Akhil Agrawal

2013-2024 (Current Research): 

1. Desert Soilification for Sustainable Food Crops Production in Rajasthan.

• Development of technology for conversion of sand into soil using highly efficient formulaitons in the laboratory for Bajra, Chana and Moong production in arid regions of Rajasthan. Also development of indegious microbial community formulaitons that support the formulation acceptance in rhizospheric soil.

Publications: 

• D Kumari, G Prajapat, S Goyal, A Agrawal (2023). Modification of desert sand to soil using polymers for its agricultural potential. Journal of Arid Environments 209, 104899

2. Control of Souring in high temperature fields

• Earlier studies showed that demonstrated the method of souring control in North-sea oil fields and MHGC low temperature oil fields. The objective of the current research was to design a technology for control of souring in moderately high temperature Western Rajasthan oil field and Argentinian oil fields. For this Up-flow packed-bed columns were used to simulate the reservoir in laboratory condition. The system was established with an SRB biofilm under sulfate limiting condition. For the control of sulfide production, various biocides treatments along with nitrate was investigated.  
• Broad spectrum biocides like Glutaraldehyde, Tetra kis hydroxyl methyl phosphoniumsulfate (THPS), Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) & formaldehyde are generally used by industry. Our results indicated synergistic effect of BAC and nitrate in control of souring even when lower concentrations of both were used. This study was published in International Journal of Biodeterioration and Biodegradation and Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Publications: 

• Agrawal A, An D,  Cavallaro A and Voordouw G (2014) Souring in low-temperature surface facilities of two high-temperature Argentinian oil fields. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology 98 8017-8029.
• Prajapat G, Rellegadla S, Jain S and Agrawal A  (2018) Reservoir souring control using benzalkonium chloride and nitrate in bioreactors simulating oil fields of western India. International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation 132, 30-39.
• Prajapat, G., Jain, S., Rellegadla, S., Tailor, P., & Agrawal, A. (2021). Synergistic approach to control reservoir souring in the moderately thermophilic oil fields of western India. Bioresource Technology Reports, 14, 100649.
• Prajapat, G., Jain, S., Lal, B., Lavania, M., & Agrawal, A. (2023). Control of reservoir souring by incomplete nitrate reduction in Indian oil fields. Bioresource Technology Reports, 21, 101302.

3. Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) and Nickel nanoparticle assisted polymer flooding

Objective 2: To develop a method for recovery of residual oil from heavy oil fields using light hydrocarbon and nitrate. This work was done in high-pressure bioreactors simulating heavy oil fields.

Outcome: The work demonstrated that sequential injection of light hydrocarbon (Toluene) and nitrate lead to the production of residual oil from marginal oil wells. The outcome of this work was a developed technology for heavy oil fields. This lead to US and Canadian patent.

Patent:

• Voordouw G, Gassara F and Agrawal A (2018) Methods For Microbially Enhanced Recovery of Hydrocarbons. May 17, 2018 US 2018 / 0135393 A1 (US Patent)
• Voordouw G, Gassara F and Agrawal A (2016) Methods For Microbially Enhanced Recovery of Hydrocarbons. Oct, 27, 2016 CA2983624A1 (Canadian Patent)
• R Sandeep, SJain, M Lavania, J Sangwai, B lal and Akhil Agrawal (2020) Composition for enhanced oil recovery injection fluid and process thereof. Indian Patent Applied 202011045415

Publications:

• Rellegadla S, Bairwa HK, Kumari MR, Prajapat G, Nimesh S, Pareek N, Jain S, and Agrawal A  (2018) An Effective Approach for E.nhanced Oil Recovery using Nickel Nanoparticles Assisted Polymer Flooding. Energy and Fuels (Accepted) https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b02356
• Rellegadla S, Prajapat G and Agrawal A (2017) Polymers for enhanced oil recovery: fundamentals and selection criteria. Applied microbiology and biotechnology 101 (11), 4387-4402
• Rellegadla, S., Jain, S., & Agrawal, A. (2021). A holistic approach to determine the enhanced oil recovery potential of hydroxyethylcellulose, tragacanth gum and carboxymethylcellulose. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 341, 117334.
• Rellegadla, S., Jain, S., Sangwai, J. S., Lavania, M., Lal, B., Gieg, L., & Agrawal, A. (2021). Wettability alteration of the oil-wet carbonate by viscosity-augmented guar galactomannan for enhanced oil recovery. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 3(4), 1983-1994.
• S Mahajan, H Yadav, S Rellegadla, Akhil Agrawal (2021) Polymers for enhanced oil recovery: fundamentals and selection criteria revisited. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 105, 8073–8090

Cyanobacterial Sunscreens  (Annexure 2f)

Objective: Ozone layer depletion in the stratosphere leads to increase in the intensity of the Ultraviolet radiation (UVR; (280-400nm) reaching on the earth’s surface. The high-energetic UVR, UV-B (280–315 nm) has great potential for cell damage either through direct effects on biologically relevant molecules (e.g., DNA and proteins) or indirect effects via the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Consequently, several organisms that are exposed to solar radiation have evolved a number of mitigation mechanism to reduce the harmful effects of UVR. One of these mechanisms is the synthesis/accumulation of UV radiation-absorbing/screening secondary compounds. Mycosporine and mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs) are the most common group of transparent UV absorbing intracellular secondary metabolites. Due to therapeutic role of MAAs in UV photoprotection, they are the promising candidates for use in pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications. The objective of this work was to isolate microbial communities from hypersaline Sambhar salt lake of Rajasthan and screening of MAAs from these communities.

Output: We have successfully isolated the cyanobacterial strains from the Sambhar salt lake of Rajasthan. Samples and pure isolates were irradiated by UV-B radiations to initiate MAAs production. Result of Spectrophotometric scanning (200-500 nm) of crude MAAs extracts suggested that MAAs production is stimulated by UV-B radiation and has significant co-relation between salinity stress and MAAs biosynthesis. Isolated culture of  Anabaena spp. and Arthospiraspp. showed significant increase in MAAs biosynthesis in salinity stress followed by UV-B induction. This work was published in Journal of Basic Microbiology and Journal of phycology (revision submitted)

Publications: 

• Jain S., Prajapat  G., Ledwani L., Agrawal A. (2017) Cyanobacteria as efficient producers of Mycosporine-like amino acids. J Basic Microbiol. 9999:1–13
• Jain S., Prajapat  G., Agrawal A., Ledwani L. (2017) Cyanobacterial mycosporine-like amino acids and their derivatives as natural sunscreen. 5^th International conference-Green, Growth, Globalization and Governance: Challenges and Opportunities. ISBN: 9781-908106-62-9.
• Bhardwaj B., Agrawal A., Ledwani L. and Jain S. (2018) An efficient method for DNA extraction from hypersaline and marine cyanobacteria. Journal of phycology.
• Bairwa, H. K., Prajapat, G., Jain, S., Khan, I. A., Ledwani, L., Yadav, P., & Agrawal, A. (2021). Evaluation of UV-B protection efficiency of mycosporine like amino acid extracted from the cyanobacteria Anabaenopsis sp. SLCyA isolated from a hypersaline lake. Bioresource Technology Reports, 15, 100749.
• A Punchakara, G Prajapat, H K Bairwa, S Jain, A Agrawal (2023). Applications of mycosporine like amino acids beyond photoprotection. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 89(11), e00740-23.

Book Chapters:

• Jain S., Prajapat  G., Ledwani L., Agrawal A. Cyanobacterial sunscreen: past, present and future. Sunscreens: source, formulations, efficacy and recommendations. Nova publication 2018. ISBN: 978-1-53613-294-6.
• Jain S., Prajapat  G., Agrawal A. A taxonomical study of mycosporine-like amino acids producing cyanobacteria.  Nova publication 2018. ISBN: 978-1-53613-294-6.

Papers published in Conference Proceedings: 

• Jain S., Agrawal A., Ledwani L. Cyanobacterial mycosporine-like amino acids and their derivatives as natural sunscreen. International conference on Green, Growth, Globalization and Governance: Challenges and Opportunities, February 3-5 2017, JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
• Jain S., Prajapat  G., Agrawal A., Ledwani L. Natural sunscreen development from cyanobacterial isolates of hypersaline environments of India. 24^th ISCB International Conference (ISCB-2018). Frontier Research in Chemistry and Biology Interface, January 11-13 2018, Manipal University Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.

Other Publications

1. D Sharma, A Pareek, H Arya, R Soni, P Rai, A Agrawal, S Nimesh (2022) Synthesis and inhibition studies towards the discovery of benzodiazepines as potential antimalarial compounds. Experimental Parasitology 243, 108411
2. PK Sharma, I Kalia, V Kaushik, D Brünnert, A Quadiri, M Kashif, Akhil Agrawal (2021). STK35L1 regulates host cell cycle-related genes and is essential for Plasmodium infection during the liver stage of malaria. Experimental Cell Research 406 (2), 112764
3. Sakthipriya N, Ganesh Kumar, Akhil Agrawal, Mukesh Doble, Jitendra S. Sangwai (2021). Impact of Biosurfactants, Surfactin, and Rhamnolipid Produced from Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, on the Enhanced Recovery of Crude Oil and Its Comparison with Commercial Surfactants. Energy and Fuels, 35, 9883-9893
4. J Chanwala, G Kaushik, MA Dar, S Upadhyay, Agrawal A (2019). Process optimization and enhanced decolorization of textile effluent by Planococcus sp. isolated from textile sludge. Environmental Technology & Innovation 13, 122-129.
5. DK Neelam, Agrawal A, AK Tomer, S Bandyopadhayaya, A Sharma (2019). A Piscibacillus sp. Isolated from A Soda Lake Exhibits Anticancer Activity Against Breast Cancer MDA-MB-231 Cells. Microorganisms 7 (2), 34.
6. Deepesh Kumar Neelam, Akhil Agrawal, Anuj Kumar Tomer and Pawan K Dadheech (2018). Characterization and potential applications of Halovibrio variabilis mla3 (a heterotrophic bacterium) Isolated from a saline-alkaline lake of Rajasthan, India. International Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences 8, 612-622.
7. DK Neelam, Agrawal A, AK Tomer, PK Dadheech (2018). Characterization, Phylogenetic Analysis and Potential Applications of Heterotrophic Bacteria Inhabit Sand Dunes of Thar Desert, India. J Pure Appl Microbiol 12 (4), 1887-1894
8. Parthipan P, Narenkumar J, Elumalai P, Preethi PS, Nanthini AUR, Agrawal A and Aruliah R Neem extract as a green inhibitor for microbiologically influenced corrosion of carbon steel API 5LX in a hypersaline environment. Journal of Molecular Liquids 240, 121-127.
9. Sathishkumar K, Sathiyaraj S, Parthipan P, Agrawal A, Murugan K and Aruliah R (2017). Electrochemical decolorization of methyl red by RuO2-IrO2-TiO2 electrode and biodegradation with Pseudomonas stutzeri MN1 and Acinetobacter baumannii MN3: An integrated approach. Chemosphere 183, 204-211