The major focus of my research group is non-thermal methods of food processing, which includes high pressure processing, light processing, ultrasound processing, membrane processing, etc. In addition, cereal and food grain processing is the second segment of research in our group, under which, research related to extrusion processing, advanced drying methods, value addition of cereals and other grains, design, development of process equipment and grain storage structures.
The current research areas of my research group are:
Non-thermal-extraction and encapsulation of bioactives
Modification of protein-starch interactions in wheat flour
Design and development of improved storage structures and evaluation of quality changes
Processing and value addition of millets and shelf life enhancement
Apart from strategic research activity, the importance of enterprising the research output was realized and a dedicated business incubation centre named “Agri Food Business Incubation Centre” was established to support startups in agri and food processing. The business incubation centre is a funded by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare, under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY-RAFTAAR). The above business incubation centre is first of its kind in the IIT system, which is focused on mentoring innovation led agricultural and food business startups.
Our facilities include high pressure processing system (HPP-Food Lab), twin screw extrusion systems (laboratory and pilot scale), cold extrusion system, retort processing system, food dehydration systems, DV III Ultra viscometer, HPLC, UV-VIS spectrophotometers, colorimeter, lyophilizer, automatic kjeldahl, rapid soxhlet and crude fiber estimation systems, refrigerated centrifuge, electrophoresis systems, modular deep freezer (minus 40 °C), modular cool chamber (5-30 °C), halogen moisture analyzer, rotary vacuum evaporator, binocular, florescent and stereo-zoom microscope, laminar flow chamber, high speed pulverser, sieve analysis facility, impulse sealer, vacuum sealing machine etc. In addition, several thrust area facilities like millet and pulses processing, bakery processing units, vacuum frying system, skid mounted liquid pasteurization system, packaging systems etc are on anvil to establish.
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Aloe vera gel filleting machine and a method for filleting (Patent No: 310723) Ramachandra C. T., Rao P. S. By - (2019)
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Effect of processing on storage stability of millet flour: A review Sruthi N.U., Rao P.S. By Trends in Food Science and Technology 112 58-74 (2021)
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Impact of UV-C irradiation on solubility of Osborne protein fractions in wheat flour Kumar A., Nayak R., Purohit S.R., Rao P.S. By Food Hydrocolloids 110 105845- (2021)
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Optimization, modeling, and characterization study for the physicochemical properties of raw banana and defatted soy composite extrudates Pandey S., Kumar A., Rao P.S. By Food Chemistry 339 127865- (2021)
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Extrusion of fermented rice-black gram flour for development of functional snacks: Characterization, optimization and sensory analysis Poonam R., Amit K. , Purohit S. , Rao P. S. By Journal of Food Science and Technology 58 494-509 (2021)
Principal Investigator
- Milling Capacity Certificate for Rice Milling System
- Protocol Development for Estimation of Milling Out Turn Ratio in Modern and Modernized Rice Mills Across Varying Agro-climatic Zones of India
- Resolving Gaps in Scaling up of Millet Value Chain for Technical Backstopping Micro Units under PMFME
Ph. D. Students
Abhishek Kumar
Area of Research: Drying of herbs and medicinal plants
Amit Kumar
Area of Research: Light Processing of Starchy Foods
Ankit Kumar
Area of Research: Extraction of bioactives from plant and food sources
Chaitali Sarkar
Area of Research: Food by-product utilization
Jayasree Joshi T
Area of Research: Storage system for Millets
Katu Yogesh Arun
Area of Research: Refrigeration
Meena N
Area of Research: Design and development of a novel drying process for food materials
Prashant Kumar
Area of Research: Plant based alterative proteins
Puja Nelluri
Area of Research: Processing of meat analogues using plant proteins
Rahul Kumar Rout
Area of Research: Extraction and encapsulation of active compounds
Shagolshem Mukta Singh
Area of Research: Mechanization of millet processing
Sivaranjani S
Area of Research: Design and development of food processing systems
Sruthi N U
Area of Research: Design and development of grain storage systems
