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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Water Filter Products |
| Parent | Tata Chemicals |
| Website | www |
The Tata Swach is a water purifier developed by Tata Chemicals, a part of the Tata group in India. [1] Swach was designed as a low-cost purifier for Indian low-income groups, who lack access to safe drinking water. [2] [3] The product is sold in three variants as Tata Swach, Tata Swach Smart and Tata Swach Smart Magic. [4]
Tata Swach was designed by Tata Research, Development and Design Centre (TRDDC) and Tata Chemicals with contributions from other Tata group companies. In 2004 the company developed a water purifier called Sujal. Tata Consultancy Services deployed thousands of these filters in the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster of 2004 as part of its relief activities. [5]
Sujal was a very basic low-cost model which used rice-husk ash (produced from heating rice husk in combination with pebbles and cement). Activated silica and carbon is present in the ash; silica can reduce the turbidity of water, while activated carbon binds with and absorbs non-polar impurities (such as pesticides and fertilisers). However, the purification system did not have bacteriostatic or bactericidal properties, and it was incapable of removing impurities such as lithium, alcohols, ammonia, strong acids and bases or inorganic substances like sodium, lead, iron, arsenic and nitrates. [6] Dr. Muraly Sastry, Chief Scientific Officer of Tata Chemicals, confirmed that even though Sujal could successfully remove the odour, colour and particulate matter from impure water, many pathogens could not be eliminated.[ citation needed ]
To address these concerns, the Swach product was conceptualised by Tata Consultancy Services and produced by Tata Chemicals. Titan Industries contributed to the development of special assembly presses for mass production of the units.
In the Tata Swach design, water purification is carried out using processed rice husk ash impregnated with nano (1 x 10-9
) silver particles for purifying the water and to destroy disease causing bacteria, germs and other organisms. The bacteriostatic and bactericidal properties of silver are attributed to its ability to react with the sulphhydryl (-SH) groups in the bacterial cells that produces the structural changes in bacterial cell membranes and interacts with nucleic acids. The nano sized particles help in increasing the surface area so that the bacteria get enough reaction time. [7]
The Swach can purify water at the rate of about 3 to 4 litres (0.79 to 1.06 US gal; 0.66 to 0.88 imp gal) every hour. [6] The purifier consists of two parts; an upper reservoir where the untreated water enters and a lower middle portion with a bulb to which the cartridge can be attached. Another reservoir is placed at the lower end, which collects purified water. The two chambers are stackable and arranged so that the entire system can function on gravity. The Tata Swach Smart is a variant with a more compact design, holding 15 litres (4.0 US gal; 3.3 imp gal). [8]
Tata Swach Bulb is the main purifying unit of the product. The Swach Bulb, depending on the quality of water, can purify about 3,000 litres (790 US gal; 660 imp gal) of water, after which the bulb must be replaced. The bulb has a "fuse" indicating when a cartridge change is required. [9]
Distilled water is water that has been boiled into vapor and condensed back into liquid in a separate container. Impurities in the original water that do not boil below or near the boiling point of water remain in the original container. Thus, distilled water is a type of purified water.
Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, biological contaminants, suspended solids, and gases from water. The goal is to produce water that is fit for specific purposes. Most water is purified and disinfected for human consumption, but water purification may also be carried out for a variety of other purposes, including medical, pharmacological, chemical, and industrial applications. The history of water purification includes a wide variety of methods. The methods used include physical processes such as filtration, sedimentation, and distillation; biological processes such as slow sand filters or biologically active carbon; chemical processes such as flocculation and chlorination; and the use of electromagnetic radiation such as ultraviolet light.
Purified water is water that has been mechanically filtered or processed to remove impurities and make it suitable for use. Distilled water was, formerly, the most common form of purified water, but, in recent years, water is more frequently purified by other processes including capacitive deionization, reverse osmosis, carbon filtering, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, ultraviolet oxidation, or electrodeionization. Combinations of a number of these processes have come into use to produce ultrapure water of such high purity that its trace contaminants are measured in parts per billion (ppb) or parts per trillion (ppt).
In chemistry and materials science, impurities are chemical substances inside a confined amount of liquid, gas, or solid. They differ from the chemical composition of the material or compound. Firstly, a pure chemical should appear in at least one chemical phase and can also be characterized by its phase diagram. Secondly, a pure chemical should prove to be homogeneous. The perfect pure chemical will pass all attempts to separate and purify it further. Thirdly, and here we focus on the common chemical definition, it should not contain any trace of any other kind of chemical species. In reality, there are no absolutely 100% pure chemical compounds, as there is always some small amount of contamination.
A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck or tanker is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also designed to carry liquid loads. Many variants exist due to the wide variety of liquids that can be transported. Tank trucks tend to be large; they may be insulated or non-insulated; pressurized or non-pressurized; and designed for single or multiple loads. Some are semi-trailer trucks. They are difficult to drive and highly susceptible to rollover due to their high center of gravity, and potentially the free surface effect of liquids sloshing in a partially filled tank.
LifeStraw is a brand of water filtration and purification devices. The original LifeStraw was designed as a portable water filter "straw". It filters a maximum of 4,000 litres of water, enough for one person for three years. It removes almost all waterborne bacteria, microplastics and parasites. A bottle was later developed which incorporated a LifeStraw cartridge into a 650-millilitre (22 US fl oz) BPA-free plastic sports water bottle. In addition to these portable filters, the manufacturer produces high-volume purifiers powered by gravity that also remove viruses. These are designed for family and community use.
Metakaolin is the anhydrous calcined form of the clay mineral kaolinite. Rocks that are rich in kaolinite are known as china clay or kaolin, traditionally used in the manufacture of porcelain. The particle size of metakaolin is smaller than cement particles, but not as fine as silica fume.
Nanotechnology is impacting the field of consumer goods, several products that incorporate nanomaterials are already in a variety of items; many of which people do not even realize contain nanoparticles, products with novel functions ranging from easy-to-clean to scratch-resistant. Examples of that car bumpers are made lighter, clothing is more stain repellant, sunscreen is more radiation resistant, synthetic bones are stronger, cell phone screens are lighter weight, glass packaging for drinks leads to a longer shelf-life, and balls for various sports are made more durable. Using nanotech, in the mid-term modern textiles will become "smart", through embedded "wearable electronics", such novel products have also a promising potential especially in the field of cosmetics, and has numerous potential applications in heavy industry. Nanotechnology is predicted to be a main driver of technology and business in this century and holds the promise of higher performance materials, intelligent systems and new production methods with significant impact for all aspects of society.
The LifeSaver bottle is a portable water purification device. The bottle filters out objects larger than 15 nanometres.
Green nanotechnology refers to the use of nanotechnology to enhance the environmental sustainability of processes producing negative externalities. It also refers to the use of the products of nanotechnology to enhance sustainability. It includes making green nano-products and using nano-products in support of sustainability.
Slingshot is a water purification device created by inventor Dean Kamen. Powered by a Stirling engine running on a combustible fuel source, it claims to be able to produce drinking water from almost any source by means of vapor compression distillation, requires no filters, and can operate using cow dung as fuel.
Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a semi-permeable membrane to separate water molecules from other substances. RO applies pressure to overcome osmotic pressure that favors even distributions. RO can remove dissolved or suspended chemical species as well as biological substances, and is used in industrial processes and the production of potable water. RO retains the solute on the pressurized side of the membrane and the purified solvent passes to the other side. The relative sizes of the various molecules determines what passes through. "Selective" membranes reject large molecules, while accepting smaller molecules.
Tata Research Development and Design Centre (TRDDC) is a software research centre in Pune, India, established by Tata Group's TCS in 1981. TRDDC undertakes research in Machine Learning, Software Engineering, Process Engineering and Systems Research.
Ultra-high-purity steam, also called the clean steam, UHP steam or high purity water vapor, is used in a variety of industrial manufacturing processes that require oxidation or annealing. These processes include the growth of oxide layers on silicon wafers for the semiconductor industry, originally described by the Deal-Grove model, and for the formation of passivation layers used to improve the light capture ability of crystalline photovoltaic cells. Several methods and technologies can be employed to generate ultra high purity steam, including pyrolysis, bubbling, direct liquid injection, and purified steam generation. The level of purity, or the relative lack of contamination, affects the quality of the oxide layer or annealed surface. The method of delivery affects growth rate, uniformity, and electrical performance. Oxidation and annealing are common steps in the manufacture of such devices as microelectronics and solar cells.
NanoIntegris is a nanotechnology company based in Boisbriand, Quebec specializing in the production of enriched, single-walled carbon nanotubes. In 2012, NanoIntegris was acquired by Raymor Industries, a large-scale producer of single-wall carbon nanotubes using the plasma torch process.
Ultrapure water (UPW), high-purity water or highly purified water (HPW) is water that has been purified to uncommonly stringent specifications. Ultrapure water is a term commonly used in manufacturing to emphasize the fact that the water is treated to the highest levels of purity for all contaminant types, including: organic and inorganic compounds; dissolved and particulate matter; volatile and non-volatile; reactive, and inert; hydrophilic and hydrophobic; and dissolved gases.
Mercury nano-trap water filtration is a method of decontaminating water of mercury. Mercury is considered to be one of the most notorious metal pollutants present in food, water, air and soil, but the process of eliminating it is limited. Heavy metals such as mercury are formed on the Earth's crust and made into solutions with ground water through certain natural processing and pH changes occurring in the soil. There are traditional methods that are used to extract mercury from the natural water sources and industrial waste water, such as chemical precipitation, amalgamation, reverse osmosis, membrane filtration and photochemical methods. However, these methods are expensive, time-consuming, and inefficient, hence the need for a nanofiltration technology that overcomes all of these issues. Nanofiltration technology is very efficient in removal of mercury species due to its characteristics of having high surface area-to-volume and the fact that it's easily chemically functionalized. Additionally, Brownian motion of nanomaterials allows them to scan large volume of solvent in short times. There are many copolymer nanoparticles (NPs) that can be used as scavengers to eliminate mercury species via redox reactions such as selenium NPs, manganese dioxide nanowhiskers, carbon nanotube−silverNP composites, silver NPs, silver NP-decorated silicaspheres, gold NP-based materials. Among these adsorbents, citrate-capped gold NP-based materials have been used intensively to capture mercury species from nature water.
Murali Sastry is an Indian material chemist, nanomaterial scientist and the chief executive officer of the IITB-Monash Research Academy. He is a former chief scientist at Tata Chemicals and a former senior scientist at the National Chemical Laboratory. He is known for his studies on surfaces, films and materials chemistry and is an elected fellow of Maharashtra Academy of Sciences and the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 2002, for his contributions to chemical sciences.
There are many water purifiers available in the market which use different techniques like boiling, filtration, distillation, chlorination, sedimentation and oxidation. Currently nanotechnology plays a vital role in water purification techniques. Nanotechnology is the process of manipulating atoms on a nanoscale. In nanotechnology, nanomembranes are used with the purpose of softening the water and removal of contaminants such as physical, biological and chemical contaminants. There are variety of techniques in nanotechnology which uses nanoparticles for providing safe drinking water with a high level of effectiveness. Some techniques have become commercialized.
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