Research Projects

India has approximately 300 large and 8000 small-scale biopharma companies involved in manufacturing, selling, and distributing over 340 Fixed Dose Combination drugs. As pharmaceutical products such as antibiotics are increasingly used in health, agriculture, aquaculture, animal farming, and vaccines, biopharmaceutical fermentation wastewater (BFW) is generated. BFW is composed of fermentation process products, heavy metal sludge, antibiotic residues, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). It is characterized by high COD, BOD, TDS, TSS, phosphorous, nitrogen, and low C/N ratio. Traditional treatment methods include membrane filtration, landfilling, incineration, composting, anaerobic digestion, and enzymatic treatments. In India, common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) use aerobic activated sludge (WAS) to treat biopharmaceutical wastewater. However, ASP is insufficient for treating biopharmaceutical wastes due to the presence of antibiotics and ARGs. Anaerobic digestion could be a viable option for treating BFW due to its characteristics. Studies have confirmed that anaerobic digestion can significantly decrease antibiotic concentrations in the effluent. However, removal efficiency varies depending on operating conditions and substrate pre-treatment methods. Physicochemical methods, such as hydrothermal, irradiation, alkaline, and persulfate oxidation, have been combined with anaerobic digestion to increase biodegradability and biomethane production potential. Particle Electron Pulse (PEF) is an alternate pre-treatment technology for wastewater disinfection, which can efficiently remove pathogens like E.coli, Bacillus cereus, Pseudomonas putida, and P. fluorescens from drinking water and hospital wastewater. This proposal proposes pre-treatment using thermal pressure PEF irradiation to identify the best method for BFW treatment, optimizing the entire treatment system and ensuring environmental safety by controlling ARG release and untreated BFW release into the environment.