Low Cost High Quality Arsenic Filter

Patent Filing No.: 430/KOL/2013

Arsenic contamination in groundwater has become a global issue, with more than 200 million are potential at risk, as reported by recent UN report. There are several reasons of arsenic contamination apart from anthropogenic sources which includes (i) use of phosphate fertilizers and pesticides which leaches through the sub-soil and reduces the arsenic binding capacity of the rocks (ii) oxidation of arseno-pyrites present in rocks due to excessive withdrawal of groundwater and (iii) untreated release of industrial effluent and wastes. There are widespread reports of arsenic poisoning of ground water in Bangladesh, Mexico, Vietnam, Western United States, Taiwan, India, Canada and more than 50 countries which entailed above World Health Organization limit for drinking water of 10µg/l. Arsenic poisoning is severe along the Gangetic plains in our country. In certain parts of West Bengal, arsenic concentration as high as 500 to 2000 ppb has also been found. Arsenic is found in +3 and +5 state, both of which are toxic for human health.

          Adsorption has been found to be the most suitable mechanism for removal of arsenic. However, the capacity of the adsorbent and its regeneration determines the crux of the problem. Almost all the adsorbents that are available or developed till now require regeneration because of its low capacity, which ultimately releases the arsenic back to the environment, thereby becomes an anthropogenic source. Naturally occurring laterite and ferro-manganese ores exhibits arsenic adsorption. However, the capacity of these materials needs to be increases for practical application.

          The work on removal of arsenic using naturally occurring laterite has been initiated in the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur under the leadership of Prof. Sirshendu De and his students back in 2006. The idea of using laterite came by examining the geographical contamination profile in West Bengal. It was observed that seven districts along the Ganges (Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia, South and North 24 Parganas, Part of Burdwan, Kolkata) have been badly affected by arsenic contamination of groundwater. On the other hand, districts in south-western and western parts of West Bengal (Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia) do not have this problem. It has been found that reason lies in the geological nature of the soil of these regions. The red colored lateritic rock in these parts contains alumina and iron oxide components which have a natural capacity to adsorb arsenic species. The present innovation details with acid activated based laterite adsorbent (Development of high capacity and cost effective arsenic adsorbent using modified laterite, Filed 614/KOL/2009) which has high arsenic adsorption capacity (both arsenite and arsenate).

Salient features of the technology

(i)      The total removal capacity of arsenic is 32.5 mg/g, which is highest compared to all other available arsenic adsorbents.

(ii)     Ultra low cost of the filter media appropriate for the socio-economic conditions of our country. Filtered water can be produced at 2 paisa per liter ($1.2 for 1000 gallons).

(iii)    Power is required only to operate the pump to lift water into overhead tank. Flow in the filters is by gravity. In case of household filter, no power required.

(iv)    Removal of arsenic, iron and bacteriological contamination together in a single unit. The filter is capable to remove iron below the permissible limit in drinking water (0.3 ppm) and remove more than 98% of pathogenic contaminants.

(v)     The filter bed consists of different layer of materials including bacteriostatic activated carbon, charcoal, fine granular sand, activated laterite and raw laterite.

(vi)    No interference from sulphate, chloride, magnesium and iron ions are observed.

(vii)   Works over wide range of pH 5.5 to 8.0.

(viii)  The total arsenic concentration in the filtrate is always less than 10 ppb (WHO limit).

(ix)    The filter life 5 years in the worst possible condition. The filter will be more if the influent arsenic concentration is less.

(x)     No regeneration or backwashing is needed during its lifetime, which makes this technology unique and unparallel.

(xi)    The empty bed contact time is 7.2 hours which is necessary for the adsorption to occur.

(xii)   The adsorbent binds arsenic by strong chemisorption. The spent adsorbent meets TCLP protocol and can safely disposed. It can be used for making bricks, road lining, pavements, cell filling, etc. Therefore, this adsorption provides the ultimate solution for treatment of arsenic contaminated water.

(xiii)  Easy maintenance and operation.

(xiv) The cost of domestic filter would be in the range of 2500-3000 rupees (40 to 50 USD).

Units Deployed:

Total number of Household units deployed so far: 16

Lalgola, Mushidabad, West Bengal (one unit in August 2012)

Behrampur, Murshidabad, West Bengal (two units in August 2012)

Baruipur, South 24 Paraganas, West Bengal (one unit in Sep 2012)

Rajarhat, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal (two units in Oct 2012)

Bamangachi, Barasat, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal (one in March 2011 and remaining 8 in Oct 2012)

Habra, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal (one unit in Sep 2012)

Total number of community filters deployed: 3

Kashinathpur free primary school, Rajarhat, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal (installed in Oct 2012) - 500 L/day capacity

Ambika Girls High School, Rajarhat, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal (installed in December 2012) - 1500 L/day capacity

Choudhuar Primary School, Manikchawk Block, Malda, West Bengal (installed in December 2014) - 800 L/day capacity.

The technology has been developed, demonstrated and deployed in field with active support from Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India and UNICEF, West Bengal. Technology is transferred to one company. 

The contributors to this work are –

Sourav Mondal, Barun Kumar Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mrinmoy Mondal, Raka Mukherjee, Anirban Roy, Biswajit Barman and Sirshendu De, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Kharagpur.

Uniaxial MEMS piezoresistive accelerometer

Patent filing no.: 737/KOL/2013

Technology title: Uniaxial MEMS piezoresistive accelerometer with enhanced cross-axis signal reduction

1.    A brief description of the technology

MEMS accelerometers are micromechanical inertial sensors used for aerospace, civil, automotive, industry and consumer electronics applications. Uniaxial MEMS piezoresistive accelerometers are primarily used in strategic domains such as navigation and guidance of aircrafts and ballistic missiles. Our technology involves the conceptualization of a single-axis MEMS piezoresistive accelerometer variant designed for inertial navigation systems with enhanced crosstalk (signals along axes other than the primary sensing axis) rejection. Crosstalk is a significant aberration in accelerometer output and can severely interfere with precise definition of position and orientation which can result in catastrophic disasters. The technology is aimed at creating a system which can operate efficiently within an inertial measurement unit.

2.    Commercial prospect of the technology

Accelerometers are indispensable in applications involving motion, ranging from kinesiological studies to motion guidance in ballistic systems. It is expected that important industrial sectors such as automotive, aerospace, and strategic should benefit from such a technology, not to mention the increasing applications of MEMS inertial sensors in the field of consumer electronic gadgets.

3.    Advantages of this technology over the already existing methods

Highly precise uniaxial sensing with robust linearity, appreciable sensitivity due to the mechanical design layout and added flexibility of electrical design layout on either wafer surface. Extremely low-noise and ~1000g shock survivability under packaged conditions provide further value addition. The fundamental conceptualization of the design has been on the basis of measurements carried out on a slightly older variant which exhibits appreciable performance.

4.    A summary of the technical details involved

The conceptualized device is a precisely bulk micromachined silicon-on-insulator micromechanical piezoresistive accelerometer with aircraft navigation being the primary application. Ion implanted piezoresistors connected through a metalized Wheatstone bridge which serves as the basic signal transduction element. Deep reactive ion etching is used for realization of the mechanical structure of the sensor. The low noise property of such sensors is achieved through proper doping and bulk micromachining of the structure while the operational mechanism ensures high linearity.

5.    Future prospects of the technology

With advancement in the automotive and aerospace sector, inertial navigation systems are becoming increasingly complex with a constant need for precision sensors to meet such requirements. As with any system, improvements are possible when the application is specifically defined and it is expected that this technology will prove to be a step in the right direction for the development of robust inertial sensors.

Inventors: Prof. Tarun Kanti Bhattacharya, Mr. Anindya Lal Roy

Storage and extension of shelf life

Ultrafiltration membrane for cold sterilization of bottle gourd juice (Lagenaria siceraria) for extended shelf life and method thereof (724/KOL/2014)

A polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based hollow fibre membrane for clarification of tender coconut water with desired storage stability (768/KOL/2014)

Patent: 724/KOL/2014

1. Brief description:

In this work, an appropriate characterization of the hollow fiber membranes has been identified that has application in clarification of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) juice with long shelf life. 44 kDa molecular weight cut off membrane (MWCO) was found suitable for this purpose. A membrane based on polysulfone (PSF) was formulated to achieve this goal. The clarification process removed the sites of potent bacterial growth. Thus, this process increases the shelf life of bottle gourd juice significantly without adding any preservative after aseptic packaging. Also, since there is no thermal sterilization, browning of the bottle gourd juice does not occur. The final product from ultrafiltration is rich in polyphenol (anti-oxidant), sugar, potassium and sodium. The process is very economic, since the hollow fibers used are indigenous and very low cost (Indian patent 582/KOL/2011). The final product can be stored for 8 weeks under refrigerated condition without deterioration of the taste or aroma of the product.

2. Commercial aspects of the technology & Industries benefiting from it

Generally, processed bottle gourd juice is produced in very small scale over the world. Shelf life of the untreated bottle gourd juice is very less, about 1 to 2 days. Usually, the shelf life of the bottle gourd juice is increased by hot sterilization, commonly known as pasteurization. But, this process deteriorates the juice quality, taste and its aroma.

In the present market, bottle gourd juice is not commercially available. In India, it is a common practice to intake bottle gourd juice without any further clarification. This process of intake is not suitable as bottle gourd contains a high amount of fibrous mass which is of no use to the body.

The patented process provides a much clarified product for intake without any suspended solid and keeping intact almost all the nutritional parameters. So one can get the advantage of a whole bottle gourd fruit by consuming only 100-200 ml of the clarified juice.

3. Advantages of this technology

·         Unique formulation of membrane removes potent sites for microbial growth.

·         Since, hot sterilization is not done the aroma and the flavour or aroma of the bottle gourd juice was not deteriorated.

·         Since, no additional preservative was added in the juice, the taste of the product was same as natural bottle gourd.

·         The process was carried out in hollow fiber modules, which are very cost effective and easy to scale up for industrial production.

4. Summary of the technical details

Ultrafiltration experiments was conducted for 3 transmembrane pressure drop in the range of 35 to 104 kPa and three cross flow rates (5 to 15 l/h). Various properties were measured. Finally, a detailed storage study was done for 8 weeks after which the quality of the juice was deteriorated. By analyzing the physico-chemical properties of the filtered juice it was seen that the juice meets all its standard qualities like aroma, taste, odour and likeability even after 8 weeks of refrigerated storage. Also the nutritional quality of the juice was almost constant.

Bottle gourd juice contains high amount of fibres, thus it is more susceptible to deterioration. Also, since the amount of suspended solid is more, membrane fouling is more prominent. Hence, first a prefiltration process of microfiltration was employed to reduce the solid content. The microfiltered juice was then subjected to ultrafiltration by a 44 kDa PSF membrane. The optimum operating condition, based on productivity, was found to be 104 kPa and 15 l/h for the ultrafiltration of bottle gourd juice within the range of operating conditions studied herein. The permeate flux obtained at this operating condition was 45 l/m².h.

 The storage study was conducted for 8 weeks under normal refrigerated conditions and it was seen that all the physic-chemical properties, especially nutritional qualities like sodium, potassium, TSS and polyphenol show very less deviation from the initial value. So the sample was perfectly alright till 8 weeks of storage in aseptic packaging.  The storage study was carried out in laboratory conditions and significant results were obtained, that even after 8 weeks the juice was almost same as the original one, i.e., the taste of the juice was almost same as in zeroth week.

  5. Future prospects of the technology:

The technology is off-the-shelf i.e. it could be brought to market with nominal investment.

Patent: 768/KOL/2014

1. Brief description:

In this work, an appropriate characterization of the hollow fiber membranes has been identified that has application in clarification of tender coconut water with long shelf life. 44 kDa molecular weight cut off membrane (MWCO) was found suitable for this purpose. A membrane based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was formulated to achieve this goal. The clarification process removed the sites of potent bacterial growth. Thus, this process increases the shelf life of tender coconut water significantly without adding any preservative after aseptic packaging. Also, since there is no thermal sterilization, browning of the coconut water does not occur. The final product from ultrafiltration is rich in polyphenol (anti-oxidant), sugar, potassium and sodium. The process is very economic, since the hollow fibers used are indigenous and very low cost (Indian patent 582/KOL/2011). The final product can be stored for 18 weeks under refrigerated condition without deterioration of the taste or aroma of the product.

2. Commercial aspects of the technology & Industries benefiting from it

Generally the shelf life of tender coconut water is increased before packaging by either hot sterilization or addition of preservative. This deteriorates the quality of the final product, taste and aroma.

This patent discusses cheap, affordable solution, for the first time, to extend the shelf life of tender coconut water without any heat treatment or addition of preservatives. The clarification process removed the sites of potent bacterial growth without any thermal sterilization. Thus, this process increases the shelf life of tender coconut water significantly after aseptic packaging without adding any preservative or heat treatment. The final product from ultrafiltration is rich in polyphenol (anti-oxidant), sugar, potassium and sodium. It satisfies the criteria of novelty, non-obviousness and usefulness.

The invention has a tremendous commercial implication in the Indian and developing country scenario alike. Coconut is only abundant in tropical regions near coasts. So there is a high demand for coconut in the inland. This process provides a suitable method for preserving all the nutritional qualities of the coconut water without adding any external chemicals.

3. Advantages of this technology

·         Unique formulation of membrane removes potent sites for microbial growth.

·         Since, hot sterilization is not done the aroma and the flavor of the coconut water was not deteriorated.

·         Since, no additional preservative was added in the juice, the taste of the product was same as natural coconut water.

·         The process was carried out in hollow fiber modules, which are very cost effective and also very easy to scale up for industrial production.

4. Summary of the technical details

Ultrafiltration experiments was conducted for 4 transmembrane pressure drop in the range of 21 to 84 kPa and three cross flow rates (5 to 15 l/h). Various properties were measured. Finally, a detailed storage study was done for 18 weeks after which the quality of the juice was deteriorated. By analyzing the physico-chemical properties of the filtered juice it was seen that the juice meets all its standard qualities like aroma, taste, odour and likeability even after 18 weeks of refrigerated storage. Also the nutritional quality of the juice was almost constant.

         Young tender coconut water has very low suspended solid, so the membrane fouling is very less. Mature tender coconut water has a high amount of suspended solid and hence the fouling is more. The productivity for the membrane is 30 l/m².h at the optimum operating condition of 84 kPa transmembrane pressure and 10 l/h cross flow rate.  The storage study was conducted for 18 weeks under normal refrigerated conditions and it was seen that all the physic-chemical properties, especially nutritional qualities like sodium, potassium, TSS and polyphenol show very less deviation from the initial value. So the sample was perfectly alright till 18 weeks of storage in aseptic packaging.  The taste analysis shows that the taste was perfectly like the original one after 18 weeks. It has been confirmed by a series of experts that the taste was good and all showed positive purchase intention. The storage study was carried out in laboratory conditions and significant results were obtained, that even after 18 weeks the juice was almost same as the original one, i.e., the taste of the juice was almost same as in zeroth week.

   5. Future prospects of the technology:

The industrial partners of this project, M/s Technorbital Advanced Materials Pvt. Ltd.  are going ahead with the commercialization of the technology.

Hollow fiber nanofiltration

Patent filing no.: 742/KOL/2014

Technology title: Novel hollow fiber nanofiltration membrane using ZnCl₂ incorporated polysulfone Polysulfone (PSF)/Polyethyleneglycol (PEG) blend

1. Brief description

            In this work, organic (polyethylene glycol, PEG-200)  as  well  as inorganic  (ZnCl₂)  are simultaneously used as additives  (both  are  well  known  pore  constrictors) to polysulfone (PSF)/ dimethyl formamide (DMF) system  in order  to get hollow fiber NF membrane. Synergistic effects of pore constriction by zinc chloride and polyethylene glycol (PEG) are exploited to get nanofiltration grade fibers. The composition of the membrane was 16 to 18 wt% PSF, 2 wt% PEG-200, ZnCl₂ 1 to 2 wt% and rest dimethyl formamide (DMF). The molecular weight cut off of this membrane was 250 to 900 Da. This membrane is used for rejection of multivalent salts and organic dye. 30 to 45 % NaCl salt are rejected through this membrane at pH 2 to 11 range. 55 to 60% Na₂SO₄ salt are rejected at pH 11 through this membrane.   

2. Commercial aspects of the technology & Industries benefiting from it

            Commercial NF hollow fiber membrane is prepared using a spinneret which is costly. Therefore, the commercial hollow fiber cartridges are expensive. In this invention, nanofiltration hollow fibers were spun using an indigenously designed low cost process. Synergistic effects of pore constriction by zinc chloride i.e. inorganic additive and polyethylene glycol (PEG) i.e. organic additive are exploited to get nanofiltration grade fibers.

Some applications of hollow fiber NF are listed below. 

 (i) Removal of dyes (or colored component) from water by physical separation without any chemical treatment.

(ii) Concentration of fruit juices without any thermal treatment.

(iii) Removal of humic acid, bacteria and other pathogenic organisms from waste water.

 (iv) Textile industry effluent water treatment (reduction in COD content) without any chemical treatment.

(v) Desalination of salt water.

(vi) Removal of heavy metals from industrial pollutant.

3. Advantages of this technology

·         Unique formulation of membrane to obtain NF hollow fiber in one step.

·         No additional step for surface modification.

·         Solutes with molecular weight 250 to 900 are completely removed from solution.

4. Summary of the technical details

            Polymer (PSF) was heated to 70 to 80^oC for 2-3 h so that the moisture in the polymer was evaporated. Fixed amount (2%) of PEG (molecular weight 200 Da) and ZnCl₂ 1.0 to 2.0 % was added to a premixed 16 to 18% PSF in DMF dissolved at 60 to 80°C. The polymer was dissolved in DMF and the mixture was kept for 6 to 8 hours at 60 to 80^oC temperature under mild stirring. This solution was used for spinning the hollow fibers.

5.    Future prospects of the technology:

Uses as waste water treatment in textile and pharmaceutical industries, desalination. The technology is off the shelf and can easily be scaled up for industrial purposes.

Technology for removal of humic acid

Patent filing no.: 1058/KOL/2014

Technology title: Chitosan coated iron-oxide- polyacrylonitrile mixed matrix membrane for removal of humic acid

1. Brief description of the technology

            The proposed invention relates to the fabrication of mixed matrix membrane (MMM) using iron oxide nanoparticles and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) coated with chitosan which is used for removal of humic acid from surface water. Typical humic acid concentration in surface water is up to 50 mg/l whereas in drinking water EPA imposed limit is 2 mg/l. The composition of the membrane was 15 wt% PAN, 0.4 wt% iron oxide and rest was solvent dimethylformamide (DMF). The molecular weight cut off of this membrane was 44 kDa. The membrane was tested at different concentration of synthetic humic acid as well as pond water. The range of operating conditions for was 276 kPa to 550 kPa and 40 to 80 l/h cross flow rate. The filtered water produced was in the range of 15 to 25 l/m²h and total humic acid concentration in filtrate reached below permissible limit i.e., 2 mg/l. The process does not need addition of external additives or catalysts and process throughput is high.

2. Commercial aspects of the technology & industries benefiting from it:

1.     Waste water treatment plant, as an annexure to the main operating section of various plants.

2.     Scaled-up filter for domestic and industrial use.

      3.   Advantages

·         Unique formulation of membrane removes humic acid.

·         Concentration of humic acid in the treated water was reduced below 2 mg/l (EPA limit).

·         Iron oxide nanoparticles are inexpensive thereby, reducing the operating cost.

·         Any post processing step is not required.

·         Selective adsorption of humic acid, microorganisms and filtration of larger particles are attained in a single step.

       4.  A summary of the technical details involved

1.     Composition of base mixed matrix membrane:

a)     15 wt% coated polyacrylonitrile (PAN);

b)    iron oxide in an amount ranging from 0.4 wt%; and

c)     solvent dimethyl formamide (DMF) in an amount ranging from 84.6  wt%.

2.     Composition of chitosan coating:

a)     1 to 5 wt% chitosan in 1 to 6 vol% acetic acid;

b)    Glutaraldehyde in an amount of 0.1%;

c)     NaOH in an amount ranging from 0.5 to 1 N.

        5. Future prospects of the technology

 1.     Possible use in waste water treatment plant.

 2.     Development of scaled-up filter for domestic and industrial use.

Inventors: Prof. Sirshendu De, Ms. Swapna Rekha Panda, Ms. Munmun Mukherjee

High performance electrodes for Li-ion battery

Patent filing number: 613/KOL/2014

Technology title: Porous nanostructured tin-animony-copper intermetallic electrodes as anode material for lithium ion batteries

1.    A brief description of the technology

The technology is capable of fabricating Tin-Antimony- Copper based open-pore three dimensional nanostructure anodes for lithium ion batteries, which display high discharge capacity as well as good cyclability. The fabrication was carried out through electrodeposition route and devoid of any post-plating treatment except vacuum drying. The developed anode did not contain any binder or additive which take up lithium and add to capacity.

2.    Commercial aspects of the technology & Industries benefiting from it

Electronics industries are heavily dependent on high capacity batteries.Various automobile companies are looking forward to launch electric vehicles to conserve fossil fuels. However they are stuck with performance of the battery especially the specific capacity. This technology has come up with a cheap fabrication process to increase battery capacity and will definitely be in the eye of those companies.This methodology can also be implemented to design and fabricate power sources for MEMS devices which are currently finding its use in diverse fields like biomedical instrumentation.

3.    Advantages of this technology over the already existing methods

Currently, most commercial lithium - ion batteries use graphite as the anodic material and lithium mixed oxide (e.g. LiCoO₂) as the cathodic material. Graphite, though readily available at an economical price, has a low theoretical gravimetric capacity (372mAh/g). This, in turn, reduces the overall discharge capacity of the battery. Recently, tin has emerged as one of the novel materials which have the potential to replace carbonaceous anode materials as it has a very high theoretical capacity (993 mAh/g). It however suffers from the drawback of a very high volume change during the lithiation/delithiation process (about 300%). This high volumetric expansion can lead to the gradual detachment of the anodic material from the current collector as well as its pulverization which ultimately results in a poor cyclability performance of the battery.

Various efforts have been made in this direction to overcome this particular shortcoming of tin based anodes. Alloying or forming mixtures with other active metals, notably antimony, is one of the most tried methods. While antimony is an active element, it reacts with lithium at a potential different from tin and hence buffers the expansion of the latter when it reacts with lithium.

Various efforts have been made in this direction to overcome this particular shortcoming of tin based anodes. Alloying or forming mixtures with other active metals, notably antimony, is one of the most tried methods. While antimony is an active element, it reacts with lithium at a potential different from tin and hence buffers the expansion of the latter when it reacts with lithium.

4.    A summary of the technical details involved.

This method uses an aqueous solution of inorganic salts of tin, antimony and copper and does not consist of any kind of surfactant or detergent. Deposition was done at very high overvoltage to facilitate hydrogen evolution in order to obtain a porous structure. The anode material shows a consistent capacity over 1100mAh. This is possible because of the presence of intermetallics in the material and open-pore morphology.

          5.    Future prospects of the technology.

To further increase the electronic conductivity of the anode and hence improve the rate capability, we plan to incorporate carbon nanotubes or graphene into our alloy system. This methodology is expected to show a drastic increase in the power density of the anode. We further plan to use this system as the anode for a battery along with the cathode which has been developed by our collaborators and improve on the results which we will obtain.

Inventors: Prof. Siddhartha Das, Prof. Karabi Das, Mr. Abhinav Kumar, Mr. Srijan Sengupta, Mr. Arijit Mitra

Food technology to tackle severe acute malnutrition

Patent Filing No. 748/KOL/2014

Media Coverage: Business Standard Link, NDTV Link

1.    A brief description of the technology.

High energy and nutrient rich food paste as per WHO and UNICEF specifications is a “Medical Nutrition Therapy” based on sound scientific principles with a balanced composition of nutrients for the recovery of SAM children. Apart from anthropometric recovery, energy dense food paste results in physiological and functional (including immunological) recovery to tackle severe acute malnutrition (SAM). Five ready to eat (RTE) energy dense food paste recipes are formulated using the Linear Programming in MATLAB. Protein, fat, energy value, moisture content etc. as specified by the UNICEF/WHO standards are maintained as constraints. The prepared formulations were validated. Vitamin & Mineral premix is designed and formulated meeting the requirements as specified by the UNICEF. The developed high energy nutrient rich food pastes are easy digestible, palatable soft and crushable which require no additional method of preparation and can be consumed directly from the pouch / tube. These food pastes require no refrigeration and can be stored at room temperatures. The food paste has low water activity and is shelf stable.

2.     Commercial aspects of the technology & Industries benefiting from it.

The process technology for development of high energy nutrient rich food paste in ready to eat form is entirely new for the Indian market. The high energy nutrient rich food paste that are developed as a part of the project funded by (i) Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and (ii) M/s Gattappu Chemicals Private Limited, New Delhi. The products developed are to be scaled up to pilot scale production after which will be taken up by the industry for clinical trials and subsequent commercial production. A Pilot-Scale unit with a production capacity of 100kg/day is being set up at IIT Kharagpur. The objective of this product is to tackle cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition. The end users of this product are

·         Severe Acute Malnourished Children

·         Children with AIDS who is suffering from wasting

·         AIDS patients with nutritional deficiency

Accordingly suitable NGO’s, other food nutrition and food safety sectors can play a major partner role in taking the product to the required target group. The technology has been transferred to M/S Gattapu Chemical Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

3.     Advantages of this technology over the already existing methods.

The main purpose of this ready to eat food paste is to serve the essential nutrients and energy for the severely acute malnourished and favor growth and development.

·         The developed high energy nutrient rich food pastes are easy digestible, palatable soft and crushable which require no additional method of preparation and can be consumed directly from the pouch/tube.

·         This food paste requires no refrigeration and can be stored at room temperatures.

·         The food paste has a low water activity and is shelf stable.

·         The high energy nutrient rich food paste is mainly targeted to eradicate severe acute malnutrition at community level.

·         By shortening the duration of inpatient treatment from an average of 30 days to only 5-10 days, the move towards using food paste in the recovery phase of treatment reduces the resources needed to treat SAM, which improves cost-effectiveness.

4.     A summary of the technical details involved.

High energy and nutrient rich food pastes are made using local ingredients and indigenously developed process technology. Three recipes are made out of peanut and one from potato and one from Bengal gram. The formulations contain other energy rich ingredients like sugar, glucose, skimmed milk powder, soy protein isolate, mineral vitamin mix etc. These ingredients increases the nutritive and sensory value of the final product which are be liked by children community fulfilling the demand of suitable food for SAM children.

 The processing comprises of steps like roasting, grinding, mixing and colloidal milling. The vitamin and mineral premix designed uniquely for these formulations with proper deliverability and stability. The production of the RTE food paste includes various processes like roasting, grinding, mixing, and milling. The process parameter like mixing time and mixing speed are optimized for the mixing of the ingredients in a planetary mixer. Additives like stabilizer and emulsifier required to maintain the stability of the product are also optimized. After mixing the product is passed through colloidal mill to get a fine paste of smooth consistency. The product is then packed in flexible pouches/tubes and stored.

5.     Future prospects of the technology.

Formulations with the alteration of ingredients can be made possible and changes could be made to the technology developed. Further the technology can be used to develop products to deal with various stages of malnutrition. This technology will be an efficient tool to deal with food security aspects in the future.