Daily Archives: October 21, 2017

This retired railway engineer filled potholes on Diwali night

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

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Highlights
Gangadhara Tilak Katnam, an engineer who retired nearly a decade ago, has made filling potholes his mission since 2010.

He has filled 1,302 potholes across Hyderabad so far. He selects roads where one least expects a pothole
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Hyderabad :

As people celebrated the festival of lights, Gangadhara Tilak Katnam stopped his ‘Pothole Ambulance’ at Tippu Bridge between Langar Houz and Police Academy junction and filled a pothole.

Tilak, an engineer who retired from South Central Railway (SCR) nearly a decade ago, has made filling potholes his mission since 2010, filled 1,302 potholes across the city so far.

“I celebrated Diwali by filling a pothole,” said Gangadhara Tilak, who not only devotes his time but also spends a chunk of his pension to ensure safer roads. His family, volunteers of ‘Shramadaan’, a voluntary organization he set up, and passersby often help him.

“Initially I used to pick up gravel from the roadside when anew road was being laid. Subsequently, I was not able to find any. I then requested contractors to at least sell me some gravel,” he told TOI on Friday.

He selects roads where one least expects a pothole. “Such potholes are dangerous. When the ride is smooth and suddenly one comes across a pothole, it becomes difficult and can result in deaths,” he said.

When he noticed such accidents, he tried to get the police to mention the road condition as the cause of the mishap in FIRs but was dismissed. He feels that when the reason is on the record, cops can immediately ask civic officials to repair the road or fill the pothole.

It can also make officials or contractors accountable “What I fail to understand is why don’t engineers make note of the damages to roads in their jurisdiction and carry out the necessary works needed immediately?” Gangadhara Tilak asked.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Hyderabad News / by Ch. Sushil Rao, TNN / October 21st, 2017

IIT Hyderabad uses activated jamun to remove fluoride from water

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology
n business: Activated jamun powder was able to reduce the fluoride content of Nalgonda groundwater from 3.2 ml per litre to 1.5 ml per litre. | Photo Credit: K_Ananthan

The activated jamun powder can be reused up to five times by heating it to 50 degree C

Now, while removing excess fluoride from drinking water, the usual problems such as high operational costs and getting rid of toxic sludge will be a thing of the past. Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad have used activated jamun seed powder to bring the fluoride content in drinking water to less than the WHO limit of 1.5 mg per litre. The results were published in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering.

The team led by Dr. Chandra S. Sharma from the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad mixed the jamun seed powder thoroughly with potassium hydroxide and heated it to 900 degree C for an hour to produce activated jamun powder. The activation increases the pore volume several times and the surface area by more than 50 times. As a result, the fluoride adsorption efficiency increased several times compared to samples that were not treated with KOH but heated to 900 degree C.

The fluoride ion removal increases with a decrease in pH, with maximum adsorption found at pH 3. The activated jamun seed acquires a positive charge at low pH and the positive charge attracts the fluoride ions while the negative charge in an alkaline medium repulses the fluoride ions.

With fluoride adsorption capacity of 3.65 milligram per gram, activated jamun seed was close to tea ash (3.75 milligram per gram) but much higher than other substances such as banana peel, coffee husk, and coconut shell.

“Besides testing the activated jamun seed powder in the lab we also tested it using groundwater taken from Nalgonda village, which is one of the worst fluoride-affected villages in India. After two hours of contact time, we were able to reduce the fluoride content from 3.2 milligram per litre to less than 1.5 milligram per litre, which is the WHO limit,” says Dr. Sharma.

On heating the activated jamun powder to 50 degree C, the fluoride gets desorbed and the jamun powder can be reused up to five times. “About 96% of the fluoride can be desorbed. So there is a loss of only 4% efficiency after each desorption,” he says.

Disposal of sludge

Disposal of the fluoride sludge is another area that the team is working on. “The fluoride ions desorbed from the activated carbon will be present in very small quantity of water. We can add sodium hydroxide to this water to produce sodium fluoride,” he says. The major objective of the current study was to evaluate the fluoride removal efficiency using a novel, low-cost activated carbon.

“We will next be testing the efficiency of the activated jamun powder in water containing multiple ions such as fluoride, arsenic and heavy metals,” says Ramya Araga the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad and the first author of the paper.

“We have so far carried out all tests in batches. We need to now undertake column studies,” says Araga. The continuous flow parameters have to be optimised to achieve best results; during the batch studies, two hours of contact time was needed for the fluoride to be removed.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Science / by R Prasad / October 21st, 2017