Executive Summary : | More than 100 million Indians live in areas with poor water quality. Hazardous organic waste present in the water is one of the prime reasons for its poor quality. An efficient method to remove organic contamination is through the Electrochemical Advanced Oxidation Process (EAOP) which can remove even contaminants not degradable by means of biological advanced oxidation processes. Recently, Boron-Doped-Diamond-(BDD) has been considered world-wide as a promising alternative electrode coating material for electrochemical oxidation of organic contaminants, due to improved OH mediated oxidation, resulting from its superior physical and chemical properties when compared with Ti and Pt based electrodes coated with other materials. In India, there are limited efforts towards BDD electrode development for water treatment using EAOP. Furthermore, the BDD and the substrate on which it is coated will need to be customized for Indian conditions. To address these needs, this proposal deals with BDD coating development on commonly used Ti substrate and cost effective steel substrates, hitherto unexplored, with Cr interlayer and novel Ti-6Al-4V interlayer. These substrates and interlayers are envisaged to facilitate BDD coatings with improved adhesion strength, chemical inertness and electrode erosion control, thus leading to electrodes that will be superior from both performance and cost perspectives. Besides, BDD coating on patterned textured substrates, to increase surface area, will be explored to enhance the removal rate of organic pollutants. The partnering start-up collaborator is expected to commercialize the BDD electrodes based on the technology developed here in this proposal. This research and developmental work will thus pave the way for establishing BDD based electrode manufacturing facility in India that will serve water treatment facilities providing Indians with good quality clean water at affordable prices. |
