrogen production from complex dairy wastewater by anaerobic sludge using desirability function approach”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume38 , issue16 , May 2013, pages 6607-6617. Impact factor 3.548
14. Dharaskar, S.A; Wasewar, K.L; Varma, M. N; Shende, D.Z and Yoo, C.K., “Ionic Liquids:-The novel solvent for removal of dibenzothiophene from liquid fuel ”, Procedia Engineering Volume51 , 2013, pages 314-317.
15. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L; Varma, M.N; Shende, D.Z and Yoo, C. K., “Deep removal of sulfur from model liquid fuels using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride”, Procedia Engineering Volume 15 , issue , 2013, pages 416-422.
16. Dharaskar, S. A; Varma, M.N; Shende, D.Z; Yoo, C.K. and Wasewar, K.L., “Synthesis, characterization and application of 1-butyl-3 methylimidazolium chloride as green material for extractive desulfurization of liquid fuel”, The Scientific World Journal, Published online 2013 November 6, doi: 10.1155/2013/395274.
17. Deshmukh, A.W.; Varma, M.N; Yoo, C.K. and Wasewar, K.L.,”Effect of ethyl oleate pretreatment on drying of ginger: characteristics and mathematical modeling”, Journal of Chemistry Volume 2013,2013, doi :10.1155/2013/890384. Impact factor 0.484
18. Athankar, K.K.; Varma, M. N.; Shende, D.Z.; Yoo, C.K. and Wasewar, K.L., “Reactive extraction of phenylacetic acid with tri-n-butyl phosphate in benzene, hexanol, and rice bran oil at 298 K”, Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, Volume 58 , issue 11 , 2013, pages 3240-3248. Impact factor 2.004
19. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N., and Shende, D.Z, “Extractive deep desulfurization of liquid fuels using Lewis-based ionic liquids”, Journal of Energy, 2013.
20. Gadhe, A.; Sonawane, S.S and Varma, M. N., “Kinetic analysis of biohydrogen production from complex dairy wastewater under optimized condition”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy Volume 39, issue 3, 2014, pages 1306-1314. Impact factor 3.548
21. Gadhe, A.; Sonawane, S.S and Varma, M. N., “ Evaluation of ultrasonication as a treatment strategy for enhancement of biohydrogen production from complex distillery wastewater and process optimization ”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume 39, issue 19, 2014, pages 10041-10050. Impact factor 3.548
22. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N. and Shende, D.Z, “Ionic Liquids: Environmentally Benign Solvent for Extractive Deep-desulfurization of Liquid Fuels”, Journal of Modern Chemistry & Chemical Technology, Volume 5, Issue 3, 2014, pages 28-34.
23. Gadhe, A.; Sonawane, S.S and Varma, M. N., “Ultrasonic pretreatment for an enhancement of biohydrogen production from complex food waste”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume 39, issue 15, 2014, pages 7721-7729. Impact factor 3.548
24. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N; Shende, D.Z, and Yoo, C.K., “Environmentally benign process for removal of sulfur from liquid fuel using imidazolium based ionic liquids”, Research Journal of Chemistry and Environment, Volume 18, Issue 2, 2014, pages 94-99. Impact factor 0.636
25. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N; Shende, D.Z.; Tadi, K. K., and Yoo, C.K., “Synthesis, characterization, and application of novel trihexyl tetradecyl phosphonium bis (2, 4, 4-trimethylpentyl) phosphinate for extractive desulfurization of liquid fuel”, Fuel Processing Technology, Volume 123, 2014, pages 1-10.
26. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N; Shende, D.Z., and Yoo, C.K., “Extractive desulfurization of liquid fuels by energy efficient green thiazolium based ionic liquids”, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Volume 53, Issue 51, 2014, pages 119845-19854.
27. Deshmukh, A.W.; Varma, M.N; Yoo, C.K. and Wasewar, K.L.,” Investigation of Solar Drying of Ginger (Zingiber officinale): Emprical Modelling, Drying Characteristics, and Quality Study”, Chinese Journal of Engineering, 2014.
28. Gadhe, A.; Sonawane, S.S., and Varma, M. N., “Ultrasonic pretreatment to enhancement biohydrogen production from food waste”, Recent Advances in Bioenergy Research, Volume 242, 2014.
29. Athankar, K.K.; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M. N. and Shende, D.Z.; Yoo, C.K., “Relative basicity approach for separation of α-toluic acid with triglycerides of fatty acids by reactive extraction”, Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry , Volume 22 , 2015, pages 240-247. Impact factor 3.512
30. Sarve, A.; Sonawane, S.S and Varma, M. N., “Ultrasound assisted biodiesel production from sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) oil using barium hydroxide as a heterogeneous catalyst: Comparative assessment of prediction abilities between response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN)”, Ultrasonics sonochemistry , Volume 26, 2015, pages 218-228. Impact factor 4.321
31. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N; Shende, D.Z, and Yoo, C.K., “Rebuttal to Questionable Green Ionic Liquid: Comment on Extractive Desulfurization of Liquid Fuels by Energy Efficient Green Thiazolium based Ionic Liquids”, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Volume 54, Issue 7, 2015, pages 2260-2266. Impact factor 2.587
32. Athankar, K.K.; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M. N. and Shende, D.Z.; Uslu, H., “Extractive Separation of Benzylformic Acid with Phosphoric Acid Tributyl Ester in CCl4, Decanol, Kerosene, Toluene, and Xylene at 298 K”, Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, Volume 60 , Issue 4, 2015, pages 1014-1022. Impact factor 2.037
33. Gadhe, A.; Sonawane, S.S and Varma, M. N., “Enhancement effect of hematite and nickel nanoparticles on biohydrogen production from dairy wastewater”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume 40, Issue 13, 2015, pages 4502-4511. Impact factor 3.548
34. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N. and Shende, D.Z, “FeCl3 Based Imidazolium Ionic Liquids as Novel Solvents for Extractive-Oxidative Desulfurization of Liquid Fuels”, Journal of Solution Chemistry, Volume 44, Issue 3, 2015, pages 652-668. Impact factor 1.177
35. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N. and Shende, D.Z, “Imidazolium ionic liquid as energy efficient solvent for desulfurization of liquid fuel”, Separation and Purification Technology, May 2015. Impact factor 3.091
36. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N. and Shende, D.Z, “Synthesis, characterization, and application of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate for extractive desulfurization of liquid fuel”, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, July 2015. Impact factor 2.828
37. Gadhe, A.; Sonawane, S.S. and Varma, M. N., “Enhanced biohydrogen production from dark fermentation of complex dairy wastewater by sonolysis”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume 40, Issue 32, 2015, pages 9942-9951. Impact factor 3.548
38. Gadhe, A.; Sonawane, S.S. and Varma, M. N., “Influence of nickel and hematite nanoparticle powder on the production of biohydrogen from complex distillery wastewater in batch fermentation”, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume 40, Issue 34, 2015, pages 10734-10743. Impact factor 3.548
39. Sarve, A.; Varma, M. N. and Sonawane, S.S., “Response surface optimization and artificial neural network modeling of biodiesel production from crude mahua (Madhuca indica) oil under supercritical ethanol conditions using CO2 as co-solvent”, RSC Advances , Volume 5, Issue 85, 2015, pages 69702-69713. Impact factor 3.84
40. Sarve, A.; Varma, M. N. and Sonawane, S.S., “Optimization and Kinetic Studies on Biodiesel Production from Kusum (Schleichera triguga) Oil Using Response Surface Methodology”, Journal of oleo science, Volume 64, Issue 9, 2015, pages 987-997. Impact factor 0.968
41. Athankar, K.K.; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M. N. and Shende, D.Z.; Uslu, H., “Stoichiometric and spectroscopic study of reactive extraction of phenyl acetic acid with tri-n-butyl phosphate”, Chemical & Biochemical Engineering Quarterly, Volume 29, Issue 3, 2015, pages 385-394. Impact factor 0.675
42. Sarve, A.; Varma, M. N. and Sonawane, S.S., “Ultrasound Assisted Two-stage Biodiesel Synthesis from Non-edible Schleichera triguga oil using Heterogeneous catalyst: Kinetics and Thermodynamic analysis”, Ultrasonics sonochemistry , Volume 29, Issue 3, 2016, pages 288-298. Impact factor 4.556
43. Athankar, K.K.; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M. N. and Shende, D.Z.; Uslu, H., “Reactive Separation of Benzeneacetic Acid with Tri-n-caprylyl Amine: Equilibrium and Modeling”, Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, Volume 61, Issue 7, 2016, pages 2335-2345. Impact factor 1.835
44. Jaiswal, P. and Varma, M. N., “Catalytic Performance of Imidazolium Based ILs in the Reaction of 1, 2-epoxyoctane and Carbon Dioxide: Kinetic Study”, Journal of CO2 Utilization, Volume 14, Issue 6, 2016, pages 93-97. Impact factor 4.764
45. Dharaskar, S. A; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M.N; Shende, D.Z, and Yoo, C.K., “Synthesis, characterization and application of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate for extractive desulfurization of liquid fuel”, Arabian Journal of Chemistry, Volume 9, Issue 4, 2016, pages 578-587. Impact factor 4.553
46. Jaiswal, P. and Varma, M. N., “Catalytic Performance of Dicationic Ionic Liquids and ZnBr2 in the Reaction of Epichlorohydrin and Carbon Dioxide: Kinetic Study”, Catalysis Letters, Volume 147, Issue 8, 2017, pages 2067-2076. Impact factor 2.799
47. Athankar, K.K.; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M. N. and Shende, D.Z., “Recovery of Glutaric Acid Using Tri-N-Butyl Phosphate: Effect of Diluents and Temperature”, Journal of Chemical Engineering & Process Technology, Volume 8, Issue 2, 2017, pages 2326-2345. Impact factor 1.7
48. Athankar, K.K.; Wasewar, K.L.; Varma, M. N. and Shende, D.Z., “Separation of phenylacetic acid using tri-n-butyl phosphate in hexanol:Equilibrium and kinetics”, Separation Science and Technology, Volume 52, Issue 17, 2017, pages 2696-2703. Impact factor 1.106
49. Sheikh, B.; Deshmukh, W.A.; Wasewar, K. L.; Varma, M. N. and Kyoo, Y. C., “Mixed mode solar drying characteristics and mathematical modelling of food material: an innovative & cost effective approach”, International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering, Volume 6, Issue II, 2018, Impact factor 6.887
50. Lanjewar, T.; Badwaik, P. and Varma, M. N, “Removal of water from the spent mixture of nitric-sulfuric acid by using silicon carbide ceramic diffusive membrane”, Separation and Purification Technology, Volume 265, 2021, pages 118425, Impact factor 8.6
51. Lanjewar, T.; Mishra, A. and Varma, M. N, “Removal of Water from Spent Phosphoric Acid Using a Sandwich Silicon Carbide Ceramic Membrane”, Chemical Engineering & Technology, Volume 45, Issue 1, 2022, pages 26-33. Impact factor 2.1
52. Lanjewar, T.; Satyakam, A. and Varma, M. N, “Low-Cost Hydrophobic Cenosphere Ceramic Membrane for the Desalination Application Using Direct Contact Membrane Distillation”, Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, Volume 47, 2022, pages 6445-6460. Impact factor 2.9
53. Wankhede, K., Deshmukh, A., Wahurwagh, A., Patil, A., Varma, M. N., “An insight into the urban smellscape: the transformation of traditional to contemporary urban place experience”, Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, Volume 22, Issue 6, 2023, Pages 3818-3831, Impact factor 1.3
Conference Papers
1. Varma M.N. and Kannnan, A, “CFD studies on natural convective flow patterns inside inclined cylinder with unity aspect ratio”, ISHMT-ASME Conference on Heat and Mass Transfer, IIT Gawahati, 2006.
2. Varma M.N. and Madras Giridhar, “Enzymatic Synthesis of flavors by esterification in supercritical fluids”, 5th International Congress of Chemistry and Environment (ICCE-2011), Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, 2011.
3. Ghade A. A.; Sonawane S. S. and Varma M. N., “An evaluative report of fermentative hydrogen production: Current perspectives and the way forwards: A Review”, National Conference on Advanced Functional Materials, January 21-23, 2013 at VNIT Nagpur
4. Sarve A.; Varma M. N. and Sonawane S. S., “Enzyme Catalyzed Biodiesel Production”, National Conference on Advanced Functional Materials, January 21-23, 2013 at VNIT Nagpur
5. Varma M. N.; Wasewar K. L.; Jain D. and Gulhane B., “ Effect of Oxidizing Agent on Adsorption of Dyes”, 6th International Congress of Chemistry and Environment (ICCE-2013), July 8-10, 2013 Antwerp Belgium.
6. Sarve A.; Varma M. N. and Sonawane S. S., “Alternate fuel synthesis in supercritical solvents”, AIChE Annual Meeting 2014, November 16-21, 2014 at Atlanta USA.
7. Sarve A.; Varma M. N. and Sonawane S. S., “An Application of Artificial Neural Networks for Prediction of Biodiesel from non-edible Kusum (Schleichera triguga) oil”, World Research Journal Conference 2015, December7-8 , 2015 at Dubai UAE.
8. Jaiswal, P. and Varma, M. N., “Carbon dioxide sequestration and utilization to produce cyclic carbonates catalyzed by imidazolium based ionic liquids under supercritical”, Second World Research Journal Conference 2017, June 26-28 , 2017 at Bangkok, Thailand.
9. Lanjewar, T.V. and Varma, M. N., “Removal of the water from the spent acid by using ceramic membrane”, VNIT NAGPUR (8-9 Feb 2019)
10. Lanjewar, T.V. and Varma, M. N., “Removal of the water from the spent sulphuric acid by using diffusive ceramic membrane”, Indo German Joint Scientific Workshop On Membranes for Water and Energy, (CSIR, Bhavngar)(18-20, FEB,2019)
11. Lanjewar, T.V. and Varma, M. N., “Removal of water from the spent acid by using novel sandwich flat circular diffusive ceramic membrane”, CHEMCON 2019, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, 15-19 December 2019, IIT Delhi
12. Lanjewar, T.V. and Varma, M. N., “Removal of the water from the spent nitric acid by using diffusive ceramic membrane”, International Conference on Advances in process Metallurgy, (IISC Bangalore (4-5 July 2019)
13. Lanjewar, T.V. and Varma, M. N., “Removal of water from the spent acid by using sandwich flat circular ceramic membrane”, The 10th International Conference on Chemistry and Chemical Process, ICCCP 2020, 26-29 February 2020, Tokyo Japan
14. “Effect of silicon carbide membrane porosity on the removal of water from the spent nitric acid”, International Chemical Engineering Conference 2021 Organised by Department of Chemical Engineering Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar September 16 to 19, 2021.
15. Lanjewar, T.V., Meshram, A. B., and Varma, M. N., “Cenosphere for ceramic membrane, synthesis, characterization, and its application for desalination”, 6th International Conference on Desalination using Membrane, Sitges, Spain, 19-22 November 2023.