A University of Kansas doctoral student has won national recognition for his environmentally friendly chemical research.

The university says Madhav Ghanta is one of two winners nationwide of the Kenneth G. Hancock Memorial Award in Green Chemistry, presented by the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute. Ghanta received the honor this week in Washington.

Ghanta is a doctoral student in chemical and petroleum engineering. He was part of a team that developed a greener way to make the industrial chemical ethylene oxide.

Ghanta called the current technology “wasteful.” He says about 15 percent of the converted ethylene is lost to burning, producing 3.4 million tons of carbon dioxide. The new technique conserves energy and minimizes waste.