Research Projects

Rationale of the research: Prevalent concern over the presence of pharmaceutical active compounds (PACs) and their adverse impacts on the environment due to increasing concentrations in water bodies has prompted the need to investigate cost-effective and environmentally benign treatment techniques. Pre-treatment using macrophytic remediation and biocoagulation can significantly reduce contaminant loads and suspended solids, creating favourable conditions for subsequent adsorption processes. However, adsorption alone may not always achieve complete elimination of PACs; hence, coupling it with advanced methods such as nanofiltration could provide a more efficient and reliable approach for their effective removal. Hence, the development of efficient technology comprising macrophytic pretreatment, biosorption and nanofiltration in an integrated prototype reactor towards intensification of PAC possessed wastewater is the main focus of current research. Scientific objectives: Preparation of efficient biosorbents from natural precursors and their characteristics; collection and characterization of macrophytes from nearby vicinity for pre-treatment; isolation and characterization of PAC possessed wastewater, treatment of PAC containing wastewater under the influence of parameters viz., initial concentration, pH, temperature, time, dosage of biosorbent, agitation speed; parametric AI optimization; process modelling; sorption kinetics, isotherms, thermodynamics; safe disposal; eco-toxicological study; cost analysis; techno-economic analysis; and life cycle analysis of entire process. Hypothesis: Biomasses are available plentifully in the nature and claimed to be highly qualified precursor for developing biosorbents possessing higher surface area and micropore volume. Various macrophytes are also abundantly obtainable in the nature and they have been already successfully used in healing various micro-pollutants and heavy metals. Hence, it is hypothesized that these wastes and living species could also be used for the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater. Estimate of the significance to the field of research: Phytopretreatment, biosorption and nanofiltration alone has received a major boost owing to their ecofriendliness, costeffectiveness, less sludge generation ability and low maintenance. Hence, technology development through amalgamation of three methods to intensify the bioinspired treatment of PAC containing water in prototype reactor is the need of the hour. Application: The proposed phyto-biosorption-nanofiltration technique in the prototype hybrid reactor can be commendably applied for the treatment of PAC-containing wastewater, offering a sustainable and efficient solution for mitigating pharmaceutical pollution in aquatic environments.