Research

Engineering Sciences

Title :

Pharmaceutical Industrial Effluent Treatment through Plasma process for Improved Recycling

Area of Research :

Engineering Sciences

Focus Area :

Environmental Engineering, Plasma Technology

Principal Investigator :

Mr. Vineeth Kumar S R, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka(56002)

Co-PI:

Dr. K Durga Prasad, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka (560058), Dr. Kavita Verma, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka (560013)

Contact info :

Total Budget (INR):

50,95,279

Details

Executive Summary :

The study aims to upgrade the wastewater treatment plant at a Pharmaceutical Industry by improving the Activated Sludge Process (ASP) using process modeling and implementing a high-throughput plasma-based advanced oxidation system. This system will generate high-quality treated water for secondary purposes, which consume nearly 50 KLD of freshwater. The industry currently uses 15 KLD of recycled water for gardening and landscaping, but there is potential to reuse the remaining 65 KLD of treated water with improved quality. The research aims to develop a working model for the ASP using BioWin174, which mimics the current performance of the plant and allows operators to take control actions based on effluent results to maintain the desired secondary use permit limit. After this modification, the high-throughput cold atmospheric plasma discharge-based advanced oxidation system will be used to improve the quality of treated water. Plasma-generated reactive species have high oxidation potential and eliminate many stable organic micropollutants at low temperature, atmospheric pressure, and without hazardous chemicals. The high-throughput plasma-based advanced oxidation system used in this project consists of a new improved indigenously designed ozone generator system, which results in relatively high ozone output with the least specific energy consumption. A lab-scale model consisting of two units of ozone reactors was successfully tested for kitchen and laundry wastewater treatment. The project will involve a lab-scale demonstration of the 5 KLD system, with broad objectives including quantifying the degradation of pharmaceutical pollutants and disinfecting the wastewater using a high-throughput cold atmospheric plasma discharge-based advanced oxidation system. The proposed up-gradation of the existing ASP at industrial CETP will help reduce BWSSB freshwater consumption, leading to a saving of Rs. 15.3 lakh annually.

Equipments :

Organizations involved