MNNIT, BARC scientists to jointly develop reactor for treating medical wastewater

At a time when water pollution through different sources is a big cause for concern, scientists from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT), Prayagraj, and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Kalpakkam, have embarked on a Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS)-sponsored project to evaluate and develop granular sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for removing pharmaceutical compounds from the wastewater in an environmental-friendly and sustainable manner.

Following the project, the wastewater from hospitals and pharmaceutical factories, which contain pharmaceutical compounds, would be safe to be discharged or reused. This important project has been sanctioned by BRNS with funds worth ₹28 lakh for a three-year period. The team that would develop the prototype bioreactor in three years’ time includes principal investigator (PI) Joybrata Mal, an assistant professor from the department of biotechnology, MNNIT and YV Nancharaiah (principal collaborator) and scientific officer from Biofouling and Biofilm Processes Section of BARC, Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu. Radha Rani (Co-PI), an assistant professor from the department of biotechnology, MNNIT, will also be a part of this team.

“Current wastewater treatment plants are not able to effectively remove pharmaceutical compounds which contribute to spread of antimicrobial resistant bacteria. However, with the reactor that we will be developing, the chemical can be easily removed from the water and the same will be safe to be discharged and reused,” said Mal.

He said compounds like hormones, steroids and antibiotics etc are present in the effluent discharged from hospitals and pharmaceutical factories. “This project is aimed at developing effective biological treatment based on bacteria-laden granules for treating effluents from hospitals and pharmaceutical industries,” he added.

Nancharaiah, an expert on bacterial granules and SBRs, said BARC in collaboration with industrial partners is already implementing patented hybrid granular SBR (hgSBR) technology in sewage treatment plants.

The SBR is a fill-and-draw activated sludge system for wastewater treatment. In this system, wastewater is added to a single “batch” reactor, treated to remove undesirable components, and then discharged.

Apart from removing pollutants effectively from wastewater treatment, use of bio-beads or granules will bring down the land footprint and costs of treatment plants significantly. Through this project, BARC is keen to expand the application of bacterial granules (or bio-beads) for treatment of other industrial effluents like those originate from hospitals and pharmaceutical factories, the project PI shared.

The collaboration between MNNIT and BARC would also help in developing a robust biological treatment system for removing toxic pollutants along with recovering treated wastewater for reuse applications, he added.