Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): A team of researchers from the Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalay (RGPV), Bhopal, has developed a low-cost and highly effective chemical for purifying water.
The material, called Cadmium Selenide (CdSe), absorbs both organic as well as inorganic dyes, thus making the water usable for irrigation, gardening etc. It is extensively used to clean water bodies in which dyes are dissolved, mainly in areas where textile or garment industrial units are located.
The research was conducted by the Nanotechnology Department of the RGPV. The research team was led by Gagan Kant Tripathi, assistant professor, School of Nanotechnology and assisted by M.Tech students Ambikesh Soni, Priyavand Bundela, Pradeep Kumar Khiriya and Purnima Swarup Khare. Their research paper on the topic has been published in the Journal of Optical and Quantum Electronics, New York, a Science Citation Index Journal.
Gagan Kant Tripathi, assistant professor, School of Nanotechnology |
Tripathi told Free Press that water pollution, especially due to industries, has emerged as a major problem all over the world. In India, where we are facing scarcity of potable water, the problem is even more acute. Against this backdrop, a cheap and effective method of treating polluted water can be of immense help, he said.
Chemicals for treating water contaminated with dyes are available commercially in the markets but they are very costly. “The minimum market price is Rs 5,000 per 5 gms,” he said.
The team has prepared the same chemical in the lab of RGPV at a cost Rs 600 per 10 gms. “Moreover our technique is simple and does not require high-end machinery,” Tripathi said.
He said that they worked for around six months to produce the chemical. Its efficiency is around 98 % which means that it can absorb around 98 % of the dissolved pollutants; he said adding that the chemical, which is in powder form, can be mass produced after obtaining a patent.
