Research Projects

Objective: Designing of indegenious semi-mechanical pilot plant for batch production of activated carbon.; Establishment of proccess technology to produce quality-specific activated carbon in a cost effective way from agro-wastes.; Providing solution to the agro-waste management.; Preparation of robust, hydrophobic, porous carbon-foam based materials from the inhouse developed activated carbon followed by its proper use in the canteen wastewater treatment module.

Summary: The proposal aims development of process technology for the production of quality-specific activated carbon from biomass wastes. The following processes are required to convert the biomass into the activated carbon: Collection of leaves Shredding of leaves Removal of dust Hydrothermal treatment of leaves Washing of hydrochar Chemical mixing Pyrolysis and activation Washing and drying of activated carbon In order to make the process semi-mechanized, the following design of the pilot plant can be proposed. We believe that the proposed design will be cost-effective and reliable system to get the desired output. Different quality of activated carbon will be produced by varying the process parameters and will be characterized in detail to evaluate the quality of the product. The activated carbon produced will be further utilized for wastewater treatment. The activated carbon materials with high surface area will be utilized to prepare robust hydrophobic carbon-foam by impregnation of activated carbon on polyurethane foam. These polyurethane based foam materials are of immensely helpful due to its wide range of pore (microporous & mesoporous) distribution. As an artefact the unwanted suspended solids and hydrated elements will be removed after passing through this specially developed foam based system. As we are planning for the waste water treatment plant at community level, large scale set up for preparing polyurethane based foam of particular dimension is highly required.