MEMBER PAGE ON BIOREFINERY PROGRAM WEBSITE
Please input information about yourself and your research – Save the file with your
name as file name and return to: [email protected]
NAME
TITLE
DEPARTMENT
PHONE
FAX
ADDRESS
EMAIL
EDUCATION
RESEARCH
INTERESTS
Ashish Bhatnagar
Post Doctoral Research Associate
Biological & Agricultural Engineering
706-542-8806
Driftmier Engineering Center
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-4435, USA
[email protected]
Ph.D., Microbiology, Indian Agricultural
Research Institute, New Delhi, India
M.Sc., Microbiology, Indian Agricultural
Research Institute, New Delhi, India
B.Sc., Agriculture, Jawahar Lal Nehru Krishi
Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur (M.P.) India
Microalgal mass cultivation, wastewater
remediation, algae based biofuels and
biosorption
SUMMARY OF RESEARCH DIRECTIONS/ RESEARCH NEWS
Dr. Ashish Bhatnagar has been working as Associate Professor at Department of
Microbiology, Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University, Ajmer, Rajasthan, India for the
last fifteen years. He established the first ever Microbiology Centre of Rajasthan at
Ajmer, and the Satellite Centre for Microalgal Biodiversity of Arid Zones. Dr. Ashish has
been a contributor to the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
(Microorganisms diversity) of India (2001-2003). He was also an invited author of an echapter for the National Science Digital Library of India, “Natural and Xenobiotic
compounds in the environment - Transformation, bioaccumulation, biomagnification in
air, water and soil”. (Please view at:
http://nsdl.niscair.res.in/handle/123456789/113/items-byauthor?author=Bhatnagar%2C+Ashish )
In this publication he reported that Chlorella minutissima was a potent agent for
wastewater remediation. It is a versatile fast growing minute green alga. It is a
mixotroph that survives absence of light and oxygen, remains afloat in dark colored
organic substrate containing sewage, sediments in clearer, organic molecule depleted
water and shows wide pH tolerance.
He also fitted r- and K-selection model to the wastewater oxidation pond process and
established that better productivity in semi natural (open) remediation ponds could be
obtained by maximizing utilization of all spatial niches.
His laboratory at Ajmer demonstrated that though cyanobacteria avoid plant vicinity
in general, xerophytes creating meager shade allow more diversity near them,
suggesting that conservation of plants in deserts may also help conserve
cyanobacterial diversity.
His was the first group to begin work on fluoride biosorption and they showed that
calcium pretreatment allowed better fluoride biosorption.
At the Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering and Biorefining Program
he is involved in the following projects:

Microalgae mediated biodiesel production using Dalton Utilities wastewater

Integrated poultry litter management with biofuel production

On-farm production of microalgae and biogas
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Bioremediation
Ashish Bhatnagar & Monica Bhatnagar. Algae based wastewater remediation systems.
In: Advances in Phycology. B.N. Verma, AN Kargupta & SK Goyal (eds).pp. 381-98.
APC Publ. Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. 1998.
Ashish Bhatnagar. Development of r- and K-selection model in the waste stabilisation
pond system. Journal of Environmental Biology, 20 (2):115-120. 1999.
Monica Bhatnagar, Ashish Bhatnagar & Sapna Jha. Interactive biosorption by microalgal
biomass as a tool for fluoride removal. Biotechnology Letters, 24 (13): 1079-1081.
Kluwer Academic Pub, The Netherlands. 2001.
Ashish Bhatnagar & Monica Bhatnagar. Strategies to employ algae and cyanobacteria for
wastewater remediation. Innovative Approaches in Microbiology. D.K. Maheshwari &
R.C. Dubey (eds). Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal singh, Dehra Dun. pp. 379-403. 2001.
Microbial ecophysiology
Monica Bhatnagar & Ashish Bhatnagar. Algal and Cyanobacterial responses to fluoride.
Fluoride, 33(2):55-85. Elsevier Pub. 2000.
Monica Bhatnagar & Ashish Bhatnagar. Physiology of Anabaena khannae and
Chlorococcum humicola under fluoride stress. Folia Microbiologica, 49 (3): 291-296.
2004.
Monica Bhatnagar, Ashish Bhatnagar & S.K. Goyal. pH dependent fluoride toxicity in
algae and cyanobacteria. Indian Journal of Microbiology, 44 (2):125-128. 2004.
Ashish Bhatnagar and Monica Bhatnagar. Microbial diversity in desert ecosystems.
Current Science, 89 (1): 91-100. 2005.
BN Johri, BN Ganguly, SK Goel, JS Virdi, AK Tripathi, RK Jain, DN Kamra, Ashish
Bhatnagar Microorganisms diversity: Strategy and action plan. Current Science, 89 (1):
151-154. 2005.
Ashish Bhatnagar, Mahammad Basha Makandar, Mukesh Kumar Garg & Monica
Bhatnagar. Community structure and diversity of cyanobacteria and green algae in Thar
desert of India. Journal of Arid Environments, 72:73-83. 2008