Context
Low and medium-scale enterprises in automobile, food, and other sectors would soon have access to a new wastewater treatment technology that would reduce the high costs of existing technologies for handling oily wastewater generated at their source points.
The technology
- The new technology, which consists of an affordable electric field-assisted membrane separation device for oily wastewater treatment, is developed by Dr Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department in Jadavpur University, Kolkata.
- It has been built with support from the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies programme of the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
- This technology uses a combination of Electrocoagulation and Electroflotation Enhanced Membrane Module (ECEFMM) techniques for waste water treatment.
- So far, the separation technology running in different sectors for treating such oily wastewater involves the installation of an electrolytic cell or DAF followed by membrane unit.
- However, installing two separate units requires a high footprint area compared to the present unit, where two-unit operations are being assimilated in a single unit.
Electrocoagulation
- It is a broad-spectrum treatment technology that removes total suspended solids (TSS), heavy metals, emulsified oils, bacteria and other contaminants from water.
- This technique that uses electrical charge for changing the particle surface charge, allowing suspended matter to form aggregates.
Electroflotation
- Electroflotation is the separation of suspended particles from water using hydrogen and oxygen bubbles generated by passing electricity through water.
Focus on manufacturing technologies
- The Government has set a growth target for the manufacturing sector from 16% of GDP to reach 25% of GDP by 2025.
- The National Manufacturing Policy and the emphasis on “Make in India” is a powerful strategy for economic development.
- In accordance with this objective, DST has initiated this program for developing Advanced Manufacturing Technologies in October 2015.
- For this, a high level Expert Advisory Committee (EAC-AMT) was set up, chaired by Prof. Rudra Pratap, Center for Nano Science & Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
- Five thrust areas were selected for developing novel manufacturing technologies:
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- Nano materials & surfaces
- Robotics & automation
- Precision manufacturing
- Manufacturing process of Pharmaceuticals & Bio manufacturing
- Advanced forming & near net shaped processing
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