“As a keen observer and contributor to the carbon conversion field, I see a lot of pilots and industrial plants going up that will lead to tremendous growth in the next decade.” ~Dr. Deepak Pant, Senior Scientist, Sustainable Chemistry at Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO)
Deepak is currently working on electrosynthesis and resource recovery, specifically the design and optimization of (bio)electrochemical cells for CO2 conversion and microbial electrosynthesis. He has a Ph.D. in environmental biotechnology. A prolific author and researcher, he has written over 200 SCI publications, 6 books (edited), 7 patents and 40 book chapters as well as contributed to various conferences, symposia, and workshops, and serves as an independent expert reviewer/project monitor for the European Commission.
What is a very simple explanation of what you do?
I work on the science of saving the earth from the harmful gasses that cause global warming and climate change. My team and I develop technologies that can not only capture one of the greenhouse gasses, CO2, from the atmosphere, but also then use the captured CO2 to make valuable fuels and chemicals.
We use different techniques and catalysts for this conversion — catalysts such as electrocatalyst or even living bacteria which can eat CO2 and make chemicals like fatty acids and alcohols.
The nice thing about these conversions is that we can power them up with renewable electricity such as solar power.
You have a phenomenal number of publications, awards, honors, and impressive titles. Is there anything that stands out to you among your many accomplishments?
Thank you! The credit for the publications and other accolades goes largely to the current team at VITO as well as former students, postdocs, colleagues, and collaborators who worked on different projects with me over the years and were able to communicate their results in the form of publications.
The papers are never the end goal of our research, which is mainly applied in nature. We seek solutions that can be applied in the field, and technologies that can be upscaled to solve industrial challenges. Of course, if we can also share the knowledge with the scientific community and the public at large in the process, that is a bonus.