Dr.

RAMESH KUMAR
S.NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 TOPICS PROBIOTICS ZERO LIQUID DISCHARGE TECHNOLOGY NUCLEAR DESALINATION DEMONSTRATION PROJECT REVERSE OSMOSIS MULTI - STAGE FLASH DISTILLATION MESSANGER SPACECRAFT FIPEL TECHNOLOGY ISSP

PROBIOTICS
Introduction o Probiotic organisms are live microorganisms proposed to be beneficial to the host organism. o Probiotics are friendly bacteria which can be consumed regularly in order to prevent disease. Commonly used bacteria in Probiotics o Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and bifidobacteria are the most common types of microbes used as probiotics What happens when ratio of Good Bacteria to Bad Bacteria become Imbalanced? o Over 700 types of intestinal bacteria are harmful while only 20 types are beneficial o To maintain the good health, the colon needs a ratio of 85% health promoting bacteria to 15% or less harmful bacteria. o When this balance is disrupted, numerous health problems can arise including constipation, malabsorption, poor digestive function, allergies and so on.

Benefits of using probiotics 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Improves digestion Improve nutrition absorption Help your body to eliminate toxins Reduce gas and bloating Strengthen immune system Protects against lactose intolerance Prevent and heal parasitic infections Protection against over-growth of disease causing microorganisms

ZERO LIQUID DISCHARGE TECHNOLOGY

Introduction o Zero Liquid Discharge is a process that is beneficial to industrial and municipal organizations as well as the environment because money is being saved and no effluent, or discharge, is left over. o ZLD systems employ the most advanced wastewater treatment technologies to purify and recycle virtually all of the wastewater produced Steps involved in Zero Waste Discharge technology o Pre-treatment: where the waste water is filtered using membranes technologies such as ultra-filtration1. The water stream is directed through porous membranes separating the water into a permeate (clean water) that is reused and a concentrate (polluted stream) which is further treated. o Evaporation: The concentrate then enters a brine concentrator which is a mechanical evaporator using a combination of heat and vapor compression to evaporate the brine solution, resulting in a wet sludge.

o Crystallization: The crystallizer then converts the sludge to solid waste using high pressure steam which further evaporates the water and facilitates formation of crystals. Any remaining water should be clean enough for reuse.

Advantages of ZLD technology o ZLD systems provide numerous economic and environmental advantages for plant managerswater is recycled and reused, saving on the cost and treatment of raw water. o Since all water is reclaimed, no effluent is discharged from the plant, avoiding the cost of environmental impact. The technology is particularly appropriate in water-short areas. o Reduce carbon foot print o It eliminates liquid waste into disposable dry solids Why recently in news o Recently tirupur textile clusters become the first textiles cluster in india to arrive the Zero Liquid Discharge Technology

NUCLEAR DESALINATION DEMONSTRATION PLANT [NDDP]

Introduction o NDDP combines Desalination technology with nuclear reactor. Purpose of NDDT o Here Nuclear energy is used to heat the water so that potable and distilled water can be produced. Technologies employed o It is the combination of Madras Atomic Power Plant along with Desalination facility. o This desalination facility deploys multi-stage flash (MSF) evaporation and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane separation technologies. o The desalination plant meets the entire pure water requirement of Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS). What is Salination o Salinisation is the process that leads to an excessive increase of watersoluble salts in the soil. o The accumulated salts include sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium, chloride, sulphate, carbonate and bicarbonate (mainly sodium chloride and sodium sulphate) Primary and secondary salinization

o A distinction can be made between primary and secondary salinisation processes. Primary salinisation involves salt accumulation through natural processes due to a high salt content of the parent material or in groundwater. o Secondary salinisation is caused by human interventions such as inappropriate irrigation practices, e.g. with salt-rich irrigation water and/or insufficient drainage. What is Desalination o Desalinisation refers to any of several processes that remove some amount of salt and other minerals from saline water o Salt water is desalinated to produce fresh water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. One potential byproduct of desalination is salt What is MAPS o MAPS stands for Madras Atomic Power Station [ MAPS] o Madras Atomic Power Station located at Kalpakkam south of Chennai, India, is a comprehensive nuclear power production, fuel reprocessing, and waste treatment facility that includes plutonium fuel fabrication for fast breeder reactors (FBRs). o It is also India's first fully indigenously constructed nuclear power station. Benefits of Nuclear Desalination o Less energy is required in Nuclear desalination technology to heat the incoming ordinary water. o Potable water is in short supply in many parts of the world. Lack of it is set to become a constraint on development in some areas. o It will eliminate the financial constraints of setting up separate desalination plants.

Why recently in news o Recently MAPS become the worlds largest hybrid seawater desalination plant.

REVERSE OSMOSIS
What is osmosis Osmosis is the movement of solvent molecules through a selectively permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration, aiming to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides What is reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a membrane-technology filtration method that removes many types of large molecules and ions from solutions by applying pressure to the solution when it is on one side of a selective membrane Why it is called reverse osmosis

 In the normal osmosis process, the solvent naturally moves from an area of low solute concentration (High Water Potential), through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration (Low Water Potential). The movement of a pure solvent to equalize solute concentrations on each side of a membrane generates osmotic pressure. Applying an external pressure to reverse the natural flow of pure solvent, thus, is reverse osmosis.

Applications

 Reverse osmosis is most commonly known for its use in drinking water purification from seawater, removing the salt and other substances from the water molecules. Reverse osmosis is a more economical operation for concentrating food liquids (such as fruit juices) than conventional heat-treatment processes. Its advantages include a lower operating cost and the ability to avoid heat-treatment processes, which makes it suitable for heat-sensitive substances like the protein and enzymes found in most food products Reverse osmosis is extensively used in the dairy industry for the production of whey (liquid remaining after cheese manufacture) protein powders and for the concentration of milk to reduce shipping costs Many reef aquarium keepers use reverse osmosis systems for their artificial mixture of seawater Areas that have either no or limited surface water or groundwater may choose to desalinate seawater or brackish water to obtain drinking water. Reverse osmosis is the most common method of desalination

Limitations For every litre of input water, only a fourth or fifth goes through the membrane while the remaining water largely goes down the drain. It has to do with the use of electricity which is required to power the high pressure pump.

MULTI-STAGE FLASH DISTILLATION

Introduction o Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) is a water desalination process that distills sea water by flashing a portion of the water into steam in multiple stages of what are essentially countercurrent heat exchangers. o Multi-stage flash (MSF) is a desalination technology in which brine is heated and passed through a series of chambers having successively lower pressures so that at each stage the brine is above its saturation temperature, causing it to become superheated and flash. o Multi-stage flash distillation plants produce 85% of all desalinated water in the world. Principle The multi-stage flash technology works on the principle of flash evaporation wherein the temperature of water is increased under pressure and then flash evaporated by reducing the pressure gradually in multiple stages Design of multi-stage Flash Distillation o The plant has a series of spaces called stages, each containing a heat exchanger and a condensate collector. The sequence has a cold end and a hot end while intermediate stages have intermediate temperatures.

The stages have different pressures corresponding to the boiling points of water at the stage temperatures. After the hot end there is a container called the brine heater. [ see the diagram to understand better] How it works

o When the plant is operating in steady state, feed water at the cold inlet temperature flows, or is pumped, through the heat exchangers in the stages and warms up. o When it reaches the brine heater it already has nearly the maximum temperature. In the heater, an amount of additional heat is added. After the heater, the water flows through valves back into the stages which have ever lower pressure and temperature. o As it flows back through the stages the water is now called brine, to distinguish it from the inlet water. In each stage, as the brine enters, its temperature is above the boiling point at the pressure of the stage, and a small fraction of the brine water boils ("flashes") to steam thereby reducing the temperature until an equilibrium is reached. The resulting steam is a little hotter than the feed water in the heat exchanger. Applications

o It is the most commonly used desalination method o It is the most efficient way of desalination

MESSANGER SPACECRAFT
Introduction o MESSANGER stands for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) o It is a robotic NASA spacecraft orbiting the planet Mercury, the first spacecraft ever to do so. Significance of this mission o MESSENGER's instruments have yielded significant data, including a characterization of Mercury's magnetic field and the discovery of water ice at the planet's north pole. Objectives of this mission o accurately determining the surface composition of Mercury o characterizing the geological history of the planet o determining the precise strength of the magnetic field and its variation with position and altitude o investigating the presence of a liquid outer core by measuring Mercury's libration o determining the nature of the radar reflective materials at Mercurys poles o investigating the important volatile species and their sources and sinks on and near Mercury. Why recently in news o Recently a NASA spacecraft has confirmed the presence of abundant 'icy' water along with other frozen volatile materials within 'burning hot' Mercury's permanently shadowed polar craters.

o Scientists have seen clearly for the first time a chapter in the story of how the inner planets, including Earth, acquired their water and some of the chemical building blocks for life. Why mercurys poles never see the sunlight o The tilt of Mercury's rotational axis is less than 1 degree, and as a result, there are pockets at the planet's poles that never see sunlight. What is mercury o Mercury is the innermost planet in the Solar System. o It is also the smallest, and its orbit is the most eccentric (that is, the least perfectly circular) of the eight planets

FIPEL TECHNOLOGY
Introduction o FIPEL stands for Field-Induced Polymer ElectroLuminescent technology o It is the technology used to produce PLASTIC BULBS What is Plastic Bulb o Plastic bulb is a nano-engineered polymer matrix to convert the charge into light How it works o It is made from three layers of light-emitting polymers, each containing a small volume of nanomaterials that glow when electric current is passed through them. Advantage of FIPEL o New plastic lighting source can be made into any shape o Plastic bulb produces a better quality of light than compact fluorescent bulbs

o Plastic bulbs are twice as efficient as fluorescent bulbs. But The new plastic lighting uses the same amount of electricity as LED bulbs and half as much as fluorescent bulbs o A worldwide switch to low-energy bulbs could save the output of around 600 power plants o Plastic bulbs contain no mercury, they contain no caustic chemicals and they don't break as they are not made of glass.

ISSP
o India Statistical Strengthening Project (ISSP) is a comprehensive project designed to strengthen State statistical systems by way of providing adequate technical and financial support to improve their statistical capacity and infrastructure for collecting, compiling and disseminating reliable official statistics for policy planning purposes particularly at the State and Sub-State levels. o With the above primary objective, the India Statistical Strengthening Project(ISSP) could also be perceived as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) launched and being implemented with a view to act as a catalyst in facilitating implementation of National Strategic Statistical Plan (NSSP) for meeting growing data requirements, both at national and international levels.