Ts. Uganeeswary Suparmaniam

Ts. Uganeeswary Suparmaniam, AMIChemE (UK) is a multiple award-winning young scientist, sustainability advocate, and climate activist attached to the HICoE-Centre for Biofuel and Biochemical Research, Institute of Self-Sustainable Building, PETRONAS University of Technology, Malaysia.

Her research and and technological development interests revolve around pilot-scale carbon bio-mitigation via algae cultivation, techno-economical optimization, as well as life-cycle assessment of both upstream and downstream processing of algal biomass in producing food, feed, fuel, and other functional bio-actives. Besides, she also works on waste management, innovative circular bio-economy creation, and integration of Internet-of-Things (IoT) i.e., machine learning in effort to advance the UN'S sustainable development goals, particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

She obtained her Master's degree in Chemical Engineering from PETRONAS University of Technology, Malaysia on 2019 and pursuing her Doctoral studies with full scholarship at the same institution. Since she started her research journey in 2017, Uganeeswary has co-authored 4 invited book chapters, an invited article write-up in an international magazine, and published her scientific findings in top-tier Scopus/ISI-indexed peer-reviewed journals, including Biotechnology Advances (IF: 16), Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (IF: 15.9), Energy Conversion and Management (IF: 10.4), Science of the Total Environment (IF: 9.8), and a few to name. Her publications have been cited over 453 times in the past 5 years by other leading researchers in her field with both h-index and i10-index of 7.

Uganeeswary has exemplified remarkable communication prowess, effectively conveying her groundbreaking ideas to a wide spectrum of audiences, encompassing academic scholars, industry leaders, policymakers, and collaborators at prestigious international conferences and symposiums. She also bagged several awards for her novel research works at both national and international innovation competitions and exhibitions. Recently, she has been selected as Associate Member by Institution of Chemical Engineers, UK and Professional Technologist by Malaysian Board of Technologist (MBOT), Malaysia, placing her as one of the key change maker in the domain of blue economy for green innovations and climate sustainability.

Selected publications

  •  Sahrin, N. T. et al. Enhanced microalgal hydrogen production subsisting on visible light TiO2 nanotubes photocatalyst pre-treated palm kernel expeller. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 54, 1307–1318 (2024).
  • Rawindran, H. et al. Assessing Microalgal Protein’s Impact on Environment and Energy Footprint via Life Cycle Analysis. Mol. Biotechnol. (2023).
  • Suparmaniam, U. et al. Abiotic stress as a dynamic strategy for enhancing high value phytochemicals in microalgae: Critical insights, challenges and future prospects. Biotechnol. Adv. 70, 108280 (2024).
  • Rawindran, H. et al. Fundamental alteration of cellular biochemicals from attached microalgae onto palm kernel expeller waste upon optimizing the growth environment in forming adhesion complex. Environ. Res. 233, 116533 (2023).
  • Rawindran, H. et al. Mechanistic behaviour of Chlorella vulgaris biofilm formation onto waste organic solid support used to treat palm kernel expeller in the recent Anthropocene. Environ. Res. 222, 115352 (2023).
  • Suparmaniam, U. et al. Optimizing extraction of antioxidative biostimulant from waste onion peels for microalgae cultivation via response surface model. Energy Convers. Manag. 286, 117023 (2023).
  • Rawindran, H. et al. Residual palm kernel expeller as the support material and alimentation provider in enhancing attached microalgal growth for quality biodiesel production. J. Environ. Manage. 316, 115225 (2022).
  • Suparmaniam, U. et al. Valorization of fish bone waste as novel bioflocculant for rapid microalgae harvesting: Experimental evaluation and modelling using back propagation artificial neural network. J. Water Process Eng. 47, 102808 (2022).
  • Suparmaniam, U. et al. Influence of environmental stress on microalgae growth and lipid profile: a systematic review. Phytochem. Rev. 2022 1–24 (2022).
  • Poh, Z. L. et al. The effect of stress environment towards lipid accumulation in microalgae after harvesting. Renew. Energy 154, 1083–1091 (2020).
  • Suparmaniam, U. et al. Flocculation of Chlorella vulgaris by shell waste-derived bioflocculants for biodiesel production: Process optimization, characterization and kinetic studies. Sci. Total Environ. 702, (2020).
  • Suparmaniam, U. et al. Insights into the microalgae cultivation technology and harvesting process for biofuel production : A review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 115, 109361 (2019).