Roorkee (The Hawk): Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee(IIT Roorkee) and M/s Permionics Global Technologies, Vadodara, Gujarat, India, have signed a Technology Transfer Agreement. The technology has been developed by Prof Sujay Chattopadhyay and Bhuvenesh E., Polymer and Process Eng., IIT Roorkee. The technology entitled “Low cost reinforced bipolar membrane fabricated with interface layer” has been recently granted a patent. The project was funded under the ‘UchchatarAvishkar Yojana’ program of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India,Permionics Membranes Private Limited, and IIT Roorkee. The aim was to develop an inexpensive bipolar membrane with enhanced mechanical/chemical stability and higher water dissociation efficiency at lower potential.
The team of researchers at IIT Roorkee developed a polymeric bipolar membrane that can recover high-value chemicals and demineralized water simultaneously from industrial effluents, RO rejects, etc., thus resulting zero liquid discharge technology. Its unique features are also being used for green energy generation through electrolyzer, fuel cell, and flow batteries. Thus, it has tremendous scope for commercial and domestic applications. The technology has been licensed to M/s Permionics Global Technologies, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
Speaking about the program, Mr. Satyajai Mayor, Managing Director, Permionics, said, “This is an intrinsic part of the technological innovation process, and we are thankful to IIT Roorkee for the technology transfer which will also be used to recover resources from waste streams which are very crucial in industrial application”
Speaking on the collaboration with Permonics, Prof. AkshayDvivedi, Dean Sponsor Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT Roorkee, said, “This collaboration of IIT Roorkee with Permionics is not just limited to the general understanding of the concept of the bipolar membrane technology, but also focuses on a consistent framework for application in food processing, environmental protection, and energy conversion and storage, among others. “ Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, highlighted,"Need for usable water treatment technologies continues to be in high demand across large parts of the globe. The technology developed and demonstrated by IIT Roorkee using bipolar membrane can be used for both water purification and recovery of valuable chemicals from wastewater."
