Each year the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) Sustainable Energy Forum recognizes a researcher who has made significant technical contributions to research and development of sustainable energy with a Sustainable Engineering Forum Research Award.

This year, Dr. Vilas Pol, an associate professor in the School of Chemical Engineering received the award.

Dr. Pol was nominated by Dr. Rakesh Agrawal based on his work with upcycling technologies for plastic. According to Dr. Agrawal, during the last five years, Dr. Pol and his team have researched, designed, patented and implemented environmentally beneficial processes and discovered important industrial applications for the resulting products.

Dr. Pol’s technology does more than just recycle plastic. It destroys the plastic and produces products that have greater value than the original plastic such as structurally tunable carbon microspheres and carbon nanotubes that have important battery electrode applications. The technology has the added benefit of keeping some of the 150 million tons of plastic waste generated each year from ending up in a landfill.

Dr. Pol will receive the award at the Sustainable Engineering Forum luncheon during the 2016 AIChE Annual National Meeting. The award includes a plaque and $1,000.