NIIST transfers know-how for treatment of organic waste water

Hotels, catering units to benefit from technology

CSIR-NIIST Director Dr. C. Anandaramakrishnan exchanging MOU on technology transfer of NOWA, the organic waste water treatment technology developed by NIIST with Dr. Sanju Thomas of Two Degree Climate Control Pvt Ltd, Kochi. Also seen are Dr. B. Krishnakumar, Senior Principal Scientist, Environment Technology Division, Dr. P. Nishy, Head - Business Development and Dr. C. Kesavachandran, Head, Environment Technology Division, CSIR-NIIST. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-NIIST) here has made a breakthrough by developing and patenting a sustainable technology for treatment and disposal of organic waste water discharged by hotels, restaurants, catering units and similar businesses – which is a big problem in cities, especially in locations without proper sewerage network.

As a sustainable solution, the on-site waste water technology, named NOWA, developed by CSIR-NIIST, has the advantage of recovering valuable resources like reuse quality water, bio-energy and organic manure and soil conditioner from waste-water.

The technology was developed by a team of scientists led by Dr. Krishnakumar B., Senior Principal Scientist in the Environmental Technology Division of NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram.

Unlike the common waste-water treatment technologies such as the Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR), Sequence Bioreactor (SBR) and Electrocoagulation, this technology has many added advantages such as less space requirement, less operational cost and capacity to treat high strength waste-water without problems from frequent sludge disposal.

The technology

The technology is a combined anaerobic-aerobic bioprocess with sludge handling and disinfection modules attached. Nearly 70-80% of the inlet organic contaminant is recovered as biogas in the anaerobic process unit. The residual organics and nutrients are removed in the subsequent aerobic process unit. A 10 KLD waste-water treating NOWA unit will occupy less than 18 sq.m.

A pressnote issued by NIIST said the technology would be a boon for small and medium scale businesses as even small restaurants now spend up to ₹50,000 per month for disposing waste-water. This technology has been approved by the Kerala State Suchitwa Mission, and four companies have already licensed it non-exclusively and field units are working at different industrial sites.

MoU inked

CSIR-NIIST recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Kochi-based Two-degree Climate Control Pvt Ltd for commercial transfer of the technology, making this the fifth technology transfer for NOWA.

CSIR-NIIST Director Dr. C. Anandharamakrishnan said NIIST was looking forward to partner with more start-ups and private companies in highly diverse and interdisciplinary research activities to address the real problems of the society.