IIT (ISM) professor delivers invited webinar on lithium refining for IOCL
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK Dhanbad, September 3: Dr Aarti Kumari, Assistant Professor in the Department of Fuels, Minerals & Metallurgical Engineering (FMME)…
Prof. Aarti Kumari
THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Dhanbad, September 3: Dr Aarti Kumari, Assistant Professor in the Department of Fuels, Minerals & Metallurgical Engineering (FMME) at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, delivered an invited webinar for Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) on lithium refining and industrial best practices, highlighting the growing industry relevance of her research in hydrometallurgy and critical minerals.
Titled “Lithium: Resources, Processing Technologies and Future Perspectives,” the online session covered lithium resources, processing and refining technologies, industrial practices and future prospects. The webinar also highlighted the strategic importance of lithium as a critical mineral and its growing role in the rapidly expanding energy-storage sector.
Focus on critical minerals and metal processing
With more than 12 years of research experience, Dr Kumari has established expertise in hydrometallurgy, rare-earth extraction and non-ferrous metal processing.
Her research interests include non-ferrous metal extraction, waste processing and recycling, NdFeB magnet processing, rare-earth extraction, and metal separation and purification.
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Her engagement with IOCL reflects the relevance of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad’s research expertise to emerging industrial and technological priorities, particularly in critical minerals and sustainable resource recovery.
Industry-academia knowledge exchange
The webinar provided a platform for sharing research-based knowledge on lithium processing and refining with industry professionals. It also underscored the institute’s efforts to strengthen industry-academia collaboration, knowledge exchange and capacity building in areas linked to critical minerals and sustainable metal processing.
With lithium becoming increasingly important to energy-storage technologies, research into efficient extraction, refining and resource recovery is gaining strategic significance for both industry and academia.


