Faculty of National College have received major funding for projects worth Rs. 58 lakh – Rs. 25 lakh from Department of Science and Technology under Fast Track Scheme for Young Scientists, and Rs. 33 lakh from University Grants Commission.
The DST funding for Senthil Kumar Sadasivam, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biotechnology, is for arriving at environment-friendly treatment of textile dye effluent, as an alternative to costlier processes presently adopted by industries: Reverse Osmosis or precipitation of toxic by-products leading to accumulation of solid waste in open land rendering them into waste land.
According to Dr.Senthil Kumar, whose investigation of eco-friendly processes was published as a book titled ‘Bioremediation of Textile Dyes and Effluent:
Evaluation in Crop Plants' by Germany-based Lambert Academic Publishing Company, the promising results that his recent trials on the two-stage treatment involving bacteria-mediated biological method and chemical oxidation process have shown promising results, attracting the funding.
Detoxification of textile effluent
The project, he explained, aims at achieving decolorisation and detoxification (process of removing harmful substances) of the textile-dye effluent, making it fit for disposal and harmless to the environment. The UGC funding of Rs. 33 lakh is for three major research projects. Funding of Rs.12,26,200 received by A.T. Ravichandran, Associate Professor, PG and Research Department of Physics, for a project titled ‘Bulk Growth of Triglycine Sulphate (TGS) and Potassium Acid Phthalate (KAP) Single Crystals for Device Fabrication', is for arriving at opto-electrical, nonlinear-optical and piezoelectrical devices. The project will be carried out with expertise from Crystal Growth Centre, Anna University, Chennai, and National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi. V.Nandagopalan, Associate Professor, Department of Botany, has been sanctioned Rs.12,22,800 for investigating ‘Histochemical Approach for the Screening and Enhancement of Secondary Metabolites in Selected Medicinal Plants'.
The research will lead to understanding of secondary metabolites production with special reference to their secretary elements. It is aimed at improving the content of secondary metabolites on in vivo enhancement through the application of elicitors. The project worth Rs.8,41,800 for S.P.Anand, Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, would focus on identification of medicinal plants, and carrying out scientific studies to identify chemical components present in selected high-value medicinal plants.
The project is titled: Enumeration of Medicinal Plants from Boda Hill, Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu, and Tissue Culture, Antimicrobial and Phytochemical Studies on some High Value Therapeutic Plants.
