Sribala Gorugantu, Presidential Frontier Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor in the William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is “very excited” to mark the start of the fall semester and is looking forward to commissioning new experimental setups in her lab at the Cullen College of Engineering.
Gorugantu completed her Ph.D. at Ghent University in Belgium where her doctoral research focused on experimentally investigating pyrolysis kinetics of biomass for the production of green chemicals. During this time, she also became acquainted with Professor Linda Broadbelt at Northwestern University, with whom she collaborated on the modeling of cellulose pyrolysis and eventually took a postdoctoral position focused on developing kinetic models for polymer deconstruction and recycling.
“The Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has a proud legacy of pioneers like Neal Amundson, and continues to lead in the areas of reaction engineering, catalysis and polymers, which align closely with my research. I was impressed by the collaborative and supportive environment in the department, which I see as essential for building my research program” says Gorugantu.
Gorugantu’s group, the Reaction Engineering and Analytics of Chemical Transformations (REACT) Lab, focuses on developing sustainable chemical processes by integrating experimental and computational approaches. The group investigates how molecular structure and catalytic chemistry influence the mechanisms and kinetics of complex multiphase reactions and develops predictive stochastic models to translate these insights into solutions for plastic recycling (including textiles and e-waste), renewable feedstock valorization, and environmental remediation.
“Ever since I developed an interest in research, I’ve been looking for problems around me and ways in which I, as a chemical engineer, could contribute to solving them,” she says. “When I was moving out of Belgium after my Ph.D., I faced the challenge of disposing a mattress, and realized that many everyday items are designed to last yet remain difficult to recycle and that proper collection systems are often not available. This highlighted how waste management challenges extend from materials design to infrastructure and sparked my interest in plastic circularity and in investigating processes for hard-to-recycle plastics.”
Gorugantu currently serves as Co-PI on a supercritical CO2-assisted PET hydrolysis project with Linda Broadbelt at Northwestern University, and Ana Morais at the University of Kansas. She received a $100,000 sub-award from the original $250,000 NSF grant to Northwestern to support this work at UH.
“In my group at UH, we are developing a kinetic Monte Carlo framework to deepen our understanding of PET hydrolysis under supercritical conditions, focusing on how carbonic acid affects the mechanisms and monomer recovery. Linda has been a great mentor, encouraging me to take a leadership role in this project and I value that support.”
In addition to circularity research, Gorugantu is also passionate about the importance of relevant societal education and workforce training. She is one of the instructors in a new UH Energy micro-credentialing course, led by Neal R. Amundson Professor Megan Robertson.
Outside the lab, Gorugantu can be found investigating a different type of decomposer: as a fan of the outdoors and photography, she enjoys spotting and photographing wild mushrooms while out hiking.
“My hope, someday, is to stumble upon one that has yet to be discovered,” she says.