Sustainable Solutions for Microplastic and Microfiber Pollution Management

Author Biography

Dr. R. Rathinamoorthy is working as an Associate Professor Senior in VIT Fashion Institute of Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology Chennai Campus, Chennai, India, from 2024, previously he worked in department of Fashion Technology, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore. He is one of the world’s top 2% scientists as reported by Elsevier and Stanford University for past three consecutive years (2021-2025). He had completed his Ph.D. on “Medical Textiles” in 2016. He also received the “Young Achiever Award” for the year 2019 by the Institute of Engineers India (IEI), Coimbatore chapter. In 2017, he also received a national-level “Young Engineer award for the year 2016-17” in Textile Engineering domain, by the Institute of Engineers India (IEI), Kolkata, West Bengal, India. He is having a Google H index of 28 and a Scopus H index of 19 with more than 2400 citations. He has published 20 national and 87 international research articles in various refereed and non-refereed journals. He authored 11 technical books in the area of Apparel and Fashion technology field and 31 book chapters with various international publishers like Woodhead Publisher, Springer Verlag, Springer Nature, Springer Singapore, Taylor & Francis, and Elsevier publishers to his credit. In addition, four of his patent ideas were published under Indian Patent Office.  Ms. S. Raja Balasaraswathi completed her postgraduation from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bengaluru, India. With two years of experience in retail operations for a renowned fashion brand, she is currently serving as an Assistant Professor at the VIT Fashion Institute of Technology, Vellore Institute of Technology Chennai Campus, Chennai, India, from 2025. She has been conducting research in the field of Microfiber Pollution since 2020 and has published 24 International Articles and 1 National Article published in various refereed and non-refereed journals. She is the co-author of the book “Microfiber Pollution” published by Springer Singapore and the editor of “Microfibre Pollution from Textiles - Research Advances and Mitigation Strategies” published by Taylor & Francis. As of November 2025, she holds a Google H index of 14 and a Scopus H index of 13 with over 400 citations. Her research excellence in the field of microfiber pollution has been recognized with several awards including ‘Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Young Research Fellowship – 2020’ from Terre Policy Center, Pune, India, ‘The Student Project of the year award 2021’, from the Institute of Scholars, Bangalore, India, and the ‘Best Project Award - 2021’, PSG Tech Alumni Association, Coimbatore, India. Dr. Alok Prasad Das is presently serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Life Sciences, at Rama Devi Women’s University, Odisha India. He is an academician, researcher, and author of journal articles, several books, and book chapters. He is an Editorial member of several reputed journals. With more than 15 years of research experience, Dr. Das has been supported through various research grants from the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. His research and innovation work, done in national and international collaborations, has appeared in over 130 publications; and his contributions have been recognized by several awards. His area of expertise includes, Bioremediation and bioleaching of mining pollutants, Bioconversion of environmental waste to value-based products, Bioremediation of Microplastics and Microfiber Pollutants, and Geomicrobiology of extreme habitats. His current Google Scholar: Citations is 7200 and his h-index is 49. Dr. Das is enlisted in the world’s top 2% influential scientists as per the Stanford University list for 2023, 2024 and 2025.