The Fourth Asian Particle Technology Symposium (APT2009) was held in Hotel Ashok, New Delhi, India during September 14-16, 2009. 310 delegates from 17 countries participated in the deliberations spread over 3 days. The conference was jointly organized by the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) and Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers (IIME) in close collaboration with several professional societies around the world including Society of Particle Technology, Japan (SPTJ), The Association of Powder Process Industry and Engineering (APPIE), Japan, Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE), Materials Research Society of India (MRSI), Pharmaceutical Exports Promotion Council (Pharmexcil), India, Powder Metallurgy Association of India (PMAI) and The Indian Ceramic Society.

The conference consisted of 13 theme symposia on various important facets of particle technology and included 9 plenary speakers, 72 invited talks from eminent experts in the field both from India and abroad and 142 contributed papers including 55 posters. The largest overseas contingent was from Japan consisting of 44 delegates followed by Taiwan (15), United States of America (USA) (12) and others including Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, Thailand, The Netherlands, Turkey and United Kingdom (UK).

The conference was well attended by representatives from industry, academia as well as national research laboratories and institutions across the world. Just to name a few, participants from industries like Aditya Birla Science and Technology Center, Associated Soapstone Company, Battelle-Korea Laboratory, CAEZEN Technologies, Dow Chemicals, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Exwold Technology Ltd., ANSYS Fluent, General Motors India, Glaxo Smith Kline, Hindustan Unilever Ltd., Hosokawa Micron, Indian Space Research Organization, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Glenmark Generics Research Center, Ispat Industries, Matrix Laboratories Ltd., Nippon Steel Corporation, Nuclear Fuel Complex, Piramal Life Sciences, Protos Engineering, Rio Tinto, Sanyo Trading Co. Ltd., Suiden Co. Ltd., Tahisho Pharma, Tata Chemicals Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Tata Steel, Technofarm AXESZ Co., Tridiagonal Solutions, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, and Wolkem India Ltd., National research laboratories or institutions like Advanced Materials and Processes Research Institute (AMPRI), All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Institute of Microbial Technology, Institute of Minerals & Materials Technology, National Chemical Laboratory, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, National Metallurgical Laboratory, National Physical Laboratory, National Research and Development Council, and delegates from academia like Doshisha University, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Madras, IIT Roorkee, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, Indian School of Mines University, Institute of Technology Banaras Hindu University, Jadavpur University, Kansai University, Kobe Gakuin University, Kyoto University, Lunghwa University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nagoya University, National Taipei University, Nanya Institute of Technology, National University of Singapore, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Norwegian University, Osaka Prefecture University, Rutgers University, Soka University, The University of Tokyo, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, University of Florida, University of Leeds, University of Texas, University of Tokyo, University of Toronto have attended the conference.

Inaugural Function (Monday, September 14, 2009)
The first session of the conference was the inauguration of Asian Particle Technology Symposium, APT 2009 and PARTECINDIA, the Technical Exhibition. The symposium entitled "Innovations in Particle Technology" was inaugurated by Dr. R. A. Mashelkar, FRS. He delivered a wonderful talk, appropriately titled as "Changing geography of science, technology and innovation". He pointed how the centre of gravity of global innovation is progressively shifting towards Asia, in particular China and India. Earlier Dr. Pradip, Chair, APT 2009 welcomed the delegates and invitees to APT 2009. Mr. A. D. Baijal, Group Director (Global Minerals), Tata Steel and current President, Indian Institute of Mineral Engineers (IIME) and Mr. L. Pugazhenthy, the immediate past president, Indian Institute of Metals (IIM) delivered the welcome addresses on behalf of the organizing professional societies. Professor H. Emi, President, Association of Powder Process Industry and Engineering (APPIE), Japan has also addressed the delegates. Professor S. P. Mehrotra, co-chair, APT 2009 introduced the chief guest and Dr. A. K. Gupta, Director, AMPRI, Bhopal and the convener of APT 2009 proposed the vote of thanks. The souvenir of the symposium as well as the CD containing the conference proceedings were released during the inauguration. All the dignitaries then moved to the Exhibition Hall for inauguration of PARTECINDIA 2009, the technical exhibition organized on this occasion.

Theme Symosia (September 14-16, 2009)
In a departure from the usual manner of organization of a technical conference, APT2009 was organized in the form of a number of special theme symposia covering fundamentals of particle science and technology and its applications in diverse industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, minerals and materials. The details of the theme symposia are provided in Table 1. The total number of papers presented during the conference was 223, consisting of 9 plenary and 72 invited talks and 142 contributed papers including 55 posters.

Short Oral and Poster Sessions (Tuesday, September 15, 2009)
The Poster session was also organized on the lines of the theme symposia and 55 posters were presented during the conference. One of the novelties of APT2009 was organization of a Short Oral session followed by the Poster session to promote participation of students. Each speaker was provided 10 min for the oral presentation, instead of 15 min for the regular oral presentation. Based on the list of posters accepted for presentation, the Short Oral session was organized on the following themes:

A total of 24 such short oral presentations were made by students from different educational institutes from India and abroad. An eminent committee consisting of Professor P. C. Kapur (Formerly at IIT, Kanpur, India), Professor D. Khakhar (IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India), Professor Y. Mori (Doshisha University, Japan), Professor J. Shibata (Kansai University, Japan) and Professor S. Subramanian (IISc, Bangalore, India) reviewed the posters and selected 5 papers as the best posters. Details of these award-winning posters are provided in Table 2.

PARTEC Technical Exhibition
As part of APT2009, an international technical exhibition, PARTECINDIA 2009 was also held. Dr. Mashelkar inaugurated the exhibition on September 14, 2009 and mentioned Tatas to be pioneers in many areas. He has also referred to Tata Nano as an excellent example of global innovation from India. There were 17 stalls in the technical exhibition and the complete list of participating companies or organizations is given below:

Conference Sponsors
Despite the economic downturn, APT2009 was able to attract a number of industrial sponsors in addition to the government agencies. The main sponsor of the conference was the Tata Group of companies (Tata Sons, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and Tata Chemicals Ltd.). The government agencies, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Department of Science and Technology (DST) together with Department of Earth Sciences were the platinum sponsors. The Gold sponsors were Hosokawa Micron India Ltd. and Matrix Laboratories Ltd. The National Research Development Council (NRDC), Hindustan Unilever Ltd. and Associated Soapstone Distributing Co. Pvt. Ltd. were the Silver sponsors and the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Government of India was the Co-sponsor.

Cultural Event and Conference Dinner (Tuesday, September 15, 2009)
The conference dinner was hosted by the Tata Group of Companies. Professor S. P. Mehrotra, co-chair APT 2009 welcomed all the guests to the conference dinner. He thanked the Tata Group and invited Dr. Pradip to welcome the delegates.

Dr. Pradip welcomed all the delegates on behalf of the Tata Group to the dinner. He briefly narrated the glorious history of Tatas mentioning that Tatas are the pioneers in several Indian industry domains. He made a special reference to the way Tata Sons has institutionalized the trusteeship concept. More than 2/3rd of Tata Sons is owned by charitable institutions and thus more than two thirds of the wealth created by the group goes back directly to the society - a unique model of philanthropy, corporate societal responsibility and values. He then provided a brief overview of the group companies giving the feel of 'touching lives - everyday'. A video 'Tatas - Touching lives everyday' was then presented. All were visibly moved by the philosophy and the accomplishments of the Tata Group. Dr. Robin Batterham, Group Chief Scientist from Rio Tinto, Australia thanked Tatas for sponsoring the dinner and the overall event on behalf of the delegates to APT 2009. He has also invited all the delegates of APT2009 to the prestigious International Mineral Processing Congress (IMPC), being organized by The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy in Brisbane, Australia next year.

The venue of the next APT Symposium was then announced. Professor Reginald Tan and Professor Chi-Hwa Wang, the co-chairs of APT 2012 from Singapore also offered their grateful thanks to the Tata group for arranging such a wonderful symposium and a lovely cultural evening followed by dinner in New Delhi and invited participants for the next event at Singapore.

Earlier Ms Shovana Narayan and her team enthralled the audience for about an hour with their exquisite exposition of Kathak dance.

Valedictory Function (Wednesday, September 16, 2009)
The valedictory function was well attended, despite being the last session of the conference. There were nearly 150 delegates during the valedictory session. The conference chairman, Dr. Pradip briefly discussed how the conference was organized and thanked all the delegates, sponsors and exhibitors, in addition to the conveners of various theme symposia, plenary and invited speakers, and members of various APT2009 committees. Prof. S. P. Mehrotra, co-chairman of APT2009 also addressed the gathering. Prof. M. Senna gave away the Best Poster awards to the respective authors of the awardwinning posters. Subsequently, Professor Senna, Professor Gilbert Walker, Professor Brij Moudgil, Professor B. Pitchumani and Professor Chi-Hwa Wang spoke on the occasion and commended various committees of APT2009 for organizing the conference well and in a professional manner. Prof. Chi-Hwa Wang, co-chair of APT2012, invited all the delegates to the next APT to be held in Singapore during 2012. He has also announced that the registration fee for APT2012 will be waived off for all the first authors of the award winning posters at APT2009.