Page 174 - CW E-Magazine (20-8-2024)

Special Report Special Report

According to Mr. P.N. Rao, Vice climate change is changing traditional improvement over the existing process technologies for producing Pharma
President, GHCL Ltd., a leading soda rainfall patterns. from alum-treated brine. More particu- grade salt meeting international specifi -
ash producer, the alkali industry today larly, it rectifi es the ratio of Ca to Mg cations, as well as low-sodium salt of
needs 99.60% min purity of salt, with According to Dr. Kumar, thanks to from a value of <1 to the range of 2-3, botanical origin suitable for hyperten-
0.05% max Ca, 0.03% max Mg and the development work done at CSIR- which is desired by the alkali industry. sive individuals advised low-salt diets.
0.10% max of insolubles. CSMCRI, it is now possible to produce The technology has been transferred
salt with a purity of 99.58% directly several alkali producers. Pharma grade salt has many appli-
With the Kutch district accounting in salt works, as well as grades suit- cations, including for haemodialysis,
for about half of Gujarat’s output, this able for membrane cell operations (at Speciality salts making oral rehydration salts, osmotic
can be a vulnerability in a world where caustic soda plants). The latter is an CSIR-CSMCRI has also developed agents, and dietary formulations. The
process developed at CSIR-CSMCRI is
Single-stage seawater desalination – a challenge a combination of physical and chemi-
cal treatments to remove the impuri-
that still needs to be tackled ties, and does not use barium chloride, Mr. P.N. Rao Dr. Arvind Kumar
which is toxic in nature. According to
a technology compendium released India (FSSAI) have been completed tion), activated carbon & water, using
Speaking to Chemical Weekly, Dr. the present work is focused on over- search Institute (CSIR-CGCRI) to by the laboratory, the process can be and, once approved, the technology will spent wash as the resource.
Srinivasan noted that one of the areas coming the engineering challenges in utilize the magnesium compounds for scaled up to operate in a continuous be available for licensing.
where signifi cant social impact can be module making,” he noted. making refractories. manner without the necessity of time- The technology has been licensed
made is the development of single- consuming recrystallisation step. Fertilisers from wastes to DCM Shriram Bio Enchem Ltd.,
stage membranes for desalination of Seawater magnesia Marine polymers CSIR-CSMCRI has also developed which has constructed a plant in Hardoi
seawater to produce potable water. Another area where the laboratory is Marine polymers derived from “Double fortifi ed salt – containing technology for utilizing sugarcane district, Uttar Pradesh.
This is currently largely the domain focusing its expertise is in the purifi ca- seaweeds can be an alternative to iron and iodine – based on our techno- molasses-based distillery spent wash for
of three companies – two in the US tion of seawater magnesia, the national petroleum-derived polymers, particu- logy will soon be available in the market,” the production of 100% soluble fertili- Technology to produce SoP (and
and one in Japan – and all the mem- requirements of which are currently fully larly for making thin fi lms for packag- Dr. Kumar added. Testing studies for ser grade sulphate of potash (SoP). The magnesia) from sea bittern has been
branes and modules used in India for met through imports. The technical chal- ing. The laboratory has been working obtaining certifi cation from the Food process involves recovery of potash, licensed to Tata Chemicals Ltd. and
seawater desalination are imported lenges stem from the fact that the mag- with a leading multinational company Safety and Standards Authority of organics (binder in cattle feed formula- Archaen Chemical Industries Ltd.
from one or the other. nesia has a high boron content, which for taking these polymers to the mar-
is not acceptable for many applications. ket, but performance failure in the in-
“We have achieved comparable The laboratory is also partnering with tended application remains a problem Marine organics from seaweeds
performance of our membranes, and CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramics Re- that has not yet been fully resolved.
Seaweed cultivation is a form of agricul- management, as biostimulants, and as weed polysaccharides like agar, carra-
ture that can be remunerative, eco-friendly, antibacterial agents, among others. geenan and alginates, are biologically
sustainable and expansive in scope. CSIR- tuneable, biocompatible and biode-
CSMCRI has played a pioneering role in According to Dr. Kamalesh Prasad, gradable. Though small quantities are
the commercial cultivation of seaweeds in Chief Scientist, CSIR-CSMCRI, sea- produced in India, most of the domes-
India and more than 800 self-help groups tic demand (>80%) is met through im-
in Tamil Nadu, for instance, earn their ports. “Lack of quality raw materials,
livelihood from this activity. focus on one product, poor technology
choices leading to poor yields, and
Seaweeds contain pigments, lipids, large effl uent generation with high
proteins, polysaccharides, vitamins, BOD/COD are some of the challenges
minerals and other bioactives. Extrac- producers face,” he noted.
tion of marine organics with water has
challenges and neoteric solvents like Agarose, to cite one example, is
Ionic liquids (ILs) and Deep Eutectic a heteropolysaccharide, generally ex-
Solvents (DES) (which are easier to tracted from certain red algae. It is
easier to prepare than IL), have been one of the two principal components
developed at the laboratory. of agar, and is purifi ed from agar by
removing agar’s other component,
Applications of these organics in- agaropectin. Agarose is frequently
clude as feed additive, in water quality Dr. Kamalesh Prasad used in molecular biology for the

174 Chemical Weekly August 20, 2024 Chemical Weekly August 20, 2024 175

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