Valia has been conferred the top 3 awards by the American Steel Industry.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Dr. Hardarshan Singh Valia can uniquely claim to be the only coal scientist in the world who is honored with all three of the prestigious awards bestowed upon him by the American Steel Industry.
According to The Chicago Tribune, he is the first Indian American and second Asian American ever to receive the Iron & Steel Society’s Joseph Becker Award (for distinguished achievement in Coal Technology) for his work on Coal Usage in Steel Industry.
Valia was also awarded Joseph Kapitan Award (best paper) from the Association for Iron and Steel Technology on his work regarding unique properties of Indiana coals. Furthermore, he is a recipient of the American Iron and Institute Medal.
“It is like a Hollywood actor winning all three, the Academy Award, Grammy Award and the [Emmy] Award,” Rajinder Singh Mago, a friend, told the Tribune.
Valia, in collaboration with Allen Ellis and other scientists from Purdue University, earned a patent called, “Multipurpose Coke Plant for Synthetic Fuel Production.” The patented technology could revolutionize the production of coke — a fuel, not the soft drink — for the steel industry but could also enable the production of diesel oil, methane gas, hydrogen, fertilizer, and power. Such an approach would usher in totally new industry to coal belt of southern Indiana where coal production is declining as it is mainly utilized to power industrial sector, according to the Tribune. It would also have implications for the nation as a whole — the U.S. has the largest recoverable coal reserves in the world.
“One needs to recover ‘value added’ products from coal rather than just burning it in the power plants,” said Valia, “thereby reducing our dependence on foreign liquid fuels,” he added.
Valia recently presented his book, titled, “Indiana Coals and the Steel Industry,” to Senator Dan Coats of Indiana, whose goal is to improve the economy in southern Indiana by bolstering affordable energy while simultaneously protecting the environment.
Valia has published 85 articles, contributed to five books chaired 30 national and international conferences, taught 20 courses across the globe, authored two patents, and consulted for some of the top businesses around the world, reported the Chicago Tribune.
Valia received his Masters in Applied Geology from Nagpur University in India and Masters in Geology from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.