Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], October 12 : A new nanotechnology-based water purification system that aims to clean polluted rivers and reduce industrial waste was unveiled at the inauguration of India's first Semiconductor Innovation Museum, T-Chip SIM, in Hyderabad on Sunday. The technology, developed by researchers at the University of Hyderabad, promises to help restore the city's historic Musi River by converting wastewater into reusable, clean water.
Speaking toat the sidelines of the launch, Professor Swati Ghosh Acharya from the University of Hyderabad said that her team has been working on advanced materials designed to tackle industrial and urban water pollution. "We have been developing these nanomaterials specifically for dealing with toxic heavy metal ions, high levels of TDS, BOD, and COD, which are released from different industries and also from urban communities," she said.
Professor Acharya explained that the newly developed AI-integrated nanotechnology filter can act as a powerful tertiary treatment system for sewage and industrial water. "We have developed a new nanotechnology-based, powerful filter, which is extremely important for the existing STPs as a tertiary polisher because most of the untreated waste, around 50 per cent, is going into the Musi River. We want to stop that, where this technology is going to really help," she said.
The project, developed in collaboration with UK-based researcher Kaviva Gawaza, uses artificial intelligence and satellite imaging to locate and monitor pollution sources. "We start from satellite imaging to identify the locations where the river is getting polluted, then correlate that with real-time monitoring at ground level of different toxic metal ions, turbidity, nitrates, phosphates, and grey water contaminants," Acharya said.
She described one of the system's most significant breakthroughs, its ability to reduce reverse osmosis (RO) waste. "Normally, 40 to 50 per cent of water is rejected by RO because that rejected water has very high TDS. But when passed through this technology, we have the ability to reduce the TDS value to less than 10 so that it can be easily reused in the system," she explained.
The circular water treatment model, Acharya said, not only recycles wastewater but also cuts energy use and eliminates plastic waste. "It reduces the energy cost, water footprint, and carbon footprint of the process, and it doesn't use plastic membranes, unlike the present technology. So the large amount of plastic waste generated by water treatment companies can also be prevented," she said.
Highlighting the project's goal, Acharya said the focus is on reviving Hyderabad's Musi River, which has suffered severe pollution from untreated waste. "The Musi has been a lifeline of Hyderabad, but now, because of the dumping of waste and untreated discharge, it has turned into almost a drain. We want to revive it through this technology by partnering with different companies so that they can treat their waste and reuse their water," she said.
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