| Project Id
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BITSRMIT100051
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| Project Detail
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| Project Title
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Iron nanoparticles impregnated composite electrospun nanofibers for arsenic and microbes filtration from groundwater stream
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| Senior Supervision Team (BITS)
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| Supervisor name and Title
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Dr. Somak Chatterjee
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School or Department (or company, if applicable)
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BITS PILANI, PILANI CAMPUS
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Email ID
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somak.chatterjee@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
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| URL for more info
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https://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/pilani/somakchatterjee/profile
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| a) Are you currently supervising a BITS or RMIT HDR student?
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NO
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| Please comment how many you are supervising
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|
| b) Have you supervised an offshore candidate before?
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NO
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| If no, what support structures do you have in place?
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|
| If yes, please elaborate
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| Senior Supervision Team (RMIT)
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| Supervisor name and Title
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Namita Roy Choudhury
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School or Department (or company, if applicable)
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STEM
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Email ID
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namita.choudhury@rmit.edu.au
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| URL for more info
|
|
| a) Are you currently supervising a BITS or RMIT HDR student?
|
NO
|
| Please comment how many you are supervising
|
|
| b) Have you supervised an offshore candidate before?
|
NO
|
| If no, what support structures do you have in place?
|
|
| If yes, please elaborate
|
|
| Other Supervisors (BITS)
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| Supervisor name and Title
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Prof. Banasri Roy
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School or Department (or company, if applicable)
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BITS PILANI, PILANI CAMPUS
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| Phone Number (Optional)
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9649204682
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Email ID
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banasri.roy@pilani.bits-pilani.ac.in
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| URL for more info
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https://universe.bits-pilani.ac.in/pilani/broy/profile
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| Other Supervisors (BITS)
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| Supervisor name and Title
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Seungju Kim, Dr
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School or Department (or company, if applicable)
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STEM
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| Phone Number (Optional)
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|
Email ID
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seungju.kim@rmit.edu.au
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| URL for more info
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| Field of Research (For Codes)
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| 400409 | Separation Technologies | 40.00 |
| 401204 | Computational methods in fluid flow, heat and mass | 20.00 |
| 401605 | Functional materials | 40.00 |
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| Project Description
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|
Natural weathering and anthropogenic activities resulted in percolation of various contaminants and pathogenic bacteria in the groundwater, thereby declining its quality. Arsenic and microbes are two such lethal contaminants which causes varieties of diseases in human body, ranging from neural apathy to cancer. Amongst different removal strategies used, (i.e., adsorption, precipitation and coagulation) membrane filtration is attractive due to its high retention and flux. But membrane fibers prepared by conventional wet spinning method has higher pore sizes and faces selectivity issues, after few cycles of operation. This method also requires expensive spinneret assembly that require space and maintenance. Rather, electrospinning produces nanofibers with high porosity, specific surface area and controllable membrane thickness to directly promote infiltration rate and contaminant rejection ratio. Additionally, a specific ion can be removed by impregnating functional materials, like, nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. These fibers are known as composite nanofibers and they have both filtration and adsorptive properties. Current proposal aims to develop these composite electrospun nanofibers, by impregnating iron nanoparticles (IP) in different polymer melts, such as, dimethyl formamide (DMF) dissolved polyacrylonitrile (PAN), cellulose acetate (CA) and polyethersulfone (PES) on a polywoven ester fabric substrate. Electrospinning conditions, such as, applied electric field, distance between the needle and collector, melt flow rate, and needle diameter will be optimized based on the performance of the fibers, mainly in terms of their permeability, porosity, cut off, hydrophilicity, arsenic and microbial uptake capacity. Apart from that, these fibers will also be characterized based on their morphology and structure and mineralogical parameters. Best fiber with a specific preparation condition and composition will be chosen following this assessment. This fiber will be used for continuous filtration against arsenic and water borne pathogens as a function of different operating conditions, i.e., pH, pressure, flow rate and coexisting ions in crossflow and batch mode. Equilibrium uptake capacity of the best nanofibers will also be performed to know about its maximum uptake capacity for arsenic and microbes. As membrane fouling will be an inherent limitation in such operations, regeneration and disposal strategy of finally exhausted membrane will be designed.
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| Project Deliverable/Outcomes
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This proposal involves preparation of composite nanofibers from three polymer melt-nanoparticle combinations, i.e., DMF-PAN-IP, DMF-CA-IP and DMF-PES-IP by electrospinning technique. Apart from its composition and type, electrospinning conditions also decide the nanofiber’s performance, mainly in terms of inherent membrane parameters, such as, permeability, porosity, cut off and hydrophilicity. Additionally, the nanofiber’s arsenic and microbe uptake capacities will also be important assessment criteria. In order to choose the best nanofiber, extensive literature survey, performance related experiments, surface and compositional characterizations will be done. Final nanofiber can be used for further filtration studies at different pressure, flow rate and pH. Its behavior can be judged at different concentration of various coexisting ions, like, calcium, magnesium, potassium, chloride, carbonate and bicarbonates. Equilibrium studies can be devised to understand the mechanism of arsenic and microbe uptake by the nanofiber. Finally, regeneration of the nanofibers at different pH can be carried out. It is also important to choose an option amongst different disposal techniques for finally exhausted membrane, which will be based on toxicity characteristics leaching protocol. The best nanofibers can also be tested against real life groundwater in order to assess its performance deviation from laboratory simulated water. Filtration mechanism through the nanofiber media can be modelled for scale up analysis. Summarily, this project aims to synthesize best polymer-nanoparticle pair for synthesizing electrospun nanofibers to filter arsenic and microbe from groundwater. Following key deliverables is enumerated for the best nanofiber related to its: Year 1: Membrane fabrication 1. Process development and know how, i.e., final polymer-inorganic types and composition with suitable electrospinning conditions 2. Membrane inherent and compositional property Year 2: Membrane Performance 3. Breakthrough filtration time (i.e., time required for reaching allowable limit of the contaminant) and flux at various operating conditions 4. Mechanism of arsenic and microbe uptake 5. Regeneration strategy and disposal mechanism Year 3: Membrane flow modeling 6. Modelling porous flow for scale-up analysis 7. Deviation percentage when used for real life feed water The primary outcome of the project is a family of magnetic composite membranes for arsenic and microbe removal.
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| Research Impact Themes
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| ADVANCED MATERIALS, MANUFACTURING AND FABRICATION | NOVEL MATERIALS |
| ENHANCED LIVABILITY AND URBAN FUTURES | SMART CITIES, WATER STEWARDSHIP AND EFFECTIVE WATER USE |
| SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT
| SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES IN ENERGY, WATER, FOOD, FINANCIAL MARKETS AND INFRASTRUCTURE |
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| Which RMIT Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) does your project align to
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CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
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| Which RMIT Enabling Impact Platform (EIP) does your project align to
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ADVANCED MATERIALS, MANUFACTURING AND FABRICATION
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| Which RMIT Program code will this project sit under?
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| Student Capabilities and Qualifications
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Knowledge on materials science, nanotechnology, electrospinning
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Membrane filtration process, characterization, modelling of porous media flow
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M.E./M.Tech or M.Sc
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| Preferred discipline of Student
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| Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Coputational Chemistry, Colloids, Surface Chemistry, Catalysis |
| Environmental Science |
| Nanotechnology, Nanomaterials, Nanomedicine, Nanoscience |
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