School of Infrastructure

Dr. Mohit Somani

Assistant Professor
  • Room No: 228, SIF
  • +91 674-713-6661
  • mohitsomani@iitbbs.ac.in
  • School of Infrastrucutre
Landfill Reclamation; Controlling Methane Emissions from Waste Repositories; Sustainable Use of Surplus Masses; Characterization and Remediation of Contaminated Soils; Resource Recovery
Dr. Mohit Somani has been serving as an Assistant Professor in the School of Infrastructure at the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar since October 2023. He earned his Ph.D. from IIT Delhi in 2021, his doctoral research focused on landfill mining of legacy municipal solid waste. His research specialization lies in Geoenvironmental Engineering, with core interests in landfill rehabilitation, methane emission control, remediation of contaminated soils, and the identification and characterization of (neo)geomaterials.
Prior to joining IIT Bhubaneswar, Dr. Somani worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), Oslo, Norway. He has authored 40 research publications in reputed international journals and conferences. He has also served as a visiting researcher at Cardiff University, UK; École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC), France; and the University of Le Havre, France. He is a recipient of the Distinction in Doctoral Research Award and the Mrs. Prabha and Dr. Shashi Research Excellence Award in Geotechnical Engineering for the Best Ph.D. Thesis (2021) at IIT Delhi.
Dr. Somani’s contributions have been recognized internationally through several prestigious fellowships and scholarships, including the Newton-Bhabha Fellowship (British Council), the Mobilitas Postdoctoral Fellowship (Government of Estonia, European Union), the Research Mobility Grant (Campus France, Government of France), and the ISWA–SWIS Scholarship (University of Texas at Arlington, USA). He is also a co-recipient of the IGS–Smt. Indra Joshi Biennial Award from the Indian Geotechnical Society for a paper published in the domain of Environmental Geotechnology in the Indian Geotechnical Journal.
He is also honored with the Bright Spark Lecture Award by the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) and delivered the prestigious Bright Spark Lecture 2025 at the Indian Geotechnical Conference at NIT Jalandhar.
  1. Laboratory Investigations on Controlling Methane Emissions from MSW Dumpsites through MMOS in India (Status: On-going; Funding Agency: IIT Bhubaneswar (Seed Grant); Role: PI)
  2. Modular and Scalable Energy Solutions for Integrated Sustainability in the State of Odisha (Status: On-going; Funding Agency: Department of Energy, Govt. of Odisha; Role: Team Member)
  3. Passive Oxidation Technology for Controlling Methane from Landfills (Status: On-going; Funding Agency: Anusandhan National Research Foundation – Prime Minister Early Career Research Grant; Role: PI)
  • Engineering Drawing
  • Geoenvironmental Management
  • Environmental Geotechnology
  • Geotechnics of Waste and Waste Containment
  • Civil Engineering Drawing and Estimation
  • Soil Mechanics Lab

Ph.D.

  1. Manish Sharma (Joined in January 2024)

M.Tech.

  1. Sanjay Roy (Completed)
  2. Swapnil Ashok Nagrale (Completed)
  3. Ayush Kumar (On-going)
  4. Subhashis Satyabrata Behera (On-going)
  1. Hölzle, I., Somani, M., Ramana, G. V., Datta, M., & Fiener, P. (2025). Sequential washing vs. thermal treatment: heavy metal management in soil-like material derived from landfills. Journal of Environmental Management, 395, 127833.
  2. Somani, M. (2025). Overcoming Dumpsites Rehabilitation Challenges in India: Landfill Mining Versus Microbial Methane Oxidation Systems. Indian Geotechnical Journal, 1-45.
  3. Maalouf, A., Garcia-Tabar, A., Castro, A. M. R. C. D., Kaur, A., Saini, A., Somani, M., … & Chaher, N. E. H. (2025). A simplified framework for assessing waste prevention and minimisation in developing countries within the context of CE, SDGs and ESG principles. Waste Management & Research, 43(10), 1491-1508.
  4. Roy, S., Somani, M., & Farooq, S. H. (2025). Microbially Induced Calcite Precipitation for Improving the Geoenvironmental Performance of Landfilled Mined Soils. Indian Geotechnical Journal, 1-14.
  5. Somani, M., Harbottle, M., Datta, M., Ramana, G. V., & Sreekrishnan, T. R. (2023). Identification and assessment of appropriate remediation management techniques for the recovery of soil-like material produced in landfill mining. Journal of Environmental Management, 348, 119300.
  6. Somani, M., Hölzle, I., Datta, M., & Ramana, G. V. (2023). An investigation on mobility of heavy metals for assessing the reusability of soil-like material reclaimed from mining of municipal solid waste dumpsites. Waste Management, 167, 113-121.
  7. Kriipsalu, M., Somani, M., Pehme, K., Tamm, O., Truu, J., Truu, M., & Orupold, K. (2023). Performance of biocover in controlling methane emissions from landfill: A decade of full-scale investigation. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 172, 486-495.
  8. Hölzle, I., Somani, M., Ramana, G. V., & Datta, M. (2022). Heavy metals in soil-like material from landfills–Resource or contaminants?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 369, 133136.
  9. Orupõld, K., Somani, M., Kaczala, F., Hogland, M., Bhatnagar, A., Hogland, W., … & Kriipsalu, M. (2022). Ecotoxicity Assessment of Fine Fractions Obtained from Landfill Mining. Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste, 26(4), 04022030.
  10. Somani, M., Datta, M., Ramana, G. V., Hölzle, I., Sundaram, R., & Sreekrishnan, T. R. (2022). Effect of depth of landfill on the characteristics of soil-like material of aged waste: A case study of Bhalswa dumpsite, India. Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, 24(5), 1902-1912.
  11. Somani, M., Datta, M., Ramana, G. V., Sreekrishnan, T. R., & Hölzle, I. (2022). Factors affecting the intensity of color released in water extract by soil-like material obtained from mining of old MSW dumps. The Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management, 48(1), 13-25.
  12. Somani, M., & Srivastava, R. K. (2021). Regionalization of solid waste management: a proposal for divisional landfill in the State of Uttar Pradesh, India. Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste, 25(2), 05020006.
  13. Datta, M., Somani, M., Ramana, G. V., & Sreekrishnan, T. R. (2021). Feasibility of re-using soil-like material obtained from mining of old MSW dumps as an earth-fill and as compost. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 147, 477-487.
  14. Datta, M., Gupta, G., & Somani, M. (2021). Geoenvironmental considerations for bulk reuse of MSW residues from old dumps and WTE plants in geotechnical applications. Indian Geotechnical Journal, 51, 63-83.
  15. Somani, M., Srivastava, A. N., Gummadivalli, S. K., & Sharma, A. (2020). Indirect implications of COVID-19 towards sustainable environment: an investigation in Indian context. Bioresource Technology Reports, 11, 100491.
  16. Somani, M., Datta, M., Ramana, G. V., & Sreekrishnan, T. R. (2020). Contaminants in soil-like material recovered by landfill mining from five old dumps in India. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 137, 82-92.
  17. Somani, M., Datta, M., Ramana, G. V., & Sreekrishnan, T. R. (2019). Leachate characteristics of aged soil-like material from MSW dumps: sustainability of landfill mining. Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste, 23(4), 04019014.
  18. Somani, M., Datta, M., Gupta, S. K., Sreekrishnan, T. R., & Ramana, G. V. (2019). Comprehensive assessment of the leachate quality and its pollution potential from six municipal waste dumpsites of India. Bioresource technology reports, 6, 198-206.
  19. Somani, M., Datta, M., Ramana, G. V., & Sreekrishnan, T. R. (2018). Investigations on fine fraction of aged municipal solid waste recovered through landfill mining: Case study of three dumpsites from India. Waste Management & Research, 36(8), 744-755.

Book Publication: Landfill Mining of Legacy MSW: Global Insights and Indian Experience. Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Editors: Mohit Somani; Manoj Datta; G V Ramana. ISBN: 978-981-95-3959-8.

Institute / University Year  Degree Discipline
RGPV University, Bhopal, India 2013   B.E. Civil Engineering
MNNIT Allahabad, Prayagraj, India 2015   M.Tech. Environmental Geotechnology
IIT Delhi, New Delhi, India 2021   Ph.D. Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
  • Bright Spark Lecture, International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), 2025
  • Research Mobility Grant, University of Le Havre, France, 2025
  • International Travel Grant (Young Scientist Award), ANRF, Government of India, 2025
  • Distinction in Doctoral Research Award, IIT Delhi
  • Mrs. Prabha and Dr. R.N. Shahi Research Excellence Award in Geotechnical Engineering, IIT Delhi (Best Ph.D. Thesis Award)
  • Newton-Bhabha Fellowship, British Council
  • Mobilitas Post-doctoral Grant, Government of Estonia (European Union)
  • EMU-SIMP Scholarship, European Mineralogical Union, Italy
  • Visiting Research Scholarship, Campus France, Government of France
  • Editor’s choice paper; Journal of hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste (ASCE)
  • IGS-Smt. Indra Joshi Biennial Award, best paper on “Environmental Geotechnology” published through Indian Geotechnical Society as a co-author
  • ISWA-SWIS Scholarship, International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)
  • RETA (Research Excellence Travel Award), IIT Delhi
  • Best Presentation Award at 2nd YPG Online Conference, ISWA
  • Best Poster Presentation at Industry Day, IIT Delhi
  • ISWA Travel Award, International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)
Editorial Board Member – Scientific Report, Springer Nature
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