The Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Bombay held the latest edition of the panel discussion series, ‘Changing Role of Chemical Engineers’ (a series of online panel discussions organised by the Chemical Engineering alumni of IIT Bombay in collaboration with the Department) on November 05, 2022. The discussion focused on the Circular Economy of Materials and explored the current trends and future directions of important science and technology-driven industries.

The panel comprised Dr. Vijay Mhetar (CTO of DL Chemicals/Kraton Corporation, IIT Bombay, ’94); Dr. Sameer Ralhan (SVP and CFO of The Chemours Company, IITB, ’95); Dr. Srinivasan Rajagopalan (Manager-Materials at ExxonMobil, Tech & Engg, IITB, ’94) and Mr. Rajeev Pandia (Past President, ICC, IITB, ’71), and was moderated by Prof. Guruswamy Kumaraswamy (Chem Engg, IITB, ’94). The panellists highlighted issues related to materials waste and approaches to tackling this critical problem.
 
The other topics covered in the discussion included a review of the awareness of the state of knowledge at a global and national level on the issue of sustainability, circularity, and recycling of materials; the current trends and future direction for new technologies to extend the service life of materials and polymers; the role played by chemical engineers in developing and deploying relevant technologies or informing policy, and the mantle of IIT Bombay and other institutions in India to develop better policies, practices, and implementations for improving efficiency in the recycling of waste.