Wednesday, October 28, 2020
4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
On Zoom
Clean water using nanotechnology: Science, technology and entrepreneurship
By Prof. Thalappil Pradeep, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India.
Abstract
Professor T. Pradeep and his team have developed affordable and safe drinking water solutions using nanomaterials, from bench scale science to commercial products, creating knowledge, technology and wealth for social good, simultaneously. Noble metal nanoparticles degrade halocarbons efficiently to amorphous carbon and metal halides at room temperature and at low concentrations. This discovery has led to the world’s first nanochemistry based water filter for pesticide removal as many pesticides of relevance are halocarbons. This technology is estimated to have reached about 9 million people. His group developed several technologies to remove other contaminants from drinking water. Combining several such materials, an all-inclusive affordable drinking water purifier has been developed. Exciting aspect of this technology is the creation of advanced materials by simple and environment-friendly methods. The technology, named AMRIT, is being implemented now in the arsenic affected regions of India. About one million people have been benefitted from these installations. Several other drinking water technologies have been rolled out from his lab. To take such technologies forward, four companies been incubated with the participation of IIT Madras. This activity is now being expanded globally.
About the speaker
Thalappil Pradeep is an institute professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. He is also the Deepak Parekh Chair Professor. Professor Pradeep earned a Ph.D. degree in chemical physics working with Professors C. N. R. Rao and M. S. Hegde at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore during 1986-91 and also studied at University of California, Berkeley, Purdue University, Indiana.
He has received the Nikkei Asia Prize (2020), The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) prize (2018), and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in 2008 by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. In 2020, he received the Padma Shri award for his distinguished work in the field of Science and Technology.
His group discovered world’s first nanochemistry based water filter for pesticide removal as many pesticides of relevance are halocarbons. This technology is estimated to have reached about 9 million people. Also, his group developed several technologies to remove other contaminants from drinking water. The technology, named AMRIT, is being implemented now in the arsenic affected regions of India. About one million people have been benefitted from these installations. Several other drinking water technologies have been rolled out from his lab. To take such technologies forward, four companies been incubated with the participation of IIT Madras. This activity is now being expanded globally.
Professor Pradeep is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Engineering, The National Academy of Sciences, The Royal Society of Chemistry, The American Association for the Advancement of Science, and The World Academy of Sciences. He has received the lifetime achievement research award of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and is designated as an Institute Professor.
He is on the editorial boards of journals such as ACS Nano, Chemistry of Materials, Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Communications, Chemistry – An Asian Journal, Nanoscale, Nanoscale Horizons, Particle, Scientific Reports, International Journal of Water and Wastewater Treatment, etc., and is an associate editor of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.