Mr.  Niranjan Raje 

Former Director (R&D), IOC

(LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niranjan-raje-4209b09/)

Mr. Raje obtained his degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Bombay, India and did his post-graduation at The University of Leeds U.K. He joined the British Petroleum Co. U.K. at London. He returned to India and joined the Indian Oil Corporation in 1972. He has been associated with Indian Oil’s R & D since its inception and superannuated in 2005 as Director Research & Development as well as a member of Indian Oil’s board. He has worked in various capacities and various fields, as a head of Lubricants Technology, to Executive Director in charge of Fuels, Emissions and Alternates Fuels.

Post his superannuation from IOC, he has been relentlessly working on various projects, been on board on some companies (like but not limited to EIL, IDS Emami etc), & consultant to many companies in the areas of oil, gas, emissions, environment, (and also environment friendly lubricants), member in various committees like coal, energy, methanol etc. He also worked with CII as Technical Consultant for 7 years. Worked with The University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) as Director, Centre for Alternate Energy Research establishing this center for undertaking various funded research in the area of Bio-fuels Solar and Hydrogen.He has been a consultant to a Fortune 500 US Multinational company in the field of Environment Regulation for the last 11years.He was also a consultant to Emami Biotech for setting up of their 100000tons capacity Bio-Diesel plant in Haldia West Bengal and was subsequently on their Board

Areas of Specialisation:

R&D in the field of Fuels, Lubricants, Alternate Fuels, Refinery Technology,

Energy including conventional, Renewable i.e. Solar, Bio-mass Hydrogen

Bio-fuels, both Ethanol (including second generation), Bio-diesel.

Energy efficiency including fuel efficiency, Energy efficient lubricants bio-fuels and their carbon footprint

Environment management and pollution control including industrial as well as Automobile Emissions.

While in IOC, as a Director(R&D) and a Board member, he led a team of about 500 scientists at R& D in the field of Product development, Refinery processing, Pipeline transportation Bio-fuels development and testing, Hydrogen and Auto fuel testing and emissions including Energy efficiency.

Prior to joining IOC, Mr. Raje also worked with British Petroleum (BP) Research center at Sunbry on Thames, London.

Mr. Raje has over 35 years of Experience and has worked on various important projects on fuels quality, Auto emissions and Alternative fuels initiated by various Govt. agencies / ministries such as The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Ministry of Environment, Central Pollution Control Board etc. He was principle investigator for a project on Solar Hydrogen funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Govt. of India. He is also a consultant to many national & multinational companies.

Mr. Raje has published over 50 research papers in reputed Indian and international journals/ publications and has over 40 National & International patents including US patents. He has also been recipient of several awards including the prestigious Department of Science & Technology (DST Govt. of India) award from the President of India in 2004. Mr. Raje has served on many Government Committees, panels and expert groups associated with Auto fuels and emission regulations. He is heading the committee on Methanol set up by the Department of Science and Technology on the initiative of NITI Aayog. He was also a member of Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forest Govt. of India and was also a member of Environment Pollution (Prevention & control) Authority of Govt. of India- a body established to advise the Supreme Court of India on matters relating to environmental pollution.

Currently he is chairman of methanol committee set up by DST and also a member ofAir Pollution committee of DST & CPCB

Awards Received

▪ Special Award for best paper in fifth Symposium on International Automotive Technology 1996.

▪ Department of Science and Technology Award from President of India Hon. Dr Abdul Kalam   for INDMAX Technology in2004

▪ Lifetime achievement award awarded during the International Symposium on Fuels and Lubricants Oct. 2004

▪ NPMP award jointly for OiliVorous-S and INDMAX technologies

▪ NRDC award for development of corrosion inhibitors/metal passivators for lubricant, grease and fuel applications from waste refinery streams.

▪ OCEANTEX-2004 Outstanding Contribution Award

▪ PCRA award for excellence and exemplary work in energy conservation for developing Multi-grade Rail Road Oil and energy efficient industrial gear oil.

▪ Outstanding Performance Award for Oil Conservation Fortnight 2003

▪ Institute of Petroleum, UK and Greentech Environment Excellence Awards for OiliVorous-S technology

▪ ICMA award for excellence in Chemical Plant Design & Engineering for our CFC technology.

▪ FICCI award for outstanding contribution to development of indigenous technology in the year