Student’s Symposium  

Abstracts 

Date: 28th August 2010 
CST Seminar Hall 

Centre for Sustainable Technologies 
Indian Institute of Science 
 Student Symposium ­ 2010 
Centre for Sustainable Technologies 
Indian Institute of Science 

Date: 28 August 2010 
Venue: CST Seminar Hall 

Time  Title  Presentation by 

08:30–09:15  Mechanism to control fluoride release from  K. Asha 
Phosphogypsum using fly ash 
09:15‐10:00  Iodide retention on modified clay materials Siva Chidambaram
10:00‐10:45  Optimal biological treatment of urban wastewater   Durga M. Mahapatra
10:45 ‐11:00  Tea
11:00 –11:45  Hydrogen production through biomass gasification Sandeep Kumar
11:45‐12:30  Experimental and modelling studies of producer gas based  Anand Shivapuji
turbocharged spark ignited reciprocating engines 
12:30–13:15  Investigation into the Integrability of Building Integrated  Gayathri A. G. 
Photovoltaic’s (BIPV) for Tropical Conditions  
13:15–14:30  Lunch
14:30–15:15  Carbon and Nitrogen flow in Municipal Solid Waste Shwetmala
15:15‐16:00  Utilisation of industrial and mine wastes in mortar and  Ullas S N 
concrete 
16:00–16:15  Tea
16:15‐16:40  Thermal Transmittance studies into Conventional and  Balaji N.C 
Alternative Building Materials 
16:40–17:05  Spatio‐temporal analysis for monitoring urban growth  Bharath H.Aithal 
17:05‐17:30  Use of Zerovalent Iron (ZVI) for nitrate removal Malini R.  
17:30‐17:55  Nutrient recovery from treated wastewater and biogas  Priyanka  Murthy 
slurry by algal culture ponds 
17:55‐18:20  Conversion of Biomass to Liquid Fuel Fischer Tropsch  Snehesh Shivananda
Synthesis 
 Mechanism to control Fluoride release from Phosphogypsum
Using Fly ash

Asha.K1, Sudhakar M. Rao2

1
Research Student, Centre for sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science
asha@cst.iisc.ernet.in
2
Professor and Chairman, Centre for sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science

Fly ash (FA) and Phosphogypsum (PG) are two industrial waste products generated in India in huge
amounts. Phosphogypsum is generated as a solid by-product in the "wet process" for the production of
phosphoric acid. Phosphogypsum by-products are chiefly composed of calcium sulfate. Additionally they
contain silica, alumina, iron oxides, phosphorous oxides and fluorides. It is estimated that for every tonne
of phosphoric acid manufactured, 5 tonnes of PG is produced as by product which is currently being land
filled. Fly ash is the residue generated in the combustion of coal in thermal power plants. About 150
million tonnes of fly ash is produced in India annually. As a strategy for re-use of waste materials, both
FA and PG are extensively being used in civil engineering and agricultural applications. An important
aspect of re-use of waste materials is to ensure that they do not release any toxic elements to the
environment. This study examines the environmental impacts of fly ash and PG pertaining to release of
toxic elements in standard leach tests.

Chemical analysis of FA is performed and it is observed that the sum of SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 is more
than 70% classifying the material as CLASS F type fly ash according to ASTM C618-08. PG
characterization shows the material is highly acidic and contains 85 % of CaSO4.2H2O. Water leach test
and TCLP (Toxicity characterization leaching Procedure) shows fluoride of 21 mg/L and 28 mg/L
respectively being released from landfill sites where PG is stored. High levels of fluoride in drinking
water may cause dental and skeletal fluorosis. Likewise the pH of potable water is also regulated and
should range between 6.5 and 8.5. Leaching of acids and fluorides from phosphogypsum dumps could
therefore lower the pH of groundwater and elevate the fluoride concentration beyond permissible limits
(1.5 mg/L).

Leaching of PG under acidic and alkaline conditions is performed to understand the potential of fluoride
release to the environment. Experiments are performed to mitigate the fluoride release from PG. In the
first set of experiments, lime –stabilization of PG is examined. The alkaline pH (12.2) created by lime
addition was expected to chemically “fix” the fluoride. Batches of PG mixed with various amounts of
lime (8 %, 12 %, 16 % and 20 % on dry mass basis of PG). The PG-lime mix is agitated for 18 hours. The
mixture is then filtered and analyzed for Fluoride. Results revealed that addition of lime did not contribute
to the “chemical fixation” of fluoride. Hence a pozzolan-Fly ash was introduced in the system. 30 % FA
and 70 % FA was mixed with 2.5 % and 5.0 % PG and varying amounts of lime and kept for various time
period of 3, 7, 14 and 28 days to study the kinetics of fluoride reduction. Results showed that the fluoride
reduced from 21 mg/L to 1.35 mg/L due to formation of fluorite mineral and entrapment of fluoride in
cemented matrix. Experiments performed to ascertain the fluoride fixation by lime-pozzolona-PG
reactions in the compacted state as well.

Key Words: Fly ash, Phosphogypsum, Fluoride, Characterization, Leaching.

 Iodide Retention on Modified Clay Materials

Sivachidambaram.S 1, Sudhakar M. Rao2

1
Research Student, Centre for sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science
sivani@cst.iisc.ernet.in
2
Professor and Chairman, Centre for sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science

Clays are important constituent of high level radioactive wastes repository (HLWR) because of their very
low hydraulic conductivity and high adsorptive capacity for contaminant ions. Bentonite is currently
investigated as possible geotechnical barrier in repository concepts for HLWR. Due to negative surface
charge clays like bentonite repels anions. Improving anion retention behavior of bentonite is important in
limiting anionic contaminants and their transport in soil systems. Iodine-129 (I-129) is a fission product
from nuclear power plant which is hazardous to biological systems and has long half-life (1.59 x 107 yrs).
Clay based organic-inorganic materials have been investigated to improve anion retention behavior.
Long-chain organic polymers though can improve the anion adsorption capacity of bentonite; they would
also exchange the inorganic interlayer cations (S.Dultz, J.Bors., 1999). Kaolinite (1:1 type clay mineral) is
frequently used as host materials for the formation of clay–polymer nanocomposites (Szilvi et al., 2004).
Daniels and Rao (1983) have found that silver treated metakaolinite had excellent sorption capacity for
iodide ions. We show that silver treated kaolinite (silver-kaolinite) can be used as an ad-mixer to
bentonite with enhanced iodide retention capacity.

A silver-kaolinite compound was prepared by controlled hydrothermal reaction, which is an attempt to

prepare an admixture to improve anion retention of nuclear waste repository buffer and backfill materials,
especially Iodide retention behavior of bentonite. The silver oxide (Ag xO) compound is incorporated on
kaolinite surface by heating the kaolinite and AgNO3 at 400°C.The mechanism of silver retained by
kaolinite was examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis, infra-red spectroscopy(IR), X-
ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) and Electron probe micro analysis(EPMA) measurements.The
silver-kaolinite was mixed with bentonite. Batch experiments were performed for iodide retention on
silver kaolinite, 10% and 20% silver-kaolinite mixed bentonite sampes.Fig.1, 2 are Showing iodide
retention capacity of silver-kaolinite and silver-kaolinite mixed with bentonite samples. The iodide
retention capacity of silver-kaolinite was 58-65meq/100g. On comparison, the anion retention capacity of
silver-kaolinite was higher than kaolinite (1-5 meq/100g).

The silver kaolinite mixed bentonite samples were shown drop in zeta-potential to increasing iodide
concentrations (fig.3.). It’s evident that the bentonite’s anion repulsion behavior is not influencing the
silver-iodide formation and This supports that silver-kaolinite can be a candidate ad mixer to buffer
backfill material (bentonite) to retain radioactive iodide .
Fig.1. Iodide retention behavior of silver-kaolinite with varying initial iodide concentrations

14
kaolinite mixed bentonite
meq of iodide/g of silver

12
10%silver-kaolinite+90% bentonite
10
8
6 20% silver-kaolinite+80% bentonite

4
2
0
50 100 150 300 500 750
Intial concentrations of iodide (ppm)

Fig.2.Iodide retention behavior of silver-kaolinite mixed samples with varying initial iodide
concentrations
 Concentration of iodide in sodium iodide solution (ppm)
0
-5 100 300 500 750 1000

Z e ta -p o te n tia l(m V )
-10
-15
-20 bentonite
-25
-30
10%silver-kaolinite+90% bentonite
-35
20%silver-kaolinite+80% bentonite
-40

Fig.3.Zeta potential values of bentonite and silver-kaolinite mixed samples at varying concentrations of
iodide in the sodium iodide solution

References

Dultz. S, Bors. J (1999) Retention of radio nuclides by organophilic bentonite. Engineering Geology, 54,
195-206.
Szilvi et al. (2004) Synthesis and characterization of noble metal nanoparticles/kaolinite composites.
Progr. Colloid Polym. Sci., 125, 88–95.
Daniels, E. A. and Rao, S. M. (1983). Silver sorption by kaolinite. International Journal of Applied
Radiation and Isotopes, 34, 981-984.
Daniels, E. A. and Rao, S. M. (1983). Silver sorption by metakaolinite from molten silver nitrate.
Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie Neue Folge, 137, 247-254.
 Optimal biological treatment of urban wastewater

Durga Madhab Mahapatra

Centre for Sustainable Technologies
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
durgamadhab@cst.iisc.ernet.in

Water bodies have traditionally been used for domestic and irrigation purposes. During the last 50 years,
unplanned urbanization, coupled with ad-hoc approaches in natural resources management, has led to the
degradation of ecosystems. Water bodies are being used to dispose untreated sewage, which has enriched
the system with nutrients leading to eutrophic status which poses a serious threat to the quality and very
existence of life. The present work focuses on one of the urban wetlands in Bangalore, and involves
characterization (physico-chemical, biological analysis) of the water body as well as assessing the
treatment capabilities in terms of BOD removal, nutrient assimilation potential and self remediation
potential. The analysis indicated organic pollution, showing domestic sewage as the major source. Near
the inlet reaches, anaerobic condition prevail and this is evident from the low dissolved oxygen (zero
mg/l) and negative redox potential (-220 mV). This condition progressively improves towards the outlets
due to aeration. The performance of the lake was found to be good in the monsoon season, reducing the
BOD up to 50% (<30 ppm filtrable) and also N and P. However efficiency of the treatment was highly
reduced by the interference of floating macrophytes that covered the major portion of the lake during the
warm season. There was a significant change in the community structure and dominance of microalgal
assemblage which correlated with the gradient in oxic environment. Bacteria’s were dominated by coccus
at inlets compared to the outlet. Alkalinity, TDS, conductivity and hardness values were higher when
compared to earlier studies. This investigation reveals of lake functioning as an anaerobic-aerobic lagoon
treating the wastewater to a considerable extent.
 Hydrogen production through biomass gasification

Sandeep K.

Centre for Sustainable Technologies

Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore 560 012
sandeepk@cgpl.iisc.ernet.in

Over 96% of Hydrogen production is done through steam reformation or gasification of fossil fuels.
However, these methods are not sustainable and environment friendly. Biomass can be used as a potential
sustainable resource for hydrogen production through gasification process. Thermo-chemical conversion
of biomass generates producer gas (PG) through oxidation and reduction process. The complex process
converts solid biomass to gaseous fuels. Significant work on biomass gasification using air as the medium
has been done which generates PG with CO (16-22%), H2 (16-20%), CO2 (7-13%) and Nitrogen (45-
50%). It also contains a small percentage of methane (CH4), traces of soot (particulates) and tar.

The proposed methodology suggests gasification using oxygen and steam as gasifying agent. Compared
to air gasification, it enhances the hydrogen fraction in output gas (Syngas) by removing the nitrogen
from the system and adds extra hydrogen through inducing steam as gasifying agent in the system.
Increasing the hydrogen fraction is essential towards improving the hydrogen separation efficiencies.

Research towards oxy-steam gasification for hydrogen generation using a down draft gasifier
configuration is in progress. Experiments with different oxygen to steam ratio and steam to biomass ratio
have been studied. The effect of temperature and residence time has also been looked at. The gasification
medium is superheated steam and oxygen as oxidizing and gasifying agent. The experimental setup
includes scaled down downdraft gasifier in which oxygen is supplied at different position and steam at
around 8000C is injected in the oxidation/combustion/reduction zone. 70 gm of H2 has been generated per
kg of biomass at a steam-to-biomass ratio (molar basis) of 1.4.

The work outlines the results from the equilibrium analysis and compares with the experiments. Influence
of various process parameters like temperature, mass flux rate, oxygen/steam ratio and steam/biomass
ratio is being studied. System design, energy efficiency and processes for optimum hydrogen production
will be presented.

Packed bed air gasification modeling studies is extended to oxy- steam gasification to understand various
processes taking place inside the reactor is in progress. The aim is to predict the syngas composition
under various operating conditions.
 Experimental and Modeling Studies of Producer gas based Turbocharged
Spark Ignited Reciprocating Engines

Anand M Shivapuji

Centre for Sustainable Technologies

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India
anandms@cst.iisc.ernet.in

Impending crises due to fast exhausting petroleum based fuel resources and the serious environmental
degradation caused due to their over exploitation have lead to an increased focus on alternative fuel
resources. Biomass derived gaseous fuels are of heightened interest owing to their near carbon neutrality
and clean burning due to gaseous nature. Among the biomass derived gaseous fuels, Producer gas, a
product of thermo chemical conversion of biomass has been in focus for many decades with significant
impetuous being placed in the past couple of decades for the use of the same in engine applications.

Producer gas as a fuel for spark ignited internal combustion engines has been well established over the
past couple of decades. Efforts towards increasing the efficiency of producer gas based engines has called
for operating the engine at higher compression ratios while efforts towards increasing the specific power
of the engine calls for turbo charging the engine. Operation of an engine at higher compression ratio and
under turbocharged conditions generally gets restricted by the knocking tendency of the engine owing to
the enhancement of the severity of conditions prevailing during the heat release phase.

Literature review has indicated successful operation of producer gas fueled spark ignition engine
operation at higher compression ratios with the success being attributed to the presence of hydrogen in the
fuel. Some discrepancies however have been noted at compression ratio 17 in previous in-house studies.
At CR 17, though no obvious knock like characters are visible on the pressure vs crank angle diagram,
however pressure rise rates reaching as high as 15. Recent studies at MIT have indicate 10 Bar/Deg based
on audible signs as the peak pressure rise rate beyond which an engine is said to be knocking. Structural
studies on the engine however put a much sever limitation on the permissible pressure rise rate restricting
it to less than 5 Bar/Deg.

Various thermodynamic models have been developed in an attempt to predict knock in an engine with the
prominent begin Wiebe function based models and induction time based models. The primary drawback
of these models however is that they are all based on experimental results with the Wiebe model making
use of the mass burn curve and the induction time based model making use of the induction time integral
again based on experimental results. This aspect makes them specific to certain engine specification(s)
and a narrow range of operating conditions due to which they fail to be broad based. Towards addressing
this issue, a chemical kinetics based model has been developed that depends on the evolution of chemical
species making it engine specification independent. The current model developed successfully captures
the complete operation of a Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition engine. The same model is
sought to be extended to capture flame propagation in an engine thereby extending the capabilities for a
full spark ignited engine simulation.

On the experimental front, the engine behavior under naturally aspirated and turbocharged conditions is
being studied using an advanced data acquisition system at different operating conditions of the engine.
The focus of experiments is significantly higher on the turbocharged conditions since very little work has
been reported with producer gas operation under turbocharged conditions.
 Investigation into the Integrability of Building Integrated Photovoltaic’s
(BIPV) for Tropical Conditions

Gayathri A G

Centre for Sustainable Technologies

Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore 560 012
gayathri@cst.iisc.ernet.in

India’s geographical location renders it with ample solar-energy potential ranging from 4 - 7 kWh/m2
daily and 2,300–3,200 sunshine hours annually. Solar energy, if appropriately harnessed, carries adequate
potential to support the growing energy demands of India’s burgeoning and scattered population. Onsite
distributed power generation (or harnessing) using solar is seen as a sustainable green alternative as it
produces quality electricity on-site very close to the demand points which can improve energy efficiency
and reduce electrical distribution losses. They are also easy to maintain and any breakdown results in only
localized downtime and grievances that are relatively easy to address. A distributed BIPV system not only
offers energy savings but also carry much lower ecological footprint.

Given the diverse nature of human settlements (scattered low-rise to dense high-rise) in India, one of the
unexplored avenues of harnessing solar energy is electricity generation using Photovoltaic’s (PV). PV is
viable for onsite distributed power generation offering advantages of size and scale variability, modularity
and integration into buildings. Building integrated photovoltaic’s (BIPV) are PV’s integrated as the
building-envelope, viz., walls, façade, fenestration, roof and skylights.

The prime function of a building is to provide (natural) indoor thermal-comfort for conducive
working/living conditions, with the building envelope acting as the interface regulating the thermal
interaction between the external and indoor environment. PV integration for maximum harnessing of solar
energy depends on its configuration, viz., solar exposure (slope and orientation), system sizing, wind
patterns, dust conditions, and maintainability. These factors need to be intertwined with appropriate
climate-responsive building design. In addition, given current performance efficiencies for various PVs
and high initial cost, it is also crucial to ascertain PV’s ability to support societal energy demands. Thus,
BIPV integrability would require addressing, concurrently, design requirements for energy-efficient
building performance, effective PV integration, and societal feasibility. In this light, it is crucial to
scientifically evaluate the integrability of BIPV for Indian conditions by taking a city as a case study.
 Carbon and Nitrogen flow in Municipal Solid Waste
Shwetmala

Ph.D. Student
Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science
shwetmala@astra.iisc.ernet.in

Research supervisor: Dr. T.V. Ramachandra and Dr. H.N. Chanakya

Heterogeneous mixture of materials generated from house-hold, commercial and business places in urban
area which does not have any further use to the society is often referred as Urban Solid Waste or
Municipal Solid Waste. It includes all waste collected from residential, commercial, institutional and
municipal services. The per capita generation and its composition vary from one country to another
country; there is no standard composition across the World. Indian cities’ waste consists of a high
percentage of fermentables (70-75%) along with plastics, paper, metals and inert materials. Usually the
recyclable materials or reusable materials get separated by waste generators or by rag-pickers and
ultimately wastes are left with high percentage of organic matter.

In India, few places have waste treatment facilities, but open dumping is common practice of waste
disposal, which has several adverse environmental impacts. Degradation of organic waste in environment
emits Green House Gases (GHG) like Methane (CH4) and Nitrous oxide (N2O) along with leachate
containing Carbon and Nitrogen impacts to the water bodies and soil. Composting (aerobic) and bio-
methanation (anaerobic) are available biological treatment technologies for organic waste management. In
aerobic environment Carbon and Nitrogen gets converted into Carbon dioxide and Ammonia while in
anaerobic environment, it gets converted into Carbon dioxide, Methane and Ammonia. The Carbon and
Nitrogen gets transformed from fermentable solid waste either to volatilized gaseous emission or with the
leakage in form of leachate and if decomposition takes longer time then it remains in solid form. Yet,
these loses through volatilization depend on Carbon availability, compost moisture, temperature and
aeration. The knowledge of Carbon and Nitrogen flow in the environment is necessary in the case of with
a comparison to other processing techniques. Few studies are available where controlled Nitrous oxide
emissions have been quantified from landfill sites or from compost plants. However this aspect has
become more acute for Indian wastes which consist of more organic waste and as of now no studies have
quantified and modeled the system.

The objective of this research work is to quantify and make a comparative analysis for the Carbon and
Nitrogen flow in different Municipal Solid Waste Management approaches. This knowledge would aid to
minimize or divert the Carbon and Nitrogen flow from waste to the environment and hence minimize the
impacts of Municipal Solid Waste on the environment.

Key words: Solid waste, Carbon and Nitrogen flow, aerobic, anaerobic, modeling.
 Utilisation of industrial and mine wastes in mortar and concrete

Ullas S N

Ph.D. Student
Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science
ullas@civil.iisc.ernet.in

Construction industry is one of the fastest growing industry in India. Ever increasing population demands
various construction needs in large scale which consumes significant volume of natural resources and
energy at an alarming rate. The consequence is construction industry is contributing about 22% of Green
House Gas emissions in to the atmosphere.

Concrete and mortar are of considerable volume in any structure and consumed in bulk quantities for the
construction of buildings, roads and other infrastructure projects. Sand as fine aggregates is one of the
basic ingredients in concrete and mortar. Sand is mined from river beds and streams. Indiscriminate
mining of river sand has serious adverse impact on environment and hence sand mining has been
controlled and even banned in many locations. This has resulted in acute shortage of sand supply which
has made sand as expensive construction material. In order to address this, alternatives to river sand are
being explored by manufacturing sand through crushing of rocks which is highly energy intensive
process.

Utilization of mine and industrial solid wastes for building products and applications is an emerging area.
In the present study, Kuduremukh iron ore tailings is chosen for investigation of its suitability as fine
aggregates in concrete and mortars. The quantity of tailings stored in Lakya dam is to the tune of about
200 million tonnes. If found suitable, this tailing can meet the sand demand of Bangalore city for 30-40
years assuming the present consumption rate of sand in Bangalore city.

With this background, about 10 tonnes of tailings have been collected from various points of the storage
dam and transported and stored in the campus. Various physical and chemical analyses have been framed
and experimentations are in progress to investigate characteristics of the tailings for its suitability to be
used as fine aggregates in masonry mortar and concrete. The experimental investigations conducted so far
have given promising results in successful utilisation of iron ore tailings to a considerable tune to replace
natural river sand.
 Thermal Transmittance studies into Conventional and Alternative Building
Materials
 
N.C.Balaji
 
Research Scholar
Centre for Sustainable Technologies
Indian Institute of Science
balaji_nc@yahoo.co.in
   
A numerous studies towards the physical properties of the energy efficient construction materials are
available today (eg. Adobe, Soil-cement blocks, fly ash blocks etc.) but thermo-physical properties of
such materials are very scanty or no experimental data is available in Indian context. Nowadays, energy
efficient materials are becoming very popular as they are extremely versatile and durable. These
construction materials are being widely used in the structure of residential buildings, factories and multi-
storey building to provide better indoor thermal-comfort for working/living conditions of the occupants.
As we know, with the use of low thermal transmission materials in the construction, better thermal
comforts can be achieved.

The objective is to understand the role of building masonry elements in regulating the thermal-response of
the building, thermal transmittance/loss through walls and indoor thermal comfort by conducting
experimental and theoretical studies by addressing current interest in low-energy buildings in housing:
energy, environment, economy and sustainable development.

The hot box test apparatus is suggested to find out thermal transmittance of these construction materials.
The available numerical models for the thermal transmittance can be validated though they obtained
experimental results, and can correlate the same. At the same time the performance of the energy efficient
building materials can be studied, through the different configurations of the building materials together
as a system.
 
 Spatio -Temporal Analysis for Monitoring Urban Growth

Bharath H Aithal

Centre for Sustainable Technologies,

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India
bharath @cst.iisc.ernet.in
Research Supervisors: T.V Ramachandra & D.S Durgappa

Urbanization involves a complex set of economic, demographic, social, cultural, technological, and
environmental processes that result in an increase in the proportion of the population of a territory/area
that lives in towns and cities, an increased concentration of population in the larger settlements of the
territory, and an increasing density of population within urban settlements. Urbanization is the most
dramatic form of irreversible and most dominant land use transformation. Though urbanization is a
worldwide phenomenon, it is especially prevalent in most parts of India, where urban areas have
experienced a high rate of growth and consequent land cover changes over the last Decade. Demographic
processes of immigration and migration, as well as natural population growth, are important determinants
of urbanization. In this uncontrolled situation, city planners lack tools to measure, monitor, and
understand urban sprawl processes. Multi temporal remote sensing data have become and are an
important for analyzing these changes. By using time-series of Landsat data of Bangalore, urban
footprints have been studied. This helps in detecting temporal and spatial urban growth and urban sprawl.
A multi-temporal analysis in radial fashion aims to identify Spatio-temporal urban Sprawl where the
study area is divided into circles of 1KM radius and growth patterns are studied based on urban built up
density. In addition, Directional analysis provides insight into location-based spatiotemporal patterns of
urbanization as done in the form of circles divided into directions. Therefore, this paper analyses zones
dividing the study area into zones of Circles and in particular directions. The results paint a characteristic
picture of spatial pattern, and thus illustrate spatial growth and analyses urban sprawl in all the directions.

Keywords: Urban sprawl, Urbanization, Bangalore.

 Use of Zerovalent Iron (ZVI) for nitrate removal

Malini.R1, Sudhakar M. Rao2

1
Research Student, Centre for sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, India
malini@cst.iisc.ernet.in
2
Professor and Chairman, Centre for sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, India

For the last sixty years, there has been an unabated use of nitrogenous fertilizers in agricultural practice to
increase the crop yield. Additionally, improper sewage disposal is loading the surface and ground water
bodies with excessive nitrate concentrations. As a consequence of nitrate contamination, algal blooms and
eutrophication of lakes is a common phenomenon, endangering the ecosystem and life dependant on these
water bodies. Demands have increased tenfold to get ‘quality water’. Although the NO3- itself is relatively
non-toxic, NO2- , derived by reduction of NO3- can cause human health problems such as
methemoglobinemia in infants, liver damage, and even cancers. The desirable limit for nitrate in drinking
water as per the IS 10500-1991 is 45 mg/L. Existing technologies for the treatment of nitrates include
distillation, ion exchange and reverse osmosis. But, these technologies are expensive, require huge initial
investments and generate a lot of waste. There is a need for sustainable method for treating nitrates.
Zerovalent iron offers the solution in the form of permeable reactive barriers. Iron corrodes and the
electrons released from the anodic dissolution of iron can be utilized for the nitrate reduction to
ammonium. The reduction of nitrate (Equation 1) by iron metal (Equation 2) is a thermodynamically
facile reaction releasing -460 kJ/mol at pH 7 (Equation 3).

NO3- + 10H+ + 8e- Æ NH4+ + 3H2O (1)

Fe Æ Fe2+ + 2e- (2)
NO3- + 10H+ + 4Fe Æ NH4+ + 3H2O + 4Fe2+ (3)

The objective of my work is to study the kinetics of this reaction and find the rate limiting factors of this
reaction. Preliminary results of my studies will be presented.
Nutrient recovery from treated wastewater and biogas slurry by algal culture
ponds

Priyanka Murthy, Chanakya H N

Centre for Sustainable Technologies,

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India
priyanka@cst.iisc.ernet.in

Most treated wastewater in India (27%) does not recover nutrients as a result they flow into local water
bodies causing eutrophication and loss of such water resources. India spends about Rs.1.2 Trillion
annually to produce N fertilizer and therefore recovering N from various waste treatment systems is
required to ensure sustainability. Currently we are trying to examine the nutrient recovery potential for
several local algal species adapted to high nutrient status and possible harvesting mechanisms. Few algal
species and communities growing on typical wastewater sources in Karnataka have been selected and
being grown in shallow plastic tubs to determine their growth rates, nutrient removal potential and ease of
harvest. Among several bacillariophycae, cyanophyceae and chlorophyceae species tried out two
combinations functioned well on effluent from a biogas plant – a typical anaerobic digester discharge.
Nitschia and Anabena in combination grew well in this wastewater. A daily biomass production of 5.5-
7g dry wt/m2/d could be harvested. This corresponds to 0.473-0.6g N recovery /m2/d. Among the several
species tried, two combinations namely Chlorella + Hydordiction (by morning) and a combination of
Nitschia and Anabena (after 4 days) were found to settle down rendering harvest easy. The possible
harvesting mechanisms for such a system like trommel and a floculator will be discussed.
 Conversion of Biomass to Liquid Fuel
Fischer Tropsch Synthesis
Snehesh S

Abstract
Synthesis gas,(also known as Syngas), is a mixture of, predominantly CO and
H2 . Syngas production methods include steam reforming of natural gas, coal
gasification, and, as in our case, biomass gasification. In the Fischer Tropsch
(FT ) process, this syngas is converted to a multi-component mixture of hydro-
carbons, which is a promising topic in the energy industry. The products are
environmentally clean fuels, specialty chemicals and waxes.
FT process is a catalyzed reaction involving the polymerization of CO and
H2 reactants. The FT reaction yeilds predominantly straight chain hydrocar-
bons (α-olefins and alkanes) and is generally viewed as a methylene (= CH2 )
polymerization reaction. The products are formed by hydrogenation of CO
to generate methylene monomer. Polymerization occurs through initiation of
chains, chain propagation, and chain termination steps.The primary FT reac-
tions include:
Paraffins : (2n + 1)H2 + nCO −→ Cn H2n+2 + nH2 O (1)
Olefins : 2nH2 + nCO −→ Cn H2n + nH2O (2)
Water Gas Shift Reaction : CO + H2 O −→ CO2 + H2 (3)
The most common FT catalysts are group VIII metals, viz., Co, Ru, and Fe.
In our current research, Cobalt is used as a catalyst promoted by potassium on
Alumina or Silica support.In obtaining highly effective catalysts for the synthesis
of hydrocarbons from CO and H2 , an important factor is the selection of the
support and the method of catalyst preparation. Impregnation of a support by
cobalt nitrate offers a simple method for obtaining strong adhesion intensity of
the catalyst on the surface of the support material.
The product distributions of the FT process tends to obey the Anderson-
Schulz-Flory (ASF) chain length statistics. This product distribution is affected
by the occurrence of secondary reactions - hydrogenation, isomerization, rein-
sertion and hydrogenolysis. At high CO and H2 O pressures the most impor-
tant secondary reaction is readsorption of olefins resulting in initiation of chain
growth process. Secondary hydrogenation of olefins may occur at high hydrogen
pressures and on certain catalytic systems, such as Co and Ru based catalysts.
This work involves the development of catalyst for conversion of biomass
to liquid fuels and to develop an appropriate kinetic model to represent the
product distribution as a function of reaction conditions. Process development
and reactor design should be based on reliable kinetic expressions and detailed
selectivity models.