Prof. Thanikaivelan Palanisamy

from CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, India

Prof. Thanikaivelan Palanisamy is a Chief Scientist at CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai since 2002. He has founded the Advanced Materials Laboratory and currently heading. He received PhD in leather technology from Anna University in 2003. He had two post-doctoral stints at Texas Tech University and Rice University, USA under BOYSCAST and Fulbright-Nehru fellowships in 2005-06 and 2010-11, respectively. He specialized in cleaner leather processing and zero discharge technologies. He currently works on the development of new and advanced materials including nano, bio and composite materials, especially from wastes generated from leather industry for high-value applications in Healthcare, Environment, Lifestyle and Energy sectors. He has over 130 publications in peer reviewed international journals, 60 articles in conference proceedings and holds a h-index of 35 and 25 patents to his credit. His recent innovation on “Waterless Chrome Tanning” has been commercialized over 125 tanneries in India. He is a recipient of several National awards and academic honors from CSIR, INAE, IASc, DST, DBT, NRDC, WIPO, USIEF, IEI, IIT-Roorkee, TNASc and FICCI for his engineering innovations in cleaner leather processing, management of solid wastes and developing advanced materials.