Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering
Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering
Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering (SBASSE) at LUMS is the first private research school of science and engineering in Pakistan. In higher education, the term research school refers to a model of teaching and scholarship practised by some of the best institutions in the world where the primary function of the university is to create and disseminate new knowledge. SBASSE has consciously modelled itself along the lines of the world’s top research schools and has a highly qualified faculty to accomplish its mission. The hallmark of SBASSE is its no-boundaries philosophy, which encourages cross-disciplinary collaborations not only between various disciplines at SBASSE but also those offered by other Schools at LUMS.
A Different Kind of
Science and Engineering School
in Pakistan
300,000
Square feet of lab and
classroom learning space
70+
Dedicated labs for research,
teaching and support
Accredited by
PEC and NCEAC
Choose your path
Science for Pakistan
Contribution in Science and Technology by the researchers at SBASSE has an impact on the future development of Science in Pakistan.
Meet our Faculty
At SBASSE our faculty members share the boundaries of their life experiences and interests that foster a dynamic learning environment on campus.
Research and Impact
We are living, breathing chemical conglomerates who’ve carefully…
Reference Department:Department of Biology
We are living, breathing chemical conglomerates who’ve carefully gathered knowledge over the course of centuries, to piece together clues in solving one of the greatest mysteries of our existence – the origin of life on Earth. An understanding of proteins has been a low hanging fruit of this endeavour. Decades of meticulous research on these magical molecules have revealed that much of life’s rich tapestry rests upon their complex and delicate structures. Therefore, tools and mechanisms that can zoom in on the structure of proteins and reveal the identification, are of incredible importance to scientists working on the frontier of life sciences research.
Dr. Safee Ullah Chaudhary, and his team of researchers, have developed a breakthrough tool, called PERCEPTRON, for highly efficient proteoform identification from top-down proetomics (TDP) spectral data. Their work has been published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research (NAR), a paramount achievement requiring nothing less than an outstanding team of researchers.
Reflecting on this distinction, Dr. Safee Ullah said "SBASSE at LUMS has brought together the right ingredients to undertake and sustain world-class research and development work. PERCEPTRON is one sure step to propel LUMS to the cutting edge of Proteomics and Bioinformatics research.”
Dr. Safee Ullah
PERCEPTRON, a web-based platform that outperforms all other similar tools by up to 135% in terms of reported proteins numbers and is ten times more efficient in terms of runtime.
In a technological masterstroke, Dr. Safee Ullah and his team have designed PERCEPTRON’s search pipeline to bring together algorithms for six different parameters:
- Intact protein mass tuning
- De novo sequence tags-based filtering
- Characterization of terminal as well as post-translational modifications
- Identification of truncated proteoforms,
- In silico spectral comparison
- Weight-based candidate protein scoring
To meet PERCEPTRON’s heavy demand of powerful and robust technology, GPU units by NVIDIA were used, along with Microsoft ASP.NET and ANGULAR Frameworks.
Highlighting the importance of team work in this effort, Ms. Kanzal Iman, a PhD student, who is part of Dr. Safee Ullah’s team, said “Working on PERCEPTRON has instilled in me that when you believe in consistent hard work, great things happen. Team PERCEPTRON is a great example of learning from each other and growing together.”
Kanzal Iman
Another fellow co-first author of the paper, Ms Amna Ghafoor commented on the overall journey leading to the publication “The journey from a single “Hello World” to the entire GPU programming of PERCEPTRON has been a very bumpy ride. But thanks to the amazing team and blessing of Allah Almighty, we were able to pull it off Alhamdullilah.”
Amna Ghafoor
Commenting on the future support for this research, Dr. Safee Ullah said “We are looking forward to further support from the university to establish PERCEPTRON as a go-to platform for Proteome research across the globe."
PERCEPTRON aims to fill the voids in conventional protein identification software for TDP data, and make the process easier, more efficient and reliable. We congratulate Dr. Safee Ullah Chaudhary and his team for championing this multi-year effort through in-house resources at SBASSE, and pioneering Computational Biology and Bioinformatics research at the School.
Muhammad Farhan Khalid
Reference: Muhammad Farhan Khalid, Kanzal Iman, Amna Ghafoor, Mujtaba Saboor, Ahsan Ali, Urwa Muaz, Abdul Rehman Basharat, Taha Tahir, Muhammad Abubakar, Momina Amer Akhter, Waqar Nabi, Wim Vanderbauwhede, Fayyaz Ahmad, Bilal Wajid, Safee Ullah Chaudhary, PERCEPTRON: an open-source GPU-accelerated proteoform identification pipeline for top-down proteomics, Nucleic Acids Research, 2021, gkab368, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkab368
More information on PERCEPTRON: https://perceptron.lums.edu.pk/index.html#/home
لمز کی فزلیب میں بطور پی ایچ ڈی طالبِ علم خدمات انجام دیتے…
Reference Department:Department of Physics
لمز کی فزلیب میں بطور پی ایچ ڈی طالبِ علم خدمات انجام دیتے ہوے، مزمل شاہ نے اپنے تحقیقی مقالے میں دو جہتی ٹوپولوجیکل مادے پر روشنی گرنے سے نت نئے بدلتے زاویوں کی تحقیق پیش کی۔ امید ہے کہ ایسی جانچ پڑتال سے بائیوسینسرز کے ارتقا میں جدت لائی جا سکے گی اور مقناطیسی قوت ناپنے والے آلات کو بھی مزید بہتر بنایا جا سکے گا۔
مزمل شاہ صاحب نے اپنی تحقیق میں اِن غیر معمولی مٹیریلز کا استعمال کیا جن کا ڈھانچہ تین پرتوں پر مشتمل ہوتا ہے۔ اس میں پہلی اور تیسری پرت، جس کو دو جہتی سطح تصور کیا جاتا ہے، نہایت باریک ہوتی (صرف ۵ تا ۱۰ نینومیٹرز موٹی) اور برقی اصالت کی خوبی رکھتی ہیں، جبکہ درمیانی تہہ غیر موصل ہوتی ہے۔ مزمل شاہ کی سیمولیشن میں اوپر اور نیچے والی دو جہتی سطح پر روشنی گرائی جاتی ہے جس کے انعکاس میں اہم معلومات چھپی ہوتی ہیں۔ مگر اس سیمولیشن میں مزمل صاحب نے ایک اور متغیر عنصر کا اضافہ کیا: یعنی مقناطیسی قوت۔ اس اضافی جز سے پیدا ہونے والی توانائی کو زیمین انرجی کہا جاتا ہے۔ پہلی اور تیسری پرتوں پر گرتی ہوئی روشنی مقناطیسی میدان میں اپنی تقطیب میں رد و بدل کرتی ہے۔ یہ گھومنے کا عمل دو طرح سے بیان کیا جاتا ہے۔ جب مادے پر روشنی گر کر واپس پلٹ جائے تو اس کو گردشِ کر، جبکہ یہی عمل اگر اس طرح واقع ہو کہ روشنی مادے میں سے آر پار گزر جائے، تو اس کو گردشِ فاراڈے کہتے ہیں۔
مزمل شاہ نے دریافت کیا کہ ۵ ٹیسلا کے مقناطیسی میدان میں حیرت کن حد تک بڑی گردشِ کر دیکھی گئی۔ جبکہ اس طرح کے تجربات میں عمومی طور پر دوسرے مادوں میں گردش محض ۵ یا ۶ ڈگری تک ہوتی ہے۔ اس سیمولیشن میں یہ بڑھ کر ۱۵ ڈگری تک ناپی گئی امید ہے کہ یہ کھوج طبیعیات کے معروف مضمون کوانٹم تھیوری کے مزید کرشمات کو انسانی عقل و فہم کے قریب لانے میں مدد دے گی۔
یہ تحقیقی مقالہ ڈاکٹر صبیح انور، ڈاکٹر علی اکبر اور ڈاکٹر محمد ساجد کے تعاون سے مکمل کیا گیا۔ اس مقالے کی مکمل تفصیلات کے لیے درج ذیل لنک پر کلک کیجیے:
https://www.osapublishing.org/ome/fulltext.cfm?uri=ome-11-2-525&id=446949
M. Shah, A. Akbar, M. Sajid, and M. Sabieh Anwar, "Transitional Faraday and Kerr effect in hybridized topological insulator thin films," Opt. Mater. Express 11, 525-538 (2021).
Notorious not only for its recurrence but also for its idiosyncratic…
Reference Department:Department of Biology
Notorious not only for its recurrence but also for its idiosyncratic response towards conventional treatment, cancer has held a diabolical status in the realm of health sciences for far too long. Rising up to the challenge of better understanding cancer at its biomolecular level, Dr. Safee Ullah Chaudhary was recently rewarded a grant worth Rs. 14 million, by the National Center in Big Data and Cloud Computing (NCBC), to get a panoramic understanding of how cancer works differently in different patients, by developing a cloud-based cancer modelling system along with a digital modelling library. The hope is to provide a one-of-its-kind personalized cancer treatment, that takes into account different parameters from both the disease as well as the patient.
Cancer databases comprising of gene, RNA and protein expressions will be combined with patient drug interaction information and patient profile using TISON (Theatre for In-Silico Systems Oncology), a powerful cancer modelling platform. This will be done for six clinical case study models i.e., Oral Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Neuroblastoma, Autophagy and Warburg Effect (a condition that leads to increase in the rate of glucose uptake and lactate production, even in the presence of oxygen).
Through this project, Dr. Safee Ullah intends to get a better understanding of biomolecular regulatory networks, that are rendered erroneous in the onset of cancer, and also create a model for cell responses to therapeutics. These models will then be integrated into decision circuits that can figure out the fate of each cell, leading to their import into cell lines. Eventually, a patient-specific therapeutic response can be catalogued and modelled that can help with better, more personal cancer treatments in the future.
Learn more about Dr. Safee's work here: Biomedical Informatics Research Laboratory (BIRL)
Our heartiest congratulations to Dr. Safee Ullah for getting this grant; we wish him success for this project.
Four faculty members, who also serve as Principal Investigators (PIs)…
Reference Department:Department of Electrical Engineering
Four faculty members, who also serve as Principal Investigators (PIs) from the Department of Electrical Engineering, have each been awarded a grant each (for approximately US$100k) from all four National Centers established by the Higher Education Commission.
The National Centers are designed to create national capacity in key emerging areas that have received much attention and focus, in recent years across the globe and where a competitive advantage for Pakistan can be created among its international industrial competitors. The four PIs from SBASSE were awarded grants after the centers ran their internal grant cycle and a competitive national competition.
Congratulations to the Department of Electrical Engineering!
We’d like to recognise the names of the awardees and their research theme.
1. Nauman Zaffar (PI), Waqar Ahmed (CoPI from ITU)
Theme: Electric vehicles penetration by leveraging big data
Funding Entity: National Center for Big Data and Cloud Computing (NCBC)
2. Zubair Khalid (PI), Muhammad Tahir, Momin Uppal
Theme: Catalyzing Industry 4.0 using Internet-of-Things testbeds
Funding Entity: National Center for Robotics & Automation (NCRA)
3. Awais bin Altaf (PI), Wala Sadeh
Theme: On-Chip Epilepsy Predictor
Funding Entity: National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI)
4. Muhammad Tahir (PI), Zubair Khalid, Momin Uppal
Theme: Protecting Physical Infrastructure against Cyber-Attacks
Funding Entity: National Center for Cyber-Security
For millennia, civilizations have found refuge around its meandering…
Reference Department:Department of Electrical Engineering
For millennia, civilizations have found refuge around its meandering banks and in its wide basin and have sustained agriculture through its vitalizing deposits of silt and sand. Its waters have largely encouraged segregated nomadic groups to live together as a community, but the sands of time have pushed communities out and apart, creating borders and boundaries, which has not only left the Indus basin at the mercy of myopic policies but also mismanaged resource utilization, intense cultivation making the whole basin highly water stressed and lacking energy security.
Now, a team of researchers including Dr. Abubakr Muhammad from the Center for Water Informatics and Technology (WIT), SBASSE, has revealed in a paper published in ‘Nature Sustainability’, that cooperation across the borders is needed as a potential route to make sustainable development in the Indus basin possible. Using NEST, an integrated model for water-energy-land-climate systems, an analysis was done that revealed cooperation between Indus basin countries can reduce investment from US$10 billion per annum to US$2 billion per annum by the year 2050, a whopping 80% reduction in investment!
The study compared 3 models i.e., business-as-usual (BAU), sustainable development goals without transboundary cooperation (SDG) and SDG-coop, where transboundary cooperation is implemented. If no action were taken, the team discovered overexploitation of water resources in the Punjab (both Indian and Pakistani) and Sindh regions can reach a staggering 250% of the current situation, where these regions are already facing water scarcity. The team suggests optimal crop shift and increased irrigation efficiency for reduction in irrigation surface, and the shift of electrical generation from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. The study hopes that Pakistan will be able to save US$5 billion per annum, if timely implementation on their model is exercised.
This study was published in Nature Sustainability and can be accessed here:
Vinca, A., Parkinson, S., Riahi, K. et al. Transboundary cooperation a potential route to sustainable development in the Indus basin. Nat Sustain (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00654-7
The model code updated to scenarios described in this study is available here: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4037884
A video outlining the study can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gIBvFSBVs0
Graduate Theses
Name: Ubaid Ullah
Supervisor: Dr. Imran Cheema
Year: 2021
MS/PhD: PhD
Department: Electrical Engineering
Science Stories
Subtitle:
Posted Date:
Bend, Bending, Bent
Story:
Trapped inside a thin column of flowing water, a beam of crimson light appears to bend effortlessly, taking the path of water, as onlookers watch in fascination. We see light submitting to the laws of optics and water to the wishes of gravity – all combine to create a demonstration that has earned first position in the International Day of Light photography competition.
Ali Raza Mirza, who serves as the President of the SPIE Student Chapter at LUMS, has won the competition with this simple yet arresting demonstration. This competition was organized by the SPIE Student Chapter ITU and the OSA (Optical Society). The competition hosted two categories of submissions: photography and posters - with LUMS securing winning positions in both! The poster competition was aced by Mr. Shehzad Akhtar Ali, senior member of the SPIE Student Chapter LUMS.
We congratulation all winners and wish them continued success in all future endeavors.
Trapped inside a thin column of flowing water, a beam of crimson light appears to bend effortlessly, taking the path of water, as onlookers watch in fascination. We see light submitting to the…
Seminars and Conferences
Date:
Registration Link:
Speaker: Dr. Kamran Rehan
Vanue: Zoom/Online
Reference Department:Department of Physics
Trapped-Ion Systems for Experimental Quantum Physics
Abstract:In this lecture, the speaker talks about the charged-particle traps focusing on the linear Paul trap. Specifically, he explains it’s working principle, infrastructure and manipulation of quantum bit(s) and quantum control system. Later on, he will report two of recent works on fundamental quantum physics. The first work refers to the irreversible logic operations and particularly deletion of quantum information. The second work discusses the precision measurement and specify the joint measurement of three incompatible observables and Heisenberg uncertainty relation for three observables.
SBASSE Department of Physics is hosting an online session with Dr. Kamran Rehan from the University of Science and Technology of China on Friday. He will be talking about "Trapped-Ion Systems for Experimental Quantum Physics" on the 18th June 2021 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm.
Biography:
Dr. Kamran Rehan is the USTC & CAS-PIFI Joint Postdoctoral Fellow, working at the University of Science and Technology of China. He obtained his PhD in Atomic and Molecular Physics from the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology (APM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2020. During his educational career, he won the CAS-TWAS fellowship, and has received many other national and international awards.
Please tune in to the session via this Zoom Link: https://lums-edu-pk.zoom.us/j/91952238009?pwd=U2g4MGJ6V3J1YktqL3lwN1hjRlovUT09
SBASSE Department of Physics is hosting an online session with Dr. Kamran Rehan from the University of Science and Technology of China on Friday. He will be talking about "Trapped-Ion Systems for Experimental Quantum Physics" on the 18th June…
Date:
Registration Link:
Speaker: Professor Dr. Ellen Rothenberg
Vanue: Zoom/Online
Reference Department:Department of Biology
Gene Network and Epigenetic Mechanisms Controlling the Generation of T-Lymphocytes
Abstract:T-lymphocytes are vital components of the immune system in humans and other mammals. They are generated by multiple waves of blood cell precursors that migrate from the bone marrow to a special organ, the thymus, where the stem cell-like precursor cells encounter signals that cause them to differentiate into T cells. This process is important for health by providing resistance to infection and cancer, and it is also very illuminating as a model system to show how environmental signaling, endogenously expressed transcription factors, and epigenetic chromatin changes can work together in an orderly, stepwise process to convert cells efficiently from stem-like cells to effective, useful differentiated cells. We can “zoom in” to observe and dissect this process through powerful in vitro culture systems that mimic the thymus in an open format, which allows the developing cells to be observed and manipulated.
The Rothenberg lab has focused on answering three kinds of questions. First, how do the transcription factors in these cells act in a cascade, so that each transcription factor works to activate or shut off other transcription factors in an orderly way, which then themselves change the expression of another set of genes? Second, how does the epigenetic state of the chromatin affect what these transcription factors can do at a given stage, and how do the factors themselves alter the epigenetic state to allow differentiation to proceed? Third, how do these mechanisms explain the high efficiency but slow speed of this developmental process? The talk will show how recent results shed light on these questions.
The Rothenberg lab has focused on answering three kinds of questions. First, how do the transcription factors in these cells act in a cascade, so that each transcription factor works to activate or shut off other transcription factors in an orderly way, which then themselves change the expression of another set of genes? Second, how does the epigenetic state of the chromatin affect what these transcription factors can do at a given stage, and how do the factors themselves alter the epigenetic state to allow differentiation to proceed? Third, how do these mechanisms explain the high efficiency but slow speed of this developmental process? The talk will show how recent results shed light on these questions.
Prof. Dr. Ellen Rothenberg is our distinguished guest for the upcoming session in Molecular and Cellular Biology Colloquium. She will be talking about “Gene Network and Epigenetic Mechanisms Controlling the Generation of T-Lymphocytes” on 24th June 2021 at 9am Pakistan time.
Professor Dr. Ellen Rothenberg is Distinguished Professor of Biology at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. She studies gene regulation and development of T lymphocytes, gene networks controlling hematopoietic cell fates, and mechanisms underlying the dynamics of single-cell developmental decisions. She received her bachelor's degree in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University and her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellowship at Sloan-Kettering Institute and an Assistant Research Professorship at The Salk Institute, she came to Caltech in 1982 and rose to become Albert Billings Ruddock Professor in 2007, then Distinguished Professor in 2021. She has been elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Member of the National Academy of Sciences. She was also selected for the inaugural class of Distinguished Fellows of the American Association of Immunologists. She won the Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching and eight other teaching awards at Caltech, and has taught internationally on immunology, developmental biology, and gene regulatory networks.
Prof. Dr. Ellen Rothenberg is our distinguished guest for the upcoming session in Molecular and Cellular Biology Colloquium. She will be talking about “Gene Network and Epigenetic Mechanisms Controlling the Generation of T-Lymphocytes” on 24th…
Public Lecture Series
Date:
Registration Link:
Speaker: Dr. Sarah Qureshi, CEO/Founder Aero Engine Craft (Pvt.) Ltd.
Vanue: Auditorium 10-301, Syed Babar Ali School of Science and Engineering, LUMS
Reference Department:Department of Electrical Engineering
Environment Friendly Aerospace Technologies for Pakistan
Abstract: Aero Engine Craft is developing contrail-free aero-engines for the reduction of global warming and to induce artificial rain during aircraft flight through on-board water recovery from fuel emissions; creating a vision of the future for the aviation industry whereby it can not only reduce aviation induced global warming but also adopt an approach to treat the fuel emissions as a resource. A revolutionary technology is employed that eliminates contrails at source and recovers water from fuel exhaust emissions as a net positive product. This is a true definition of a disruptive technology; a global first attempt to create water within the aero-engine from the exhaust plume during flight, carry it aboard and release it as rainfall prior to landing. Our product is a low cost alternative to aero-engine redesign, and offers revenue potential to the aviation industry while solving a crucial environmental challenge.
Biography:
Dr. Sarah Qureshi is working on contrail-free aero engines as the CEO and founding director of Aero Engine Craft (Pvt) Ltd. She is also a visiting fellow at the School of Aerospace at Cranfield University. Sarah has a PhD degree in Aerospace Engineering from Cranfield University, UK. Her area of specialization is Propulsion whereby she worked on the development of a contrail-free aero-engine that has been derived from a novel patented technology. Sarah was actively involved with the invented technical outcome of the engine. The innovated engine has a tremendous potential in bringing about an environmental revolution in the context of aviation.
Dr. Sarah Qureshi , along with the inventor of technology Mr. Masood Latif Qureshi has now set up Aero Engine Craft (Private) Limited as Pakistan's first commercial engine and aircraft company to convert this patented technology into a full scale commercial application ready to be used by modern civil transport aircraft. During her PhD, Sarah supervised a number of MSc. students for their research projects on Jet Engine Technology. Prior to this, Sarah completed her master’s degree in the field of Aerospace Dynamics from Cranfield University, UK. Her research involved the design of a trajectory following controller inclusive of stability augmentation, attitude control system and outer loop autopilot for unmanned aircraft (UAVs) flying in close formation for the purpose of air to air refuelling. After graduating as a Mechanical Engineer from Pakistan, Sarah gained extensive experience of working in the local automotive and engineering industry.
Her bachelors' research project involved the development of a measurement and data logging system for the in-cylinder temperature and combustion of an internal combustion engine. Her prime technical interests are focused upon engine technology and aircraft design. Sarah holds a Private Pilot License (PPL) with 70 hours of Flying Experience. She has also learned acrobatic flying and several flight manoeuvres while at Cranfield.
Biography:
Dr. Sarah Qureshi is working on contrail-free aero engines as the CEO and founding director of Aero Engine Craft (Pvt) Ltd. She is also a visiting fellow at the School of Aerospace at Cranfield University. Sarah has a PhD degree in Aerospace Engineering from…
سائنس اور ٹیکنالوجی کی کہانیاں
حَسبِ ضرورت سکسینک ایسڈ
کیا آپ کسی ایسے کیمیائی مادے کو جانتے ہیں جو گھریلو ٹوٹکوں سے لے کر سائنسی تجربہ گاہ تک میں استعمال ہوتا ہو؟ قدرت کے اِس کارآمد کیمیائی نگینے کو سکسینک ایسڈ کے نام سے جانا جاتا ہے۔ یہ ایک ایسا سفید قلمی نامیاتی تیزاب ہے جسے اکثر اشیائے خوردونوش کی تیاری اور دواسازی میں بھی استعمال کیا جاتا ہے۔ صنعتی سطح پر سکسینک ایسڈ کو کیمیائی طور طریقوں سے تو بنایا جا ہی رہا ہے مگر پیداوار کا یہ روایتی طریقہ مہنگے خام مال اور ماحول دشمن نتائج کی وجہ سے زیادہ کارگزار نہیں۔ کیا ہی اچھا ہو کہ اِس اہم کیمیائی مرکب کی پیداوار کا ذمہ حیاتیاتی طرزِعمل کو سونپ دیا جائے! شعبۂ کیمیا اور کیمیائی انجنئیرنگ کے ڈاکٹر روفس ڈِکسن کی تحقیق اسی مرکزی خیال کو عملی جامہ پہنانے کی ایک با معنی کوشش ہے۔
ڈاکٹر ڈِکسن کا تحقیقی مقالہ حال ہی میں ایک نامور سائنسی جریدے Energy and Environmental Science میں شائع ہوا ہے۔ اِن کی تحقیق میں سکسینک ایسڈ کو سستے، موثر اور ماحول دوست طریقوں سے بنانے کی تجویز دی گئی۔ دراصل ڈاکٹر ڈِکسن کی تحقیق ۵ اہم سوالات کے جواب تلاش کرتی ہے:
۱۔ سکسینک ایسڈ کی پیداوار میں کون سا خام مال استعمال ہونا چاہیے؟
۲- پیداوار کو مزید سستا کرنے کے لیے کون کون سی فنیات و صنعتیاتی ترکیبیں استعمال کی جا سکتی ہیں؟
۳- پیداوار سے جڑے معاشی اور ماحولیاتی اثرات کیا ہوں گے؟
۴- اس پورے عمل کو سرمایہ کار کے لیے معاشی طور پر پُرکشش کرنے میں کونسے عناصر اہمیت کے حامِل ہیں؟
۵- سکسینک ایسڈ کی پیداوار میں کون سے معاشی مسائل قابلِ نظر ہیں؟
ان سوالات کو سلجھانے کے لیے ایک ایسی سیمولیشن تیّار کی گئی ہے جِس میں صرف ایسے خاکوں پر نظرثانی کی گئی جو معاشی طور پر استحکام فراہم کر سکیں۔ “مونٹیکارلو” قِسم کی سیمولیشن کے ذریعے ہر ممکن حل کے جوکھم کا تخمینہ بھی لگایا گیا۔ ایک پیچیدہ ریاضیاتی ماڈل کے ذریعے ۸۵ ہزار سے زائد متغیر عناصر اور ۳۵ ہزار سے زائد پابندیاں لگائی گئیں، گویا سکسینک ایسڈ کی حیاتیاتی طرزِعمل کے ذریعے پیداوار کو مختلف زاویوں سے مستحکم اور قابلِ عمل بنانے کی کوشش کی گئی۔ معلوم ہوا کہ سکسینک ایسڈ کو بڑے پیمانے پر بنانے کے لیے گلیسرول سے اخذ کردہ طریقہ سب سے موثر ہے، جس کی سالانہ لاگت ۱۳.۵ کروڑ ڈالر ہوگی۔
کسی بھی سرمایہ کار کے لیے نقصان سے بچاؤ اُس کی پہلی ترجیح ہوتی ہے۔ چنانچہ اِس پوری کاوِش کو صنعتی اعتبار سے کارآمد بنانا ڈاکٹر ڈِکسن کی بھی اوّلین ترجیح رہی ہے تاکہ سکسینک ایسڈ کی بڑے پیمانے پر تیاری کو حقیقی جامہ پہنایا جا سکے اور اِس اہم کیمیائی مرکب کی ماحول دوست اور معاش دوست پیداوار کو یقینی بنایا جا سکے۔ ہم ڈاکٹر ڈِکسن کی اِس قابلِ ستائش کوشش پر اِن کو مبارک باد پیش کرتے ہیں اور امید کرتے ہیں کہ ان کو مستقبِل میں بھی ایسی کامیابیاں ملتی رہیں۔
حوالہ:
Sustainable Bio-Succinic Acid Production: Superstructure Optimization, Techno-Economic, and Lifecycle Assessment Energy & Environmental Science, Apr. 2021 doi:10.1039/D0EE03545ADickson, Rofice
کیا آپ کسی ایسے کیمیائی مادے کو جانتے ہیں جو گھریلو ٹوٹکوں سے لے کر سائنسی تجربہ گاہ تک میں استعمال ہوتا ہو؟ قدرت کے اِس کارآمد کیمیائی نگینے کو سکسینک ایسڈ کے نام سے جانا جاتا ہے۔ یہ…
