| Sanction Date: | 14.03.2023 | |||
| W.E.F | 30.03.2023 | |||
| Project Category | SG | |||
| Year | 2022-2023 | |||
| Project Duration | 2 Year | |||
| BTA : | Handling of Waste | |||
| Project Site/ State/ Districts/ Villages Covered: |
Shimla, Himachal Pradesh |
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| Organization/ Implementation Agency: | Department of Biotechnology Himachal Pradesh University Summer Hill, Shimla-171 005 | |||
| Project Partners: | S.No. | Name | ||
| 1. | Adjoining hotels, restaurant, home stay, household around Shimla city and Villages of Distt. Shimla of HP in partnership with Deptt. of Panchayati Raj Govt. of HP | |||
| Lead Proponent: | Dr. Ravi Kant Bhatia |
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| Project Brief Description: | Water is the elixir of life and is vital to the existence of all living organisms, but due to the burgeoning increase in population, urbanization, and industrialization in India, including Himachal Pradesh, this valued resource is being threatened. The majority of tourist destinations, rural and urban areas have no proper sewerage and sewage treatment systems, and most of the time, various settlements such as hotels, restaurants, homestays, households, in the rural areas and adjoining areas of urban settlements released untreated waste water to nearby rivers, water bodies (streams, lakes), or in open fields results in soil and water pollution, along with various water-borne diseases and infections. Management of waste water is worse in smaller towns and urban areas due to a lack of waste water treatment facilities. An ever-increasing population and increased tourist activities in the Himalayan Region, self-perpetuating the problem of water shortage and overload of waste water. The Himalayan Region is confronted with issues such as diminishing forest cover as a result of forest fires, as well as waste water management and treatment due to the typical requirement of specific microorganisms that can survive and work efficiently in low temperature and high altitude conditions. Both of these issues will eventually push this region into water scarcity. Pine needles shed from the pine trees during the summer cover the ground in a thick, clear net and hinder the growth of grass, microorganisms, and other plants due to a lack of air flow. The needles, being highly flammable in nature, result in a number of incidents of forest fire in the Himalayan Region that not only pollute the environment but also take entire biodiversity into their gulp, causing an estimated Rs. 6 crore loss to the Himalayan biodiversity besides water scarcity in the affected regions. However, these two issues of waste water management in the rural tourist destinations and forest fires caused by pine needles can be solved through scientific interventions. Given the foregoing about all these problems, the present research proposal has been planned to develop biochar from pine needles and its infusion with highly effective specialised microorganisms to develop hybrid Bio-Tubes for the treatment of polluted water from hotels, restaurants, homestays, households etc. in adjoining areas of tourist destinations, which can be further used for different domestic and agricultural activities. This concept will aid in the utilisation of problematic inflammable pine needles as a sustainable basis for the development of hybrid bioremediation products that can help to boost the economy of the Himalayan Region's local peoples and other stakeholders, while also providing numerous environmental benefits to protect the Himalayan Region from devastating forest fires and aid in the sustainable management and treatment of waste water. The successful demonstration of the proposed project will contribute to the design and development of innovative hybrid Bio-Tubes using pine needle based biochar and native microbial consortia for the treatment of waste water and provide new entrepreneurial opportunities to the local communities through the sustainable management of pine needles and polluted water | |||
| Beneficiaries/ Stakeholders: | Entire communities in the Himalayan region, including villages, panchayats, municipal corporations, housing societies, industries, public and private institutions, hotels, etc., will get benefits from the successful implementation of the proposed activities. The project will provide a scientific solution to manage all types of waste water generated through different commercial setups. Presently, most of these setups release the waste water into open areas, causing soil and water pollution and creating a breeding ground for various infectious agents. The present proposal provides a scientific solution to these problems on a sustainable basis through the development of hybrid BioTubes that can efficiently treat waste water, prevent forest fires, and result in economic gain in the form of new employment opportunities for the local communities. |
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| Activity Chart (For 2 years) | Click Here | |||
| Total Grants (in Rs.) | Rs. 48,90,880 (Rupees: Forty eight lakh ninety thousand eight hundred eighty only) | |||
| 1st Installment (in Rs.) : | Rs. 32,30,960 (Rupees: Thirty two lakh thirty thousand nine hundred sixty only) | |||
| Project Objectives | Quantifiable Deliverables | Monitoring Indicators |
| • Identification and judicious selection of waste
biomass from Western Himalayan Region, its
transformation to biochar and further
functionalization • Development of microbial consortia using most potent microbes and their immobilisation in biochar matrix • Designing, fabrication and optimisation of hybrid Bio-Tube for the treatment of domestic waste water • Standardisation of hybrid bio-tube under diverse conditions for its reusability after desorption of pollutants • Compilation of technical document and demonstration of technology to local peoples for entrepreneurial opportunities |
• Technology for
conversion of Pine
needles into value
added Bio-char for
domestic wastewater
treatment • Lab scale Hybrid Biotubes for treatment of polluted water • New entrepreneurial opportunities for local communities in collaboration with industry. • 1 Patent/4 Publications |
• Pine needle converted
to bio-char (Kg) • Hybrid BioTubes developed (No.) • Entrepreneurial opportunities developed (Nos.) • No. of patents (No.) • Research articles (Nos.) |
| S.No. | Name (Sanctioned) | Salary (Sanctioned) |
| 1. | 02 JRF/ Project Associate | @ Rs.31,000/- + HRA |
| S.No. | Name of Equipment (Sanctioned) | Cost (in INR) |
| 1. | (Stackable Incubator shaker @ 7.50 Lakh, Muffle furnace encompassing PID Controller with Nitrogen or Argon gas assembly @ 5.00 Lakh, Ultra High Vacuum Pump @ 0.70 Lakh, Hydrothermal setup @ 0.80 Lakh and Microcentrifuge @ 1.00 Lakh. | 15,00,000/- |
