Institutional R&D projects 

NEBC – 2019 – PRIZE WINNERS

1. Start-up name: Alcheme

Subdomain: Water & Sanitation

Founders :  Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal Professor, IIT Madras  and Mr. Divanshu Kumar

Robotic solution for homogenisation of contents, intervention, and cleaning in septic tanks. Alcheme is developing HomeSEP, a robotic solution for homogenizing and breaking the sludge in the restricted space of septic tank. The key features of HomeSEP include: intrinsic safety, minimalistic design with reduced number of moving parts, modularity to cater to variable sizes of septic tanks and an expandable compact architecture, with low carbon-footprint. The solution is also designed to be cost-effective and easy to operate. HomeSEP will help in overcoming the practice of manual scavenging, provide the sanitary workers with a dignified and healthy way to provide services, and thus create a large societal impact.

Partner organization : Department of Chemistry, IIT Bombay

Project Leader : Dr. C. Subramaniam, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay 

A research project, to develop a rural household nano technology based water purifier, through capacitive deionization, using carbon nanotubes coated cellulosic threads as anode and cathode. It handles water upto 4000 TDS, with less than 5% water wastage, and running on a single 1.5 V cell. As against this, a typical RO system consumes more electricity and has over 50% water wastage.

Objectives: 

• Reduce TDS in water at house-hold level – for upto 4000 TDS

• Wastage <=5%  (as compared to >50% in RO plants)

• Nano-technology filters based electrostatic deionization

• Achieve cost efficiency of less than 1 Rs/litre

WIN is supporting for the following: 

• To convert its laboratory scale product into a prototype for field testing

• 50 prototypes under production – To be tested in various usage conditions with actual users in underdeveloped areas. Additional prototypes may produced at very low incremental cost

• Prepare plan for a sustainable social business enterprise with objective to progress further to enable for production optimized design, mass production and nationwide marketing with a strong social impact focus. 

About Indian Institute of Bombay (IITB) and Dr. C. Subramaniam

Project Leader : Dr. C. Subramaniam is Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry,  Indian Institute of Technology Bombay  

Established in 1958, as an institute if national importance, IIT Bombay has grown from strength to strength to emerge as one of the top technical universities in the world. The institute is recognised worldwide as a leader in the field of engineering education and research. Reputed for the outstanding calibre of students graduating from its undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, the institute attracts the best students from the country for its bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programmes. Research and academic programmes at IIT Bombay are driven by an outstanding faculty, many of whom are reputed for their research contributions internationally.

For more details, visit the IITB  website.

Further Information

1. Publication on  Water Treatment – ACS Applied Material and Interfaces  (click here)

2. IIT Bombay’s very low power water filter –  The Hindu online Article (click here)

3. Bottom-up approach to capacitive deionization – Presentation (click here)

Partner organization : School of Environmental Science, IIT, Kharagpur

Project Leader/s : Prof. M M  Ghangrekar, Prof. B K Dubey, IIT Kharagpur

Objective :

Setup a plant

• Which will take the output of the sewage treatment plant at IIT-Kgp campus (effluent characteristics: of COD of 70 – 100 mg/l and BOD of 30 – 50 mg/l. ) and

• Convert it to potable level water through a multi-stage process which will pilot alternate low-cost technologies.

• Large scale solution for water recycling

• Using alternate low-cost technologies other than RO.

WIN is supporting this project for the following deliverables:

• Solutions for post treatment of UASB effluent to produce potable quality treated water

• Construction and operational guidelines of the plant

Performance indicators:

• Plant performance in terms of cost/l of water

• Recovery and waste percentage

• Preparation of operation and maintenance guide and training module based on national skill qualification framework levels

About  : Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and  Project Leaders 

Project Leader/s:

Prof. Makarand M Ghangrekar , Ph.D (IIT Bombay),Professor, Civil Engineering,  Head of School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Professor-in-Charge of Aditya Choubey Center for Re-Water Research, Head of P.K Sinha Centre for Bioenergy and Renewables. Prof M M Ghangrekar joined the Institute in 2004

Prof. Brajesh Kumar Dubey, Ph.D., University of Florida, Associate Professor,  Civil Engineering, P.K. Sinha Centre for Bioenergy and Renewables. Prof.Dubey joined the institute in 2015 

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, fondly referred to as IITKGP by its kin, right from its inception formed the bridge between India’s ancient wisdom and modern technology. From the inspiration of the tree of knowledge to the motto of yoga results in perfect action, IITKGP echoes Indian ethos of enlightenment. On the other hand, the inspiration was the model of education imparted at institutions like MIT with eminent faculty from Europe who joined the Institute in its formative years.

For more details, visit IIT Kharagpur website

Further Information:

1. Project  presentation (click here)

Development of Low cost, socially acceptable, easy to use, gravity driven and non-electric point of use (POU) water purifier for water disinfection using Surface Engineered Particle (SEP) technology. This provides effective disinfection at low cost and using very low amounts of any additives like silver-nano particles.

Objective:

• Develop a working prototype of SEP+ based point-of-use water filter and complete required lab scale experiments

• Develop 50 prototypes of the proposed water filter and deploy in the field with users.

• Analyze data from the field and finalize the product with cost analysis which can be directly deployable to remove pathogen from drinking water

• Characteristics superior to those already present in the market.

• Develop preliminary business plan for a venture for taking this to a social impact market.

WIN support is to develop the prototype and its deployment with  potential users. After a critical analysis of the field data, the final improvement will be incorporated to convert the prototype to a deployable commercial product. As the product is low-cost and it does not require any electricity, the developed product can be used as a point-of-use water filter in the rural area or slum areas in the city including the schools and hospitals in the remote areas. The product can also be useful in the flood-hit area where electricity and clean drinking water is major crisis.

About :

Principal Investigator : Dr. Chinmay Ghoroi, PhD , B.S. Gelot Chair Professor of Chemical Engineering Associate Dean (Campus Management), Coordinator of Centre for Safety Engineering,Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar 

IIT Gandhinagar, a premier technology institute based at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, is committed to a holistic and modern approach to education in engineering disciplines and beyond; cutting-edge research addressing global challenges; and outreach that enables us to give back. IIT Gandhinagar offers a unique undergraduate and graduate education experience in India. It has launched several unmatched innovations in curriculum as well as research programs.

For more details, visit IITGN website

Further Information:

1. PoU Water Disinfection – Presentation (click to open)

Project : completed

Partner Organization: Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), IIT Bombay

Project Leader : Prof. Bakul  Rao, CTARA, IIT Bombay

Objectives:

• Design a model WATSAN (water supply, sanitation/drainage, stormwater management and solid waste management) system for a town of 20,000 population based on available data and onground conditions. 

• Convert this experience/process into an a state of the art IT-enabled design tool for wider application to other locations.

With WIN Support, CTARA selected Vadgaon Maval and Faizpur towns in Maharashtra for the project. The work encompassed:

• Comprehensive survey of water supply using pipeline mapping, measurement of flow and pressure, and water quality, civil survey with elevations, using remote sensing/satellite data and mapping with open source GIS system. 

• Social survey of 100% households including water connections, toilet positions with soak pits and septic tanks, willingness of household to join the sanitation programme and perception of residents towards current water supply. 

• Using above inputs, the team then designed (i) a comprehensive WATSAN system including an appropriate water supply network,  sewerage network, sanitation scheme, stormwater drainage network and solid waste management plan, using tools like hydraulic modeling, GIS etc., (ii) state of the art process and design tool set for wider application to other towns, (iii) training and other support modules to guide implementing agencies.

About  Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas (CTARA), IIT Bombay and Prof. Bakul Rao

Project Leader : Prof. Bakul Rao, Professor,  CTARA, IITB. PhD from IITB, with more than 28 years of experience in field of environment which ranges from matrix characterization, technology development for sanitation, waste water treatment, FSM and soil remediation, Life cycle assessments, etc. 

Centre for Technology Alternatives for Rural Areas, IIT Bombay, works on the perspectives, policies, and practices pertaining to technology, development, and the interrelationship between the two, for development of rural areas and towns, by bringing interdisciplinary capabilities at IIT Bombay, along with close collaborations with various Governmental Departments at the Centre and State; Industrial Houses, Non-governmental Organizations/Community Based Organizations. CTARA also offers M. Tech. Program in Technology and Development,  Ph.D, and Post Doctoral research programs. 

IIT Bombay is the leading Technology institute in the country. In addition to academic departments,  has several interdisciplinary centres, like CTARA, Tata Centre for Technology and Design, Entrepreneurship Centre, Research Park and the Leading startup incubator SINE, to promote technology oriented entrepreneurship and development initiatives.

For more details, visit the IITB website

Publications:

• Bakul Rao, (2020), “Need for integrated planning of envir. services for small town- a case study” Ist Intl. Conf. on Urban Science and Engg. held at IIT Bombay, 28th– 29th Feb, 2020 (Poster and abstract)

• Bakul Rao (2020), “Exploring the facts associated with semi urban areas of India by household social survey – a case study, 35th Intl. conf. on Solid Waste at Annapolis (MD), Washington titled. (Oral and Poster presentation)/ Paper being published in conference proceedings

Further Information

1. Model  WATSAN – Project presentation (click here)

2. Need for integrated planning of environmental services for small town – A case study (click here)

Status -closed 

Project : Pilot scale in-situ application for arsenic and fluoride removal from the groundwater: A safe drinking water production perspective 

Project Leader: Prof. Manish Kumar, IIT Gandhinagar

The research study aims at developing a potential system by coupling nano technology with bio technology for removal of geogenic contaminants from water at in-situ conditions. In this case, the projects aims at development of Janus particle, capable of removing both Arsenic and Fluoride from water, and then embed these particles with chosen biopolymer for eventual fabrication of nano-polymer system for safe water production. The research systematically investigates how geogenic contaminants are transported and retained in porous media (Biopolymer).

Objectives and Deliverables:

• Generation of Janus particles capable of removal of multi-contaminants of geogenic origin, in this case the Arsenic and Fluoride ions.

• Choose a biopolymer in which the Janus particle can be embedded

• Pilot scale development of in-situ decentralized safe water production system integrated in groundwater-well system.

• Pilot scale application and demonstration of the new system.

• Cost-benefit and life cycle assessment pertaining to the new developed system.

About Indian Institute of Gandhinagar and Project Leader:

Prof. Manish Kumar, PhD [The Univ. of Tokyo]. Assistant Professor – Dept. of Earth Sciences. Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinaga Affiliate, Centre for Sustainable Development, IITGN, He is the associate editor for Groundwater for Sustainable Development and Hydrological Research Letter  

IIT Gandhinagar, a premier technology institute based at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, is committed to a holistic and modern approach to education in engineering disciplines and beyond; cutting-edge research addressing global challenges; and outreach that enables us to give back. IIT Gandhinagar offers a unique undergraduate and graduate education experience in India. It has launched several unmatched innovations in curriculum as well as research programs.

For more details, visit IITGN website

Publications:

• 1. Manish Kumar*, R. Goswami, A.K. Patel, M. Srivastava, N. Das. (2020) “Scenario, Perspective and Mechanism of Arsenic and Fluoride Co-occurrence in the groundwater: A critical Review” Chemosphere, 249

  2. K. Taki, S. Choudhary, S. Gupta and Manish Kumar* (2020). Evaluation of Geotechnical Properties of Municipal Sewage Sludge for Sustainable Utilization, Journal of Cleaner Production. 

Further Information:

1. Project Presentation (click here)

Project Status : Dormant

Project Leader: Prof. Manish Kumar, IIT Gandhinagar

This research project is to investigate the end use residential water consumption such as toilet, kitchen, washing clothes, bath and outdoor with respect to the water quality, seasonal variation and variation across socio-economic groups in Gandhinagar. Both dry season and rainy season are compared along with the consideration of the regional variation i.e. both urban and rural areas as well as life style and in given water availability. In addition, the pressure and flow rate influencing the total and end use water consumption patterns will be examined. 

The end uses estimates are determined based on both (i) a survey and also (ii) the direct measurement method using the digital meters that can display the flow and the volume consumed.

Understanding the above usage patterns can enable intelligent partial recycling of water within the house or society or community, with partial or no treatment. E.g. usage of waste water from kitchen may be usable in garden, or from washing clothes can be fed to flush toilets. This has potential to reduce the fresh water requirements in houses and communities, thus saving of water, reducing pressure on water supply departments, and increase effective availability of water for users.

This project is a unique study in India of its type for water management and sustainability.

About Indian Institute of Gandhinagar and Project Leader

Prof. Manish Kumar, PhD [The Univ. of Tokyo]. Assistant Professor – Dept. of Earth Sciences. Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinaga Affiliate, Centre for Sustainable Development, IITGN, He is the associate editor for Groundwater for Sustainable Development and Hydrological Research Letter

IIT Gandhinagar, a premier technology institute based at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, is committed to a holistic and modern approach to education in engineering disciplines and beyond; cutting-edge research addressing global challenges; and outreach that enables us to give back. IIT Gandhinagar offers a unique undergraduate and graduate education experience in India. It has launched several unmatched innovations in curriculum as well as research programs.

For more details, visit IITGN website

Publication:

AjmalRoshan, ManishKumar: Water end-use estimation can support the urban water crisis management: A critical review, Journal of Environmental Management, Elsevier, Volume 268, 15 August 2020,   

Further Information:

• 1. Project Poster (click here)

  2. Project Presentation (click here)

  3. Final Project Report (click here)

Project Status : Dormant 

Partner organization : IIT Gandhinagar 

Project Leader/s : Prof. Babji Srinivasan and Prof. Pranab Mohapatra, IIT Gandhinagar

The main focus of this project is towards development of sustainable cyber physical water control and management system 

Objectives and Deliverables: 

• Phase I: Assessment of existing facility at Kudasan, Gandhinagar: Includes hydrodynamic analysis of the network,  identification of  a cost-effective SCADA system specification, component specification and architecture for Kudasan, Gandhinagar 

• Phase II: Development of Benchmark system for Gujarat main WDN including monitoring and control of flow, leakages and storage

• Phase III: Monitoring of Water Distribution in IITGN Campus, using cost effective sensors and 5G Loral communication network to showcase as a model pilot project.

• Phase IV: Development of transient analysis approaches for water distribution systems to apply to water distribution systems in remote and rural areas

• Phase V: Develop a simple and efficient distribution system for remote places and leakage detection through optimised sensor placement in the network

About Indian Institute of Gandhinagar and Project Leaders

Project Leader/s : Prof. Babji Srinivasan,  Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering, IIT Gandhinagar. He has done Ph.D from Texas Tech University 

Prof. Pranab Mohapatra, Professor, Civil Engineering, IIT Gandhinagar. He has done Phd from IIT Kanpur

IIT Gandhinagar, a premier technology institute based at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, is committed to a holistic and modern approach to education in engineering disciplines and beyond; cutting-edge research addressing global challenges; and outreach that enables us to give back. IIT Gandhinagar offers a unique undergraduate and graduate education experience in India. It has launched several unmatched innovations in curriculum as well as research programs.

For more details, visit IITGN website

Publications: 

• Mankad, Jaivik; Borse, Dinesh; Das, Laya; Padhiyar, Nitin and Srinivasan, Babji, “Develop. of operational resilience metrics for Water Distribn. systems”, in Resilience, Response, and Risk in Water Systems: Shifting Mgmt. and Natural Forcings paradigms, Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2020. https://legacy.iitgn.ac.in/publication.htm 

• Rahul M.,  Sai, M., Joshi, A., Das, L, Mohapatra M. and Babji Srinivasan, Sensor placement for Leak Localization in Water Distribn. Networks using Machine Learning accepted for presentation in IEEE sponsored NCON 2020 conf. in Pattaya Thailand, Mar 11-14, 2020, https://icdamt.ict.up.ac.th/

Further Information :

1. Cyber Physical Water – Project  Presentation (click here)

2. Sensor Placement State Estimation Presentation (click here)

3. A Report on Village level water supply (click here)

4. A study presentation on Transient Analysis (click here)