Heterogeneous Catalysis for Environmental Applications, CO₂ capture and utilization, Methane reforming into syngas, Fischer Tropsch Synthesis, Kinetic modeling, and Reaction engineering

Assistant Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at Indian Institute of Technology, Patna, since June 2024 till date Visiting Researcher at Washington University St. Louis, USA, Nov 2023 to April 2024 Assistant Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, since May 2019 – June 2024 Research and Development Engineer in the Kinetic Modelling group at Honeywell, UOP, from April 2018 to May 2019

SERB International Research Experience (SIRE) fellowship 2023 for visiting Washington University St. Louis, USA as a Visiting Researcher for six months. Distinction in Doctoral Thesis by IIT Delhi for the year 2018 Dr. A. V. Rama Rao Foundation’s Best Ph.D. Thesis and Research Award in Chemical Engineering/Technology from Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE) India at CHEMCON-2019 Best oral presentation award in the session Fuel at APCAT7 conference held at Mumbai during 17th -19th January 2017. Best poster presentation award on Industry Day, 2017, at IIT Delhi .

Life Member of Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE)

Life Member of The Institute of Engineers India (IEI)

Life Member of Indian Desalination Association (InDA)

Life member of Catalysis Society of India

• Aamir Baig, Sonal, (2024) Chapter 8 - Utilization of biomass-derived syngas into liquid fuels via Fischer–Tropsch synthesis: challenges and opportunities. In: Emerging Biofuels Stationary and Mobile Applications, Elsevier
 
• Verma Nisha, Sonal, Bhoi R (2023) Innovative Graphene Thermoelectric Nanomaterials for production and Conversion of Green Energy. In: Advances in Green and Sustainable Nanomaterials, Apple Academic Press
 
• Sonal, Saharan V.K., George S., Bhoi R., Pant K.K. (2021) Recent Advancements and Detailed Understanding of Kinetics for Synthesis Gas Conversion into Liquid Fuel. In: Catalysis for Clean Energy and Environmental Sustainability. Springer, Cham
 
• Bhoi R., Saharan V.K., George S., Sonal (2021) Sustainability of the Catalytic Process for Biomass Conversion: Recent Trends and Future Prospects. In: Catalysis for Clean Energy and Environmental Sustainability. Springer, Cham

• Aamir Baig, Sonal, Steam reforming of methanol, ethanol, acetic acid, acetone, and bio-oil for hydrogen generation: Catalytic and mechanistic insight, Bioresource Technology Reports, 101980(28)2024.
• Vishrant Kumar, Nicky Kumar Lamba, Aamir Baig, Amit Kumar Sonker, Nikhil Sharma, Jaidev Kaushik, Kumud Malika Tripathi, Sonal, Sumit Kumar Sonkar, Hydrogen peroxide mediated thermo-catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide to C₁-C₂ products over Cu (0), Chemical Engineering Journal, 156786(500)2024.
• Aamir Baig, Vibha Goswami, Sonal, Study of operating parameters on the optimum hydrogen yield through the ethanol steam reforming, Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, 49(21)2024.
• Vishrant Kumar; Nicky Lamba; Aamir Baig; Kaushik; Tushit Jha; Sumit Sonkar, Sonal; Industrial Iron-Oxide-Dust for Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction, Chemical Engineering Journal, 147027(477)2023
• Jaidev Kaushik, Twinkle, Tisha, Nisha, Aamir Baig, Sonal, Prashant Dubey, and Sumit Kumar Sonkar, Photoactive Fe₃O₄@Fe₂O₃ Synthesized from Industrial Iron Oxide Dust for Fenton-Free Degradation of Multiple Organic Dyes, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (ACS), 10487(62) 2023
 
• Sonal, S Upadhyayula, and K K Pant, An insight into the promotional effect on Fe-Co bimetallic catalyst in the Fischer Tropsch reaction: A DRIFTS study, Fuel, 110844(276)2020.
 
• Sonal, S Upadhyayula and K K Pant, Detailed kinetics of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis over Fe-Co bimetallic catalyst considering chain length-dependent olefin desorption, Fuel, 1263(236)2019.
 
• Sonal, Ejaz Ahmad, S Upadhyayula, and K K Pant, Biomass-derived CO2 rich syngas conversion to higher hydrocarbon via Fischer-Tropsch process over Fe–Co bimetallic catalyst, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 27741(44)2019.
 
• Sonal, S Upadhyayula and K K Pant, Synthesis of C5+ hydrocarbons from low H2/CO ratio syngas over silica supported bimetallic Fe-Co catalyst, Catalysis Today, 133(291)2017.
 
• Sonal, K Kondamudi, S Upadhyayula, and K K Pant, Synergistic effect of Fe-Co bimetallic catalyst on FTS and WGS activity in the Fischer-Tropsch process: A kinetic study, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 4659(56 )2017.
 
• Sonal, and K K Pant, S Upadhyayula, Efficient utilization of bimetallic catalyst in low H2/CO environment syngas for liquid fuel production, Journal of Chemical Sciences, 1747(129 )2017.
 
• S K Das, Sonal and K K Pant, Investigations on the effect of reaction parameters over Fe/Cu/K catalyst for the production of selective range of liquid hydrocarbon, Journal of Chemical sciences, 130(64)2018.
 
• S Bahri, T Patra, Sonal, S Upadhyayula, Synergistic effect of bifunctional mesoporous ZSM-5 supported Fe-Co catalyst for selective conversion of syngas with low Ribblet ratio into synthetic fuel, Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 1(275) 2018.

Conferences :

• Tushit Jha, Sonal, Application of novel core-shell bimetallic catalyst for CO2 conversion into liquid fuel, 4th Materials Research Society of Thailand International Conference (MRS-Thailand 2023), March 28 – April 4 2023.
 
• Aamir Baig and Sonal, Synthesis, and application of La modified Ni/SiO2 catalyst for H2 generation via ethanol steam reforming, International Conference on Chemical Engineering: Enabling the transition towards sustainable future, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Roorkee, September 8-10, 2022.
 
• Aamir Baig and Sonal, Application of La modified nickel catalyst for hydrogen production via the steam reforming of ethanol, International Conference on Nanotechnology for Sustainable living &; Environment, Department of Chemical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, April 14-16, 2022.
 
• Tushit Jha, Sonal, synthesis of novel catalyst and their characterization for the application of CO2 conversion into methanol 76th Annual Convention & International Conference National Physical Laboratory (NPL)Delhi, June 24- 25 ,2022
 
• Tushit Jha, Sonal, Synthesis of novel Cu-In catalyst and their characterization for the application in the CO2 conversion into methanol, International Conference on Chemical Engineering: Enabling the transition towards sustainable future, IIT Roorkee, September 8-10, 2022.
 
• Sonal, S Upadhyayula and K K Pant, Effect of composition of bimetallic Fe-Co catalyst on the activity and selectivity of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process, CHEMCON 2014, Chandigarh regional centre, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers, Chandigarh, December 27-30 2014.
 
• Sonal, S Upadhyayula and K K Pant, Comparative study of noble metal impregnated Fe-Co bimetallic catalyst for the conversion of syngas to liquid fuel, PACIFICHEM-2015 at Honolulu, Hawaii, USA December 15-20, 2015.
 
• Sonal, S Upadhyayula and K K Pant, Effect of catalyst pore size on the production of a selective range of liquid hydrocarbon via Fischer-Tropsch process, PERTOTECH-2016 at New Delhi, December 6-9, 2016.
 
• Sonal, S Upadhyayula and K K Pant, CO adsorption trend over Ru promoted Fe-Co bimetallic catalyst for the production of liquid hydrocarbon via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, APCAT 7 at Mumbai, India, January 17-21, 2017.