International Centre for Clean Water

• Every problem is dwarfed in front of the giant water crisis looming large on

the planet.

• Water stress – in quantity and quality- is felt most severely by the

populous countries.

• Indian subcontinent is at the centre of action.

• Hence this centre – Finding solutions for clean water for a sustainable

future, collectively.

Prof. T. Pradeep pradeep@iitm.ac.in

Objectives of the new centre

Water incubation hub Development of an integrated water technology business incubator for the benefit of everyone – ready to

translate any water technology solution, with IP protection

Affordable solution for fluoride-free drinking water

Creation of affordable technologies for fluoride removal using advanced nanomaterials – a solution that cost only in the range of 5-10 paise per litre of pure water, delivered at homes

Sensors for water quality

Development of integrated sensor-arrays for remote monitoring of water quality (and quantity)

Sustainable atmospheric water capture units

Development of solar power driven high efficiency atmospheric humidity capture devices using nanotechnology for production of clean drinking water

Desalination units using new technologies

Water desalination using capacitive desalination (CDI)- low energy desalination units using advanced nanostructures

Geo-specific water purifier bottles

Clean water solutions during natural calamities

Training tomorrow’s water professionals

Ensuring sustainable growth of the centre and the country

Create and Translate Nanotechnology to Society in the context of clean water

Our objective

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

OH-

RT

Incubation

RT

(v)

1. Ag+

2. BH4-, <8 0C

OH-

pH 8pH 7pH 6

50 nm 20 nm

a

b

50 nm

c WETDRY d

- Chitosan fiber

-Ag Np

-AlOOH Np

Materials for arsenic-free drinking water Nanomaterials for microbial disinfection

Publications

AMRIT @ Bangalore Nano

An example of our solutions:

Arsenic Free World – a dream possible to be

accomplished through our technologies

InnoNano Research’s in-line unit, for up to 300 people

Serving 100,000 people now

Stand alone unit, for 100 –

100,000 people

Serving 400,000 people now

AMRIT online Unit AMRIT Community Unit

AMRIT variants

Pictures showing a

production facility

Incubation

AMRIT During Field Trials

AMRIT Inline Domestic Unit

• No energy required, runs with gravity pressure.

• Unit has feed inlet, backwash outlet and pure

water outlet( opens in pure water reservoir).

• Feed inlet need to be connected to home water

line to get pure water and backwash outlet to

drain.

• Cartridges can be backwashed by sliding nob from

right to left.

Placed on Wall Inside View

• Unit has pure water reservoir of 4.5 liters volume.

• Once pure water reservoir is filled, feed line will shutoff automatically and will

open again after 1 liter pure water collection by user.

Sensors

Glimpses of our research on the proposed themes

Internal construction

Atmospheric

humid air Air filter

membrane

Filtered

humid air

Cooled nano-

engineered

surface

Peltier

cooler

Condensed

water drops

Exhaust hot

air

SEM image of Stenocara beetle surface

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/our-work.html

Proposed design of the

atmospheric water capture

(AWC) device

Condensation of water vapor on modified

silver nanobrushes (video at 20x)

Water capture with modified silver nanobrushes

A

50 nm

A B

C D Hydrophilic

Ag NPs

Hydrophobic

coating

Metallic core for

faster heat transfer

Prototype

Efficiency

Capacitive Desalination (CDI)

Geo-specific water purifier bottle

Design

Prototype

BUDGET

International Centre for Clean Water

Non-recurring

Site preparation 20, 000 sq. ft. 10,00,00,000

Equipment

4,00,00,000

Recurring

Salary 1.5 lakhs each for 5 people for five years

60,000 each for 5 people for five years

4,50,00,000

1,80,00,000

Consumables 50 lakhs each for five years 2,50,00,000

Incubation support 30 lakhs each for five years 1,50,00,000

Field trials, testing and

validation, training

20 lakhs each for five years 1,00,00,000

SUB TOTAL 11,30,00,000

TOTAL

25,30,00,000

Prasad Edamana Department of Chemistry

IIT Madras, Chennai, India – 600036

Tiju Thomas Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

IIT Madras, Chennai, India - 600036

Ligy Philip Department of Civil Engineering

IIT Madras, Chennai, India - 600036

C. Vijayan Department of Physics

IIT Madras, Chennai, India - 600036

Sarit Kumar Das Department of Mechanical Engineering

IIT Madras, Chennai, India, 600036

Manu Santhanam Department of Civil Engineering

IIT Madras, Chennai, India – 600036

Participants

T. Pradeep Department of Chemistry

IIT Madras, Chennai, India - 600036

Rajnish Kumar Department of Chemical Engineering

IIT Madras, Chennai, India – 600036

Prof. A.K. Ghosh

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Prof. Alok Dhawan Indian Institute of Toxicology Research

Prof. Seeram Ramakrishna

National University of Singapore

Prof. Haiwon Lee

Hanyang University, Korea

Prof. P. M. Ajayan

Rice University, Houston

Prof. Marc Anderson

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Prof. R. Graham Cooks

Purdue University, West Lafayette

Prof. Thomas Tundat

University of Alberta, Edmonton

Prof. Andrea Iris Schaeffer

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Prof. Tony Cass

Imperial College, London

Prof. Catherine Ngila

University of Johannesburg

Collaborators across the world

Also organisations such as International Water Association, American Chemical Society, National Science Foundation, etc. who will bring additional international contacts.