Kamalesh Sirkar

Distinguished Professor, Chemical & Materials Engineering
About Me
Kamalesh K. Sirkar, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT); he was also a Foundation Professor at NJIT. Sirkar is an internationally-renowned expert in membrane separation technologies. He is the inventor of the commercialized membrane-based solvent extraction technology for which Hoechst Celanese received Honorable Mention in the 1991 Kirkpatrick Award. He has pioneered among others the notion of microporous membranes as membrane contactors of two immiscible fluid phases as well as the contained liquid membrane. Sirkar was a professor of Chemical Engineering at IIT, Kanpur and at Stevens Institute of Technology. He has received the honorary degree of M. Eng., Honoris Causa, Stevens Institute, 1987 as well as many awards including the 2005 AIChE Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology and the 2008 Clarence Gerhold Award of the Separations Division of AIChE. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering during 2/11-6/21. He was also the editor of the Elsevier Series in Membrane Science and Technology during 2005-2011. He served as an Associate Editor of Separation Science and Technology during 2005-2011. He is serving/served as a member of the editorial boards of J. Membrane Science, I&EC Research, Nanomaterials, Separation Science and Technology. He is in the Advisory Board of Membranes, and the International Advisory Board of Indian Chemical Engineer. Sirkar is a co-editor of the widely-used Membrane Handbook. He has authored 217 refereed journal publications, 25 book chapters, 36 US patents, 3 Canada patents and over 350 presentations. He has mentored 40 PhD students, 47 MS students and 28 post-docs. He was the President of the North American Membrane Society (NAMS) during 1998-1999 and a Director of AIChE Separations Division (1993-1996). During 2010-2015, he was the Executive Director of the Membrane Science, Engineering, and Technology Center (MAST), which is an NSF I/UCRC. He is a fellow of AAAS(2008), NAI(2016), NAMS(2017), AIChE(2020). He is a Honorary Fellow of Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (2001). He received the 2017 Alan S. Michaels Award for Innovation in Membrane Science and Technology by NAMS.
Education
Ph.D.; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; 1969
M.S.; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; 1966
B.Tech.; Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; 1963
Awards & Honors
2022 2022 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award October 14, 2022., University of Illinois, Urbana, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department
2020 Fellow, AIChE
2017 TechConnect National Inventors Award, TechConnect Annual Conference
2017 2017 Fellow of National Academy of Inventors, Sixth Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors
2017 Winner of 2017 Alan S. Michaels Award, North American Membrane Society
2016 Elected Fellow of NAMS, North American Membrane Society
2026 Fall Courses
CHE 491 - RESEARCH & INDEP STUDY
CHE 492 - RESEARCH & INDEP STUDY
CHE 701C - MASTERS THESIS
MTEN 701B - MASTERS THESIS
PHEN 701B - MASTER'S THESIS
MTEN 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES
CHE 700B - MASTERS PROJECT
MTSE 701B - MASTER'S THESIS
CHE 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
MTEN 491 - RESEARCH & INDEPENDENT STUDY I
MTEN 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
MTSE 792B - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
CHE 706 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
CHE 705 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
CHE 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES
MTEN 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
MTSE 790A - DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
CHE 701B - MASTERS THESIS
MTEN 492 - RESRCH AND INDPENDENT STUDY II
MTEN 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT
MTEN 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
Teaching Interests
Separation Processes; Membrane Separations; Membrane Science and technology
Past Courses
CHE 360: SEPARATION PROCESSES I
CHE 460: SEPARATION PROCESSES II
CHE 603: SEPARATION PROCESS PRINCIPLES
CHE 604: MEMBRANE SEPARATION PROCESSES
CHE 709: ADV SEPARATION PROCESSES
CHE 710: ADV MEMBRANE SEPARATION PROC
CHE 791: GRADUATE SEMINAR
PHEN 614: PHARMACEUTICAL SEPARATION PROC
PHEN 614: PHARMACEUTICAL SEPARATION PROCESSES
Research Interests
Novel membranes, membrane separation processes, novel membrane processes
Patents
Hollow Fiber Membrane Modules for Direct Contact membrane Distillation-Based Desalination
Separation of Organic Solvent Mixtures
Continuous Production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
Liquid Separation Membranes Based on Nanowire Substrates
Porous Hydrophobic-Hydrophilic Composite Membranes
System and Methods for CO2 Removal from Flue Gas by Temperature Swing
Porous Hollow Fiber Anti-Solvent Crystallization-based Continuous Method of Polymer Coating on Submicron and Nanoparticle
System and Methods for Continuous Removal of Water from Oil via Membrane Separation
Systems and Methods for CO2 Removal from Flue Gas by Temperature Swing Absorption
System and Method for Continuous Polymer Coating of Particles
Pervaporation Membranes Highly Selective for Volatile Solvents Present in Fermentation Broths
Desalination Devices and Systems using Porous Hydrophobic Hollow Fibers and Hydrophobic Porous Coatings
Iontophoretic Transdermal Drug Delivery System based on Conductive Polyaniline Membrane
Antisolvent Crystallization in Porous Hollow Fiber Devices and Methods of Use Thereof
Solid Hollow Fiber Cooling Crystallization Systems and Methods
Journal Article
S. Van Buggenhout, Gyorgy Szekely, John Chau, Kamalesh K. Sirkar. 2024. "Open and FAIR data for nanofiltration in organic media: A unified approach." Journal of Membrane Science/Elsevier, vol. 713 , pp. 123356.
Lixin Feng, Yufeng Song, Sagnik Basuray, Kamalesh K. Sirkar. 2024. " IgG-BSA Separation and Purification by Internally Staged Ultrafiltration ." Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 354, pp. 129245 .
Aytac Perihan Akan, John Chau, Gullen Gullu, Kamalesh K. Sirkar. 2023. " Life Cycle Assessment of Post-combustion CO2 Capture and Recovery via Membrane-solvent Hybrid Systems." Atmoshere published by MDPI, vol. 14 , pp. 490.
Kamalesh K. Sirkar, Yufeng Song. 2023. "Hollow Fiber Membrane Supported Metal Organic Framework- based Packed Bed for Gas/vapor Adsorption." Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 454(2) Part 2, 15 February (2023) 140228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.140228., pp. 140228.
Kamalesh K. Sirkar, Lixin Feng, Yufeng Song, Sagnik Basuray. 2023. "Hemoglobin-BSA Separation and Purification by Internally Staged Ultrafiltration ." Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 312, 123363 (2023), no. 312, 123363 (2023), pp. 123363.
Kamalesh K. Sirkar, Yufeng Song, Cheng Peng, Zafar Iqbal, Gregory W Peterson, John J Mahle , James H Buchanan. 2022. "Graphene Oxide and Metal Organic Framework based Breathable Barrier Membrane for Toxic Vapors ." ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, vol. 14, pp. 31321−31331 .
Chapter
Kamalesh K. Sirkar, Dhananjay Singh, Lin Li. "Membrane Distillation in Desalination and Water Treatment." In A. Figoli and A. Criscouli, eds., pp. 201-209. Springer, 2017.
Kamalesh K. Sirkar, Dimitrios Zarkadas. ""Membrane Systems in Pharmaceutical Applications", in Chemical Engineering in the Pharmaceutical Industry: R&D to Manufacturing." In David J. Am Ende, eds., pp. Chapter 16, 299-314. John Wiley, 2010.
Kamalesh K. Sirkar. ""Membrane Contactors" in "Advanced Membrane Technology and Applications"." In Norman Li, Anthony G. Fane, W.S. Winston Ho, Takeshi Matsuura, eds., pp. 687-702. Wiley, 2008.
Conference Proceeding
"Characterization of microporous ECTFE membrane after exposure to different liquid mediums and radiation"
Advanced Membrane Technology VII, ECI Symposium Series Cork, Ireland, September 11-16, 2016 , September, 2016.
"Direct Contact Membrane Distillation-based Desalination: Membranes, Modules, Scaling, Cascades, Operating Conditions"
International Workshop of Membrane Distillation and Related Technologies, October (4th Quarter/Autumn), 2011.
Book
Kamalesh K. Sirkar. "Separation of Molecules, Macromolecules and Particles: Principles, Phenomena and Processes." Cambridge University Press, 2014.