Abhyavartin Selvam, a student of Amity Institute of Nanotechnology, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, pursuing the degree of B. Tech + M. Tech (Nanotechnology) Intg., won the first prize, at the third “New Generation Ideation Contest 2021”, conducted by Hindustan Petroleum Green R&D Centre, Bengaluru, as an initiative of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, in the undergraduate category. His was the only entry from a Private University, rest of the entries being from government organizations like IIT’s , ICT and NIT’s.
Excited at his achievement, Abhyavartin, said, “I’m grateful to my teachers for guiding and encouraging me to participate in this prestigious contest. India, along with many other countries, is facing scarcity of water due to climate change and other environmental factors. This propelled me to propose the idea of “Metal Organic Framework Based Janus Solar Absorber for Effective Photothermal Desalination” which, basically, is a very simple and effective way of recycling and treating waste water, including sea water, which has salts present in it, with the help of sunlight.”
Congratulating the student on his victory, Prof. (Dr.) Balvinder Shukla, Vice Chancellor, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, averred, “Science & technology is one of the main focus areas of Amity and our youth has to make unprecedented progress and develop new technologies for the development of our country. We are extremely proud of our student’s victory at this prestigious contest and his victory is a testimony to the great endeavours being made by the students Amity, in the area of Science & technology.”
The competition received more than 600 entries and focussed on 10 themes including “Circular Economy”, “Artificial Intelligence”, “Waste to Fuels/Chemicals”, “Petroleum Refining, Hydrogen”, “CO2 capture and conversion”, “Advanced Energy Storage Materials/Devices”, “Polymer and Petrochemicals”, “Novel Separation Materials” and “General”. Abhyavartin chose the theme “General” with the subcategory “Waste Water Treatment and Waste Water Recycling Technologies and proposed the idea of “Metal Organic Framework Based Janus Solar Absorber for Effective Photothermal Desalination”, for which he bagged the first prize.
He won a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000 and the award ceremony was held on 29th March, 2022 in HP Green R&D Centre, Bengaluru.