For over 30 years Dr. Lalit Chordia has pioneered research and development, manufacturing and commercialization of supercritical fluid technology, an environmentally friendly, materials processing technology. Dr. Chordia’s work extends across multiple industries to applications in food, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, chemicals and energy. Some examples of his involvement in supercritical fluid process and equipment technologies over the years are natural pharmaceutical, algae and spice extraction, drug purification and design, coatings, electronics cleaning, cooling, advanced biofuels and a host of other applications and equipment technologies.

Dr. Chordia received his bachelor’s degree from IIT Madras and his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University in 1985, both in Chemical Engineering. In 1982, Dr. Chordia co-founded Suprex Corp., and served as Vice President of Engineering and R&D. He then formed Thar Technologies in 1990. Thar has expanded its operations into multiple industries both domestically and internationally and has earned a reputation as a world leader in high pressure process and equipment technologies, particularly the use of supercritical carbon dioxide, which has zero ozone depletion and net zero global warming potential. Through Dr. Chordia’s leadership of the company, Thar has grown into multiple companies: 1) Thar Instruments, a separations science and equipment company since sold to Waters Corp., 2) Thar Process, a global provider of all-natural food and chemical processing solutions, 3) Thar Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage drug development company, and 4) Thar Energy, a developer of advanced alternative green energy technology.

Dr. Chordia has been the principal investigator on multiple research and development projects, including two prestigious Advanced Technology Program awards through the National Institute of Standards and Technology and multiple Department of Energy projects. Dr. Chordia received the Distinguished Alumnus Award of IIT Madras in 2010 and the Carnegie Science Entrepreneur Award in 2015. In 2002 Dr. Chordia was honored as the SBA’s Small Business Exporter of the Year, and in 2016 he was elected a Fellow to The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2017, he received the regional Ernest and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Technology.

Beyond his own business and to remain loyal to his community commitment, Dr. Chordia is a Board Member of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation and serves on the Steering Committee for Sustainable Pittsburgh, is a Co-founder of the US-India Forum and is an Adjunct Research Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. He also serves on the Allegheny County Green Action Team and is an appointee of the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to the Western Pennsylvania District Export Council