Our team from Chemical engineering from Institute of Chemical Technology (Mumbai) has developed a water disinfecting device based on a technology called Hydrodynamic cavitation. In this process, we reduce the local pressure of the liquid so that it starts forming micro-bubbles. These micro-bubbles subsequently grow and collapse to release large amount of energy, which kills the micro-organisms in its vicinity. The process can be visualized as similar to that of controlled boiling of water at room temperature.
This process uses the hydro-static head of the flowing water, and requires no electricity for operation of the device. Also, the process is chemical free, and the device needs a one-time installation and requires practically no maintenance. This makes it energy efficient and provides an economical method for disinfecting water.
This process can have applications in disinfection of drinking water as well as in industries for treatment of waste water streams. We have developed a device that can be fitted inside a bore-well Hand Pump, and can kill the micro-organisms in water as the water is pumped out. This device can achieve up to 95% disinfection, although the extent of disinfection is restricted due to limited physical power available for pumping water.
A similar device is also designed for electric pumps, which can disinfect water to a greater extent. In the prototype presented at CZC, we have developed a device which modifies the flow path of the water to achieve the desired pressure change. This device can remove ~99% of the micro-organisms from water.
