CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (CSIR-NCL) is continuing to build and augment facilities for research. Many new facilities are likely to come-up in the next plan which will help it to do high end research and subsequent translation to technology.
Lecture series
The year 2011-12 continued to see many events at CSIR-NCL with many eminent scientists delivering lectures on various topics. The lecture series by the distinguished scientists took place on the occasion of International Year of Chemistry (IYC) to promote the awareness of chemistry to society at large. The series started in March 2011 with a couple of lectures by Prof. C.N.R. Rao which evoked tremendous response and continued in 2011-12.
Several distinguished chemists and chemical engineers also delivered lectures. Towards the end of 2011-12, Director- General, CSIR, Prof. Samir K. Brahmachari addressed delivered a speech titled "A Tale of Three Cities: A Molecular Journey".
In 2011, late Vilasrao Deshmukh, the then Vice President, CSIR and Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Government of India visited NCL laboratory on December 5, 2011. During this visit, he addressed CSIR-NCL staff and extended his support to the cause of the laboratory. He also inaugurated NCL-IGIB Joint Research Center. Foundation stone of URDIP campus was also laid by the minister.
Continuing activities
The year 2011-12 was a very significant one since this was the last year of the previous five year plan. A lot of activities took place in 2011-12 to shape the XII five-year plan projects which formally started from April 1, 2012.
NCL also organized a chemical sciences cluster meeting in December 2011 which reviewed the XI
five-year plan projects and included discussion on the projects to be initiated in chemical sciences across CSIR. This meeting was chaired by DG-CSIR and attended by participants from various chemical labs of CSIR.
NCL continues to focus on the development of technology and its delivery to the industry. It has licensed the processes and know-how for model for predicting the mean microsphere size, continuous flow synthesis of direct Yellow 11 dye, preparation of long chain branched polypropylene, development of efficient new donors for the Ziegler-Natta polymerization, microfiltration process for dilute biomass slurries, synthesis of 4-IBAP, production of fish peptone, and polypeptides by enzymatic hydrolysis of the fish protein.
In 2011 calendar year, CSIR-NCL publications were higher than in 2010 and at the same time the average impact factor was also higher.
CSIR-NCL also made significant gains in filing patents and as an important step to that invention disclosure was very high. The inventions were made by scientists from various disciplines, which is a very healthy sign.
NCL is also beginning to work more with the industry along with a promise of doing research and developing technology for the country and society at large.
CSIR-NCL contributed to the development of Supersonic Cruise Missile BrahMos by preparing high temperature-resistant polymeric materials for its airframe. For these efforts CSIR-NCL was awarded Best Laboratory Award by DRDO for the year 2012.
CSIR-NCL has transferred the technology for commercial production of ultrafiltration membrane to M/s Membrane Filters India Ltd. (MFIL). The company has scaled up their production capacity of membranes from 1 ft width to 1 m width in October 2012. MFIL has over 25,000 water filtration systems deployed in various parts of the country across schools, government offices, hospitals, households, non-profit institutions and corporate organizations. The enhanced production capacity will enable in catering the need of community based / industrial scale water purification
CSIR-NCL has developed a highly efficient, hydrophobic, solid catalyst and a continuous process for production of biodiesel from non-edible feedstock oils. This noble, solid catalyst – based NCL process (ENSEL) has economic and eco-friendly advantages over the conventional biodiesel manufacturing processes. The catalyst is solid, recyclable and heterogeneous which favours this process. ENSEL process can tolerate free fatty acid and water in the feedstock and involves very few steps leads to production of high quality Biodiesel and glycerine with good yield. CSIR-NCL has licensed the catalyst and process to Benefuel Inc., USA. This is a unique and first of its kind advanced process for producing biodiesel.
Recognition for scientists
Several CSIR-NCL Scientists got recognition at the national and international level.
Dr. Ashish Lele has been selected for the Infosys Prize 2012 in the category of Engineering and Computer Science and Dr. G J Sanjayan got Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize in Chemical Sciences for the year 2012.
Dr. Pradeep Kumar was selected for the “Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) Scientist Award 2012” whereas Dr. A T Biju was honoured with OPPI Young Scientist Award.
Dr. Sourav Pal has been nominated as Member of the Advisory Board of CSIR. Dr. V V Ranade was honoured with Outstanding Achievement Award for R&D and individual excellence by Chemtech Foundation in year 2013.
Dr. M S Shashidhar was honoured as Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Mugdha Gadgil was honoured with CSIR Young Scientist Award for year 2012 in Engineering Sciences and Dr. Amol Kulkarni has been appointed as Humboldt Ambassador Scientist for three years
"We have strengthened our foundation for the course work of the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR). In the coming years, more and more students will get their degree through AcSIR" said Dr Sourav Pal, Director.
The vision of CSIR-NCL is
- To be a globally recognized and respected R&D organization in the area of chemical sciences and engineering.
- To become an organization that will contribute significantly towards assisting the Indian chemical and related industries in transforming themselves into globally competitive organizations.
- To become an organization that will generate opportunities for wealth creation for the nation and thereby enhance the quality of life for its people.
- To carry out R&D in chemical and related sciences with a view to eventually deliver a product process, intellectual property, tacit knowledge or service that can create wealth and provide other benefits to CSIR-NCL's stakeholders.
- To build and maintain a balanced portfolio of scientific activities as well as R&D programs to enable CSIR-NCL to fulfil the demands of its stakeholders, present and future.
- To create and sustain specialized Knowledge Competencies and Resource Centers within CSIR-NCL which can provide support to all stakeholders of CSIR-NCL
- To contribute to the creation of high quality Ph.D. students with competencies in the area of chemical, material, biological and engineering sciences.
- To create and sustain a self - driven and self - managed learning organization with a high degree of internal and external transparency.
- To encourage a culture of collective and principle-centred leadership.
- To value the dignity of the individual and deal with people with a sense of fairness and without bias, prejudice or favour.
- To nurture the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct.