BITS Pilani Team Uses Electric Pulses to Make Wastewater Reusable
Owing to biosafety concerns, such wastewater is conventionally treated chemically and sterilised using steam before disposal.
Hyderabad:Researchers at BITS Pilani, Hyderabad campus, have developed a system to treat wastewater from vaccine and biopharmaceutical manufacturing with reduced use of chemicals and heat, while enabling reuse of water and recovery of energy.
The technology has been tested on biopharmaceutical fermentation wastewater in laboratory conditions. The team is working with Hyderabad-based Biological E. Limited to scale up the system for industrial application.
Prof. Sankar Ganesh Palani, who led the research, said the current treatment process depends on significant chemical use and thermal energy. “Our integrated approach demonstrates that it is possible to safely disinfect this complex wastewater using electrical pulses while simultaneously recovering valuable resources including reusable water and clean energy,” he said.
Biopharmaceutical wastewater typically contains large quantities of microorganisms used in production, along with antibiotic residues and resistance genes. Owing to biosafety concerns, such wastewater is conventionally treated chemically and sterilised using steam before disposal.
The proposed system replaces the sterilisation stage with short electrical pulses, which, according to laboratory results, eliminate more than 99.9999 per cent of bacteria, achieving a six-log reduction comparable to autoclaving.
Following disinfection, the water undergoes biological treatment that removes over 90 per cent of organic pollutants during tests. Subsequent membrane filtration produces water of a quality suitable for reuse.
The treatment process also generates sludge, which is processed in a reactor developed by the researchers to produce methane-rich biogas. This gas can be used to meet part of the plant’s energy requirements.
The study was carried out by Prof. Palani, Prof. Mithun Mondal and research scholar Ravindra Dnyanaba Kulal, with support from the department of science and technology under the Water Technology Initiative. An Indian patent application has been filed for the electrical disinfection method, titled Voltage-Assisted Inactivation of Bacteria in Wastewater (VAIBaW), and the research paper is under peer review.
The researchers indicated that the system could be extended to wastewater from other pharmaceutical and industrial units generating high pollution loads. For industries that consume large quantities of water, recovering water for reuse while generating energy from the waste could reduce both freshwater demand and the amount of wastewater requiring disposal.
