Dr. Banerjee's group works in areas relating to the forest products and allied industries with a focus on developing the fundamentals and subsequently taking them to commercialization. Most of our projects are funded by industry. Many of our students pursue summer internships during the course of their Ph.D.

Currently the focus of the group has been on developing new techniques and novel materials.  Work is being done on interaction of contaminants such as pitch and adhesives with fiber and water under various operating conditions. Atomic force microscopy is used to understand some of these interactions. Work is underway on developing new strategies for upgrading the properties of secondary fiber and in developing new sensors for contaminant control. Fast imaging techniques are another interest.

In the environmental area the group is active in sludge dewatering and processing, water treatment, reducing and controlling air emissions, and in sludge-to-methane conversion. They have developed new methods for sludge dewatering and are presently refining and commercializing them. The group is also studying the possibility of sludge reduction through process changes.