Ram Subramaniam, PhD

Dr. Ramalingam Subramaniam is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at McNeese State University with more than 25 years of academic, research, and professional experience in chemical and environmental engineering. His work integrates fundamental engineering principles with process modeling, experimental research, sustainability assessment, and process design to address challenges in water treatment, energy, decarbonization, and sustainable industrial processes.

His research broadly focuses on chemical and environmental engineering, sustainable process development, energy and decarbonization technologies, process modeling and optimization, and techno-economic and life-cycle assessment. A central theme of his research is translating fundamental and laboratory-scale research into practical engineering solutions through process simulation, scale-up, economic evaluation, and sustainability assessment.

Dr. Subramaniam is also actively engaged in undergraduate and graduate education, student research, industry collaboration, and workforce development. His teaching and research emphasize the application of modern computational and engineering tools, including Aspen Plus, Aspen HYSYS, Microsoft Excel/VBA, process optimization, techno-economic analysis (TEA), and life-cycle assessment (LCA).

Research Impact and Sponsored Research

Dr. Subramaniam has authored or co-authored more than 35 peer-reviewed publications and delivered or contributed to more than 50 technical presentations. His scholarly work has received more than 5,000 citations.

He has participated as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator in externally and internally supported research totaling more than $1.6 million, with projects spanning environmental engineering, wastewater treatment, carbon capture, sustainable processing, energy, and engineering education.

His research approach emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration among universities, industry, government agencies, and research organizations, particularly in areas important to Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.

Research Interests and Expertise:

1. Wastewater Treatment and Environmental Engineering

• Municipal and industrial wastewater treatment
• Physicochemical and biological treatment processes
• Electrocoagulation and electrochemical treatment technologies
• Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), including UV, ozone, H2O2, and Fenton-based processes
• Emerging contaminant treatment, including PFAS
• Adsorption, membrane separation, and integrated treatment processes
• Process design, scale-up, optimization, and sustainability assessment of water-treatment technologies

2. Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Decarbonization

• CO2 capture using ionic liquids and advanced solvents
• Direct air capture and industrial carbon-capture applications
• Thermodynamic modeling and gas-solubility studies
• CO2/H2S separation and gas-treatment processes
• Carbon capture process simulation, optimization, energy analysis, and economics

3. Hydrogen Production, Storage, and Clean Energy

• Hydrogen production and purification processes
• Hydrogen storage using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and advanced materials
• Membrane reactors and integrated reaction/separation systems
• Hydrogen-related process design, modeling, and techno-economic evaluation

4. LNG, Natural Gas, and Process Industries

• Process optimization and energy integration
• Refinery and petrochemical process simulation
• Distillation and complex separation systems
• Emissions reduction and sustainable operation of process facilities

5. Process Modeling, Simulation, Optimization, and Digitalization

• Aspen Plus and Aspen HYSYS process modeling and simulation
• Process design, optimization, and sensitivity analysis
• Advanced distillation and separation-process modeling
• Excel/VBA-based engineering models and decision-support tools
• Integration of process simulation with economic and environmental analysis

6. Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)

• Capital and operating cost estimation
• Economic feasibility and technology scale-up
• Comparative assessment of emerging technologies
• Energy, environmental, and sustainability analysis
• TEA/LCA integration for technology selection and commercialization decisions

7. Bioprocessing and Sustainable Chemical Processes

• Bioprocess engineering and biofuel production
• Biological wastewater treatment processes
• Biomass conversion and value-added products
• Sustainable chemical and energy process development

Industry and Community Engagement

Located in one of the nation’s major energy and petrochemical regions, Dr. Subramaniam seeks to strengthen connections between academic research and the engineering challenges facing industry and communities. He welcomes opportunities for collaborative research, sponsored projects, student research, industry-supported senior design projects, technology evaluation, process modeling, workforce development, and interdisciplinary proposals.

Selected Honors:

Faculty Excellence Award, McNeese State University, 2026

Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award, AIC Foundation, 2009

Dr. Subramaniam is also actively involved with the McNeese student chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and supports student participation in professional activities and engineering competitions, including Chem-E-Car and ChemE Cube.