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The SAR Technology was developed by a consortium of European & Indian partners led by Queen’s University Belfast, UK & demonstrated at a location near Kolkata during 2005-06 (www.qub.ac.uk/tipot). The technology was subsequently replicated successfully in six arsenic affected areas in West Bengal through World Bank Development Marketplace 2006 programme. The technology involves a very simple and easily adaptable process to remove arsenic and other heavy metals from groundwater using controlled oxidation by aerial oxygen and bioremediation process taking place inside the aquifer. No chemicals are used and almost no sludge is produced during operational stage since iron and arsenic are trapped under the earth. The operation & maintenance cost is very low and the SAR plants have an expected lifetime of 10 years. The estimated cost of a SAR plant of 4000 lt/cycle capacity is 3,000 USD.
This technology can transform the way arsenic is removed from groundwater in Ganges, Brahmaputra and Mekong delta where the arsenic is of arsenopyrite origin, saving millions of lives. This includes affected areas of India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, Vietnam and Thailand. Further R&D is being carried out by QUB-UK, NML-India & UM-Malaysia
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Congratulations to Dr. Bhaskar Sen Gupta, Chief Advisor of the TiPOT & World Bank Project on SAR Technology on winning IChemE (UK)'s prestigious Dhirubhai Ambani Award.
Photo (from left): Derek Thomson (MC), David Brown & Dr. Bhaskar Sen Gupta
Designed by: Soumyadeep Mukherjee
LATEST NEWS
2004
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Selected by European Union Asia Pro-Eco Programme for TiPOT Project.
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2006
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Winner of the Development Marketplace Global Competition, 2006, hosted by the World Bank.
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2008
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Winner of the DELPHE British Council grant for arsenic awareness campaign in India
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2009
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Received Dhirubhai Ambani Award from IChemE, UK
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2009
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Featured in the "12 Cases of Cleanup & Success" in the World's Worst Polluted Places Report 2009 by Blacksmith Institute - New York & Green Cross- Switzerland
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2010
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"Asian Water Industry Management Award" in the Asia Water Award 2010 at Kuala Lumpur (Dr B. Sen Gupta, QUB)
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2010
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Selected to attend the World Bank "INNOVATION FAIR: Moving Beyond Conflict" in Cape Town, South Africa from April 12-15 2010.
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2010
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Winner of the prestigious ST ANDREWS PRIZE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT from among 302 projects worldwide
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2010
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Winner of the DELPHE British Council grant for training on arsenic mitigation in Cambodia
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Recognitions
Watch the Documentary Film on SAR
1. Almost no sludge is generated during operation.
2. Easiest Technology. Villagers can maintain it.
3. SAR removes heavy metals from the AQUIFER as a whole.
4. Cheap Operation & Maintenance: 5$/month for 4000 lt water/day.
5.Clogging by iron is not a problem. More there is iron, more effective is SAR.
6.No Chemicals used. Natural Chemistry is the key-word of SAR.
ADVANTAGES OF SAR
Is there anyprobability of aquifers being clogged because of deposition of the arsenic-iron flocks ?
No. In SAR process aquifer will never get blocked. Precipitation and adsorption are competing processes. There is a start up process that ensures the aquifer is more of an adsorption bed rather than a precipitation bed. It can be controlled by controlling the redox potential drop across the zone of influence. Also, the iron-arsenic flocks are very minute in size & never aggregates to block soil pores.
Dr Bhaskar Sen Gupta won "Asia Water Management Excellence Award 2010" in the individual category for his contribution to water related research in the Asian continent.
A 2007 study found that over 137 million people in more than 70 countries are probably affected by arsenic poisoning of drinking water. (Associated Press - Aug, 2007)
The scientists predict that long-term exposure to present arsenic concentrations around the world will result in approximately 1.2 million cases of hyperpigmentation, 6,00,000 cases of keratosis, 1,25,000 cases of skin cancer & 3,000 fatalities per year from internal cancers. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002)
The SAR research team has won highly prestigious St Andrews Prize for the Environment in 2010. Queen’s University Belfast & lead Indian partner National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur will design and set up more treatment plants in future with the assistance of Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission, Barrackpur.
SAR is the Winner of the DELPHE British Council grant for training for arsenic mitigation in Cambodia in 2010