Dr. Manthiram Karthik R

Academic Background

  • PhD in Environmental Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, (2017 – 2022)
  • M.E in Environmental Engineering, Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Anna University (Chennai) (2015 – 2017).
  • B.E in Civil Engineering, Dr. Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, Anna University (Chennai) (2011 - 2015).

​Professional Experiences

  • Dec 2025 – Till date, Assistant Professor (Grade II), Department of Civil Engineering, NIT Trichy
  • Jan 2024 –  Dec 2025, Assistant Professor (Grade I), Department of Civil Engineering, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering, Chennai.
  • Jul 2023 – Dec 2023, Consultant – Research and Development, CDD India, Bengaluru.
  • Jul 2022 – Jul 2023, Project Officer (Post-doctoral work), Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai.

Field(s) of Specialization

  • Water and Wastewater treatment, Environmental auditing, Treatment Process Design including treatability studies, Life Cycle Assessment, Emerging Contaminants, Nature-based treatment systems, Process Simulation and Modelling, Onsite sanitation systems.

Projects and Patents

During tenure at SSN College, Chennai:

  • “Advancing Nature-Based Solutions: Understanding the attenuation of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in plants”, Principal Investigator (PI), Internally Funded Faculty Project, Budget of 3.9 Lakhs, SSN College of Engineering. (2024 - 2026).
  • “Mitigating Antibiotic Resistance using Silver-Embedded Carbon Catalysts from Medical Waste in Advanced Water Treatment”, Principal Investigator (PI), Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCST), Chennai, under the Science and Technology Project Scheme 2024–2025, Budget of 4.15 Lakhs (Awarded in 2025).
  • “Blue-Green Infrastructure for Storm Water Management and Water Reuse”, Co-Principal Investigator (PI), Shiv Nadar Foundation, Noida, Budget of 39.7 Lakhs. (2025 – 2027).
  • “Developing an Efficient Greywater Treatment System Using Constructed Wetlands Coupled with an Adsorbent System”, Research grant from SSN Trust, Rs 18000, 2024-2025 (Student Project, Mentor/Guide).
  • “Sunlight into Spaces: Harnessing Natural Light with Optical Fibre Technology”, Ideas to Impact Challenge (i2I) 2023-24, organised by IIT Madras, Chennai, in collaboration with Wipro Foundation. Grant of Rs. 48,000. (Student Project – Guide).

Research Publications

  • Kannan, U., Ravichandran, M.K., Monisha, M., Krishnasamy, S., Prabakar, P., Darshini, D. and Sunantha, G., (2026). Short-chain PFAS: A global challenge-Environmental fate, health risks, and promising removal technologies. Results in Chemistry (20), 103000.
  • Ravichandran, M. K., Abraham, A. P., Anantha Moorthy U., Pradeep R. (2025). Optimising Nutrient Removal through Integration of Microbial Fuel Cells with Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Purification. Integrated Bio-electrochemical Constructed Wetland System for future sustainable wastewater treatment. Edited by Manoj Kumar, Neeraj Kumar Singh, Abhilasha Singh Mathuriya. Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Springer 978-981-96-2814-8.
  • Prabakar, P., Thampan, D., Karthika, S., Ravichandran, M.K., Subramanian, A., Nagarajan, A.M., Hussain, R., Sivagami, K. (2025). A State-of-the-Art Review on Large-Scale Desalination Technologies and Brine Management. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology (11), 2, 167–195.  https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EW00662C
  • Ravichandran, M. K., Ravisankar, V. (2025) “Exploration of Nature-Based Technologies for Urban Pollution Challenges in Rapidly Growing Cities”. EcoTech Urbanism. Edited by Venkatesh Baskaran, S.M. Renuka, R. Velkennedy. The Urban Book Series, Springer Nature. 978-3-031-83833-0. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-83833-0_2.
  • Biswas, P., Vellanki, B. P., Ravichandran, M. K., Kazmi, A. A., & Philip, L. (2024). Widespread Surveillance of Emerging Contaminants in the Yamuna River Basin: Evaluation of Surface Water, Sediments, Groundwater, and Aquatic Plants. ACS ES&T Water. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.3c00627
  • Ravichandran, M. K., Thayyil, M. I., & Philip, L. (2023). Application of engineered natural treatment systems for pollution abatement. Technological Solutions for Water Sustainability: Challenges and Prospects, 145. 9781789063714. https://doi.org/10.2166/9781789063714
  • Ravichandran, M.K., Philip, L. (2022) “Fate of carbamazepine and its effect on physiological characteristics of wetland plant species in the hydroponics system.” Science of the Total Environment, 846, 157337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157337.
  • Ravichandran, M.K., Philip, L. (2022). “Assessment of the contribution of various constructed wetland components for the removal of pharmaceutically active compounds.” Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (10), 107835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2022.107835.
  • Ravichandran, M.K., Yoganathan, S., Philip, L. (2021). “Removal and risk assessment of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in a decentralized greywater treatment system serving an Indian rural community.” Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (9), 106832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2021.106832.
  • Renganathan, J., Insamam Ul Huq, Ramakrishnan, K., Ravichandran, M. K., & Philip, L. (2021). “Spatio-temporal distribution of pharmaceutically active compounds in the river Cauvery and its tributaries, South India.” Science of the Total Environment (800), 149340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149340.
  • Ravichandran, M.K., Philip, L. (2021). “Insight into the uptake, fate and toxic effects of pharmaceutical compounds in two wetland plant species through hydroponics studies.” Chemical Engineering Journal (426), 131078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2021.131078.
  • Manthiram Karthik, R., Philip, L. (2021). “Sorption of pharmaceutical compounds and nutrients by various porous low-cost adsorbents.” Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (9), 104916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2020.104916. 

 

Participation in Workshops/ Symposia/ Conferences/ Colloquia /Seminars

  • Karki, B.K., Ravichandran, M. K., & Philip, L. (2024) “Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment in India: Insights from Recent Development”, in the Roorkee Water Conclave (RWC) - 2024, 3rd – 6th March 2024, IIT Roorkee, India.
  • Ravichandran, M. K., Anantha Moorthy, Siddanagouda Patil, Rohini Pradeep (2024), “Evaluating the performance of two-staged constructed wetland system for sustainable wastewater treatment in India”, in the 56th IWWA Annual convention, 19th – 21st January 2024, Coimbatore, India.
  • Ravichandran, M. K., & Philip, L. (2023) “Performance of pilot-scale hybrid constructed wetland for greywater treatment”, in the 13th IWA International Conference on Water Reclamation and Reuse, 15-19th January 2023, Chennai, India.
  • Ravichandran, M. K., & Philip, L. (2022) “Attenuation and fate of pharmaceutically active compounds in the baffled constructed wetland treating greywater,” in the First International Conference on Circular Economy for Sustainable Water Management (SuWaM 2022), 23rd – 25th March 2022, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India and awarded “Best presentation” in the session “Emerging contaminants”.
  • Ravichandran, M. K., & Philip, L. (2021) “Occurrence and fate of antimicrobial agents in a hybrid flow constructed wetland treating greywater”, in the virtual conference of AQUA≈360: Water for All - Emerging Issues and Innovations, 31st August 2021 – 2nd September 2021, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.
  • Renganathan, J., Insamam Ul Huq, Ramakrishnan, K., Ravichandran, M. K., & Philip, L. (2021) “Spatio-temporal distribution of pharmaceutically active compounds in the river Cauvery and its tributaries, South India,” in the virtual conference of AQUA≈360: Water for All - Emerging Issues and Innovations, 31st August 2021 – 2nd September 2021, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.
  • Ravichandran, M. K., & Philip, L. (2020) “Decentralized greywater treatment using baffled constructed wetland,” in the 13th International Conference on Challenges in Environmental Science and Engineering (CESE-2020), 7-8th November 2020 (Online).
  • Ravichandran, M. K., & Philip, L. (2020) “Occurrence, fate and risk assessment of PPCPs in wastewater from the rural community,” in the 2nd International Conference on Wastewater Technologies and Environmental Treatment (ICWTET-2020), 11th September 2020 (Online) and won “Best video presentation award”.
  • Ravichandran, M. K., & Ravi Sankar, V. (2017) “Process simulation model for nutrient removal in wastewater treatment” at National Conference on Innovations in Materials, mechanics and Processes for sustainable development, 17th April 2017 at Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore.
  • Ravi Sankar V., Charles Chelliah J., Kiruthika Eswari V., Manthiram Karthik R., Nivethidha R. & Pradeep Pandiyan D. (2016) “An Approach towards energy neutral wastewater treatment system – A case study” at National conference on “Energy and Environment” on 16th September 2016, organized by IIT-Madras and CODISSIA, Coimbatore.

Awards and Honours

  • Certification on Universal Human Values -1 by AICTE, New Delhi.
  • Certifications on “Faecal Sludge Management”, “Shit Flow Diagram”, “Understanding Environmental Law for improving environmental management” and “Water Audit”.
  • Participated in “Faecal Sludge Management-4” with the sponsorship of UNESCO-IHE.
  • Qualified in UGC-NET for Assistant Professor (Jan 2017 - Environmental Sciences)
  • Qualified in GATE 2017 with a 95.08 Percentile (Score 502).
  • Awarded Teaching and Research Assistantship from Mar 2016 to Mar 2017 under Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme of the Government of India (TEQIP II) scheme.
  • Received supporting fund for Master`s dissertation work under TEQIP II Scheme.
  • Secured Rank 2 in B.E., Civil Engineering and awarded Silver Medal.

Courses Handled

Undergraduate Programmes

CEIR11- Basics of Civil Engineering (Jan 2026)

CEPC18 - Environmental Engineering II (Jan 2026)

Postgraduate/Doctoral Programmes

CE723 - Cleaner Production and Environmental Sustainable Management (Jan 2026)

Research Profiles

Researcher ID                : HHY-8139-2022

Scopus ID                      : 57226169222

ORCID ID                       : 0000-0003-4519-9212

Google Scholar              : https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=feZXRIgAAAAJ&hl=en

Contact Address

Dr. Manthiram Karthik R
Assistant Professor,
Department of Civil Engineering,
National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620 015
Tamil Nadu, India.
Email: rmkarthik@nitt.edu; personal: karthikaswin88@gmail.com