Instrumentation Facility To Trace Toxic Metals
Source : PIB
GS III : Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology
Why in News ?
Instrumentation facility at IISc Bangalore can accurately trace toxic metals at very low concentrations helpful to find pollutants.
Key Facts
- A multi-instrument facility established at IISc Bangalore can determine concentrations of metals and metalloids spanning a concentration range of ≥100 ppm to 10 ppt (9 orders of magnitude).
Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay - This Water analysis facility will be key in tracing sources of pollution, quantifying reactive transport pathways of toxic metals, and assessing the efficiency of remediation methods.
- Facilities for accurate and precise determination of major, minor, and trace element concentration from natural water samples is critical for quality environmental and geochemical research.
- Serve as an open access center for characterization of dissolved metals and metalloids for environmental and geochemical researchers from across the country.
- Fast Forward to SGD6 : Acceptable and affordable water in secondary Indian cities (4WARD) under its Urban Water Systems programme awarded to a cluster of institutions focuses on identification and alleviation of water quality and quantity related challenges faced by Tier-II Indian cities.
About the Instrumentation Facility
- Detection limits for key environmental toxins (viz. Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, As, Se, Pb) are all less than 5 ppt.
- Instrumentation includes
- Quadrupole Inductively Couple Plasma Mass Spectrometer fitted with collision reaction cell (QQQ-ICP-MS)
- Inductively Couple Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer with dual detection capability (ICP-OES).
- QQQ-ICP-MS, equipped with multiple reaction and collision gases is efficient across six orders of concentration values going down to less than 10 ppt (ng/L).
Acceptable and affordable water in secondary Indian cities (4WARD)
- 4WARD has a programmatic approach towards real-life problem-solving in the Urban Water Systems (UWS).
- Specifically, 4WARD addresses improved water supply and sanitation even under extreme surface and groundwater quality challenges.
- It aims to develop and demonstrate a programmatic approach towards real-life problem-solving in the Urban Water Systems.
- Participative process of co-design integrated with the Digital Social Platform (DSP) for balancing engineering solutions
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