Air and Water Quality Assessment, Contamination and our Surroundings: Specific Analysis and Applications

Dr. Bhupesh Kr. Mishra obtained his Ph.D. degree in Computational Chemistry from D.D.U. Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur. He is an Assisitant Professor in Department of Chemistry, D.N. Governmnet College, Itanagar. He has been awarded the prestigious UGC-Dr. D. S. Kothari Postdoctoral Fellowship in Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur Univesity, Assam. He has made significant contribution in the understanding of chemistry involved in the degradation of volatile organics in the atmosphere. He has published about 50 papers in international and national journals of repute. He is a life member of the Indian Science Congress Association and Chemical Research Society of India.

Dr. Debajyoti Bhattacharjee was awarded with Ph.D. degree in Chemical Sciences by Tezpur University, Assam for his work on application of Computational Chemistry in various environmental related issues. He was a CSIR-JRF and his scientific works are already published in more than fifteen peer reviewed international research journals and book chapters. His area of research is mainly focused on the study of removal of toxic gases from our environment as well as the study on atmospheric chemistry of various volatile organic compounds. His experience in the topics of atmospheric chemistry has resulted in writing a chapter in this book.

Debasish Dutta is working as Scientist-B in the Patent Information Centre (PIC) - a State Science and Technology Program of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, which functions under Assam Science Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC). He completed his M.Tech. degree in Polymer Science & Technology from Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University, Assam and has research experience in the field of polymer chemistry. Before doing his M.Tech., he completed his M.Sc. degree in Chemistry from Burdwan University, West Bengal. His experience in the field of polymer chemistry and other relevant fields of science and technology helped him to contribute towards the writing of this book.

Dikshita Dowerah the author here is a Ph.D. fellow in the Catalysis and Molecular Modelling Lab, Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University under the guidance of Prof. Ramesh Ch. Deka. She is an active member of the theoretical and computational team. She has done a part of her research work in the field of global optimization of metal oxides, particularly MnO clusters. Currently she is working in the field of antisense drugs using molecular dynamics simulations.

Prof. Krishna Gopal Bhattacharyya obtained his PhD and DIC from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London. He joined the department of Chemistry, Gauhati University in 1975 and retired as professor in April, 2016. His research interests are in the fields of water, air and soil chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis and general environmental chemistry. He has more than 180 research publications in international and national journal with more than 8000 citation. He is still actively engaged in research. He has also written several books on chemistry and environmental studies.

Dr. Nand Kishor Gour is currently working as Research Associate at Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University, Assam. He had done his Ph.D in Computational Chemistry from Gorakhpur University, Uttar Pradesh. His main research field is atmospheric degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) initiated by various oxidants using quantum chemical study. From this study, he provides global warming potentials of VOCs and also identifies the various end products which may be harmful for the environment and human health.

Nishant Biswakarma is a Ph.D scholar, currently working in the Catalysis and Molecular Modeling lab under the supervision of Prof. Ramesh Ch. Deka, Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University. His area of research includes conversion of small molecules such as CO, CH4 etc into useful chemicals with the help of metal oxides and zeolites.

Dr. Pakiza Begum is working as a Research Associate in the Department of Chemistry at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, Assam. She has a consistent first class track record securing the first position in Masters in Chemical Sciences program, Tezpur University. She completed her Ph. D degree availing DST-INSPIRE-JRF and SRF Fellowships from the same University. She was selected for JSPS-HOPE Fellow enabling her to attend the Seventh HOPE Meeting in Tokyo, Japan. She has twelve publications to her credit and all are in reputed International Journals. Her major work has been in Theoretical Chemistry, though she has a few papers involving experiments as well. During Ph. D her study was focused on the activity of Size Selected sub-nano metal and metal-oxide clusters towards conversion of pollutants into less harmful products in the environment. Her experience in the field of conversion of major pollutants like-NO2, CO and hydrocarbons, has led to contributing a chapter in this book.

Dr. Pankaj Gogoi is working as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in Sipajhar College, Assam. He was awarded Doctoral Degree in Chemical Sciences by Tezpur University for his research work in Arsenic treatment by Polymer Nanocomposite. He was also engaged in a previous job in communicating science to society. Though his research works are experimental but many works included Theoretical findings. He has also contributed to another book published by Notion Press where he studied about the water quality parameters of Chandubi Lake situated at Guwahati.

Plaban J. Sarma is working as a Ph.D. fellow in the Catalysis and Molecular Modelling Lab, Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University under the guidance of Prof. Ramesh Ch. Deka. He is currently working in the field of global optimization of metal oxides such as SnO2, MnO, CeO2 and their application in the catalysis; mitigation of CO2, chemical hydrogen storage etc. He has experience in the field of theoretical and computational chemistry.

Prof. Ramesh Chandra Deka is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam. He completed his Ph.D. degree from National Chemical Laboratory, Pune in 1998. He had also done Post-Doctoral with Prof. Kimihiko Hirao, University of Tokyo, Japan, in the field of electronic structure theory of materials from June 1999 – May 2001. His research area includes theoretical Chemistry, Molecular Modeling, Drug Design and Catalysis. He has 180 research publications in reputed international and national Journals. Till date, he has received various prestigious awards like Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry, CRSI bronze medal, Hindustan Platinum award by Catalysis Society of India and many more.

Smita Chowdhury is pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Department of Chemistry, Gauhati University, Assam. She is currently working as a subject teacher of Chemistry in Jorhat Govt Girls’ H.S. & M.P. School, Jorhat, Assam. Her research work is mainly based on application of catalysis for treating wastewater containing toxic pollutants. She has successfully used methods like advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for treatment of various dyestuffs with the help of different types of clays. Her research work is already published in reputed international journals. Her experience in the topic of environmental chemistry has resulted in writing a chapter in this book.