SantanKumar Chaurasiya
Education: Ph.D. ’24, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, India
Cornell Advisor: Fengqi You, (Cornell Engineering/Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering)
EDF Advisor: Gemma Carroll
Santan is a 2024 EDF-Cornell Postdoctoral Research Associate. His research primarily focuses on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of seaweed-based biorefinery products, including bioplastics, biofertilizers, cosmetics, construction materials, and biofuels. Santan excels at developing and applying LCA and techno-economic analyses, modeling supply chains, and identifying key environmental impacts across the various production stages to guide strategies for climate mitigation, carbon sequestration, and low-carbon bioproducts. He possesses extensive expertise in LCA modeling, mass and energy-balance modeling, statistical analysis, and interdisciplinary collaboration, which drives his innovation of low-impact seaweed-based products and the promotion of circular bioeconomy.
Maximizing Carbon Sequestration and Avoided Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Eco-friendly Seaweed Processing Systems
In 2023, Environmental Defense Fund launched a demonstration seaweed and mussel farm in Cabalian Bay, the Philippines, in hopes of understanding whether seaweed production could improve ocean habitats and sequester greenhouse gases, while contributing to more sustainable sources of food, biofuel, cement, plastics or fertilizers. Researchers will collaborate with Philippine farmers to identify the most promising products manufactured from seaweeds in Cabalian Bay. Options include creating biofuels and fertilizers, applying seaweed to livestock manure lagoons to decrease methane emissions, or turning seaweed into plastics, cement composites, adobe, pavement, or roofing materials.