Indira Jayaweera, Ph.D., focuses on membrane development for water purification, petroleum hydrocarbon recovery, and the development of carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technologies based on solvent absorption. She also has extensive experience in the development of subcritical and supercritical solvent systems for waste disposal, material recovery and treatment of coal.

Jayweera is currently the co-project leader on development of carbon capture from IGCC gas streams using AC-ABC process for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). She is also the project leader on development of mixed-salt based solvent technology for carbon capture for post-combustion applications.

Selected high-level development projects led by Jayaweera include sub-critical water technology for explosive disposal, removal of heavy petroleum components from soil (for the Department of Defense and DOE), and carbonate-aided supercritical water technology known as Assisted Hydrothermal Oxidation (AHO) for disposal of chlorinated waste (MHI, Japan). In 2002, the Japanese Government bestowed the “Golden Award” on SRI’s AHO technology. Currently, a full-scale plant based on AHO  is in operation at Tokyo Bay, Japan.

Jayaweera has published numerous research papers on vapor and aqueous phase reaction chemistry, and holds nine issued patents relating to hydrothermal processes and the CO₂ capture technology based on the Chilled Ammonia Process. She also has pending patent applications pertaining to fabrication and testing of hollow fiber membranes for gas separation and liquid separation. 

Jayaweera received her Ph.D., in chemical kinetics from Dalhousie University, Canada, and her B.S. in chemistry with honors from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Jayaweera was named SRI Fellow in 2017.