Dr. Mihir Kumar Purkait is a Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG). He is energetically involved in frontier areas of Chemical Engineering with his major research interest in the field of advanced separation processes. His contribution in this field covers both fundamental and applied research. He has around 20 years of experience in research & academics and published more than 200 papers in different reputed international journals. He has authored 7 books, completed 28 sponsored projects/consultancies from various funding agencies. Prof. Purkait has supervised 17 PhD students on fundamental and applied research.

Prof. Purkait contributed significantly on adsorption, electrocoagulation, nanotechnology, bioenergy, fruit and vegetable juice clarification, value added products from plant extract, treatment of industrial effluents and contaminated drinking water, catalyst development and electrochemical reduction of CO2 to various pure products including liquid fuels. Prof. Purkait has made outstanding contribution in the field of smart membrane fabrication for chemical, biochemical and environmental separation, purification, and concentration. He has developed the fundamental concept, mechanism and understanding of smart or intelligent membranes with environmental stimuli-responsive functions. The development ranges from flat membranes to tubular membranes with various responsive properties, such as thermo-responsive, pH-responsive, and dual-/multi-stimuli-responsive. He has also developed antibacterial and antifouling membranes. The development includes design concepts, fabrication strategies and methods, controlled microstructures, and surface modifications of smart membranes for wide range of separation applications.

Prof. Purkait has developed greener technology for various applications viz.

i) separation of value-added products having pharmaceutical and medicinal importance from numerous plants

ii) clarifications of fruit and vegetable juices

iii) pure carbon from coal for steel industries

iv) treatment of industrial effluents from refinery, textile, and tannery

v) prototype treatment units for Iron, Arsenic and Fluoride contaminated drinking water. Most of the technology is patented by him. Prof Purkait has incubated two start-up companies in the technology incubation centre of IIT Guwahati to commercialize the developed products.