Prof. Rajaratnam Shanthini

• Quality enhancement of Sesame (Gingelly) Oil produced in Sri Lanka: Sesame oil is proven to be the best unsaturated oil in the world and is produced in my homeland at cottage-scale level. I have taken it as my life mission to make the Sri Lankan sesame oil capture the world market. I work with local sesame oil producers and have made impressive stride towards my goal (funded by National Science Foundation Research Grant RG/2015/EA&ICT/01).

• Quality Dark Chocolate production from Sri Lankan Cocoa Beans: Sri Lankan grown cocoa has favourable quality to make its chocolate compete in the international chocolate market. I have been working to produce 70% dark chocolate from Sri Lankan cocoa and give it high antioxidant activity by selective addition of natural ingredients found in Sri Lanka (funded by Research Grant URG/2016/29/E). It is my favourite project because I get to eat all my laboratory samples.

• Modelling and simulation of fluid flows, also known as Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD): I was one of the pioneering researchers to numerically solve equations describing complex fluid flows in complex geometrical configurations. I have been trained at University of Alberta (Canada), Luleå University of Technology (Sweden) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA). My publications in this area have appeared in indexed journals, and have been widely cited. At present, I am involved in modelling and simulation of oil expellers using COMSOL Multiphysics software.

• Environmental pollution control engineering: Upon my return to Sri Lanka in January 1991, I came to understand that Sri Lanka’s crucial need of that time was increasing the critical mass of professionals who could contribute in the area of environmental pollution control engineering. I took up the challenge, and self educated in the area of environmental pollution control engineering despite my postgraduate training being in the areas of Fluid Mechanics, Process Control, and
Thermodynamics.

• Pollution - economic development nexus: Environmental pollution is seen to first rise and then fall as economic development progresses through a threshold value. The said inverse U-shaped pattern, known as the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), made many policy makers, such as the World Bank, to believe economical development is by itself is a panacea for environmental degradation. Since such beliefs, if not true, could have serious adverse consequences on the ecological health, I started researching the pollution - economic development nexus. I have made solid research contributions in the field of emissions, income, electricity consumption, climate change, human development, sustainable development and related areas. My contributions brought me the honour of being one of the keynote presenters in the Energy, Environment and Economics section of the First International Conference on Energy and Environment on October 12th 2003 at Changsha, China.

• Assessment of air quality in Kandy: Atmospheric particulate matter (PM) concentration was measured for the first time at 25 sites in Kandy under my supervision. At seven of the 25 sites sampled, atmospheric concentration of PM10 (particulate matter less than 10 μm in size) measured at average breathing level during 11.00am to 2.00pm on working days with dry weather were above 150 μg/m3 significant along roads with high traffic density. The variance in common between PM10 concentration and traffic density in Kandy was found to be 82%.

• Household composting – from research to practice: One of the crucial contributions that I have made in the sustainable engineering field, along with Prof. K.S. Walgama of University of Peradeniya, is the in-situ solid waste management practices. Our research experience with real-life household waste management systems had been presented in numerous forums and training workshops related to Solid Waste Management, and has been recorded in the following reader-friendly book: How to Compost Kitchen Waste in Your Garden (ISBN 955-8916-00-5). University of Peradeniya is one of the many institutions that have installed a good number of the composting units suggested by us. I am also proud to present here that I have drawn up the Guidelines for Solid Waste Management in Tsunami affected areas upon the invitation of IESL.

• Assessment of chlorpyrifos in the water resources of Kandy: Chlorpyrifos, an organophosphorous insecticide, is a third most commonly used pesticide in Sri Lanka. Chlorpyrifos is known to cause neurotoxicity, maternal toxicity, and other serious illnesses, and hence its use has been restricted in countries such as United States. A graduate student, under my supervision, estimated the chlorpyrifos contamination in surface and ground water sources at a densely cultivated area in Marassana, Kandy district. Water samples collected at once in three days frequency from two community wells and from two locations along the Kiwullinda Oya stream during the vegetable cultivation period, were tested positive for chlorpyrifos. Moreover, it is most likely that 10 mm rainfall received in the catchments during the vegetable cultivation period causes about 0.2 μg/litre increase in the chlorpyrifos concentration of the stream. And, application of 1 litre chlorpyrifos (40%) to the catchments most likely to cause about 0.6 μg/litre increase in the chlorpyrifos concentration in the wells. It is noteworthy that it is the first time such extensive measurements of chlorpyrifos have been carried out in Sri Lanka in a cultivation area, and that the use of chlorpyrifos has now been restricted in Sri Lanka.

• Causal relationship between electricity and GDP in Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka has planned to increase the total coal-fired power plant capacity to 3,155 MW by 2022, which is 88.25% of the estimated additional electricity generation capacity to be installed. In estimating the future electricity demand, GDP (gross domestic product) is used as the explanatory variable. I have shown that uni-directional Granger causality runs from GDP to electricity consumption in Sri Lanka, which discloses the crucial fact that economic growth in Sri Lanka is independent of her electricity consumption, and hence electricity generation. Therefore, Sri Lanka is in an advantage position to take on a less electricity intensive economical development path by adopting electricity conservation policies, promoting green buildings, and investing on less electricity intensive production technologies and lifestyles.