A decade-long collaboration comes to fruition yet again as IIT Kanpur is granted another joint US and European Union (EU) patent with Shell for a ‘catalytic wet oxidation process’ developed for treating industrial wastewater effluent of propylene oxide (a type of volatile, colorless liquid) producing plant. This patent is the third in line under this sustaining collaboration that aims to offer innovative solutions for wastewater management.

Shell is the global leading licensor for the process to co-produce styrene monomer (SM), an industrial chemical derived from petroleum or natural gas by-products, and propylene oxide (PO) through an oxidation process commonly known as the 'SMPO' process.

Starting the collaboration way back in 2014, the SMPO team of Shell Technology Centre, Bangalore, and IIT Kanpur have jointly developed an innovative process for the treatment of industrial wastewater. This was one of the first external technology collaboration initiatives by the Shell SMPO Bangalore team, which started with a limited scope. Over the past 10 years, the success of the project and crossing of stage gates has, however, enabled Shell to extend the project multiple times with enhanced scope, and provided research funding to IIT Kanpur to the extent of more than US$ 130k. 

The research collaboration between IIT Kanpur and Shell has resulted in several US, EU and international patents protecting the inventions ranging from the development of the oxidation catalyst to the treatment of wastewater effluent of propylene oxide producing plants. The activity is ongoing for further optimization and scale-up of the catalyst production and the wastewater pilot plant, presently installed at the Center of Environmental Science and Engineering at IIT Kanpur. 

While the project team at IIT Kanpur is led by Prof. Nishith Verma, Chemical Engineering Department, the Shell project team is led by Mr. Kaushik Basak, Principal Engineer (SMPO) & Regional Discipline Lead of R&D/ Process Development (Asia Pacific) in Shell.