by Ashis Sinha
ANS: “Rapid Organic Waste Stabilizer” (ROWS) – A Patented Technology for Converting Solid Organic Waste into Organic Fertilizer was inaugurated at IIT(ISM) Dhanbad on Thursday.
The ROWS is a machine designed to convert solid organic waste into a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer rapidly. It takes around 4 to 6 hours to convert the solid organic waste into a completely dried powder form end product rich in NPK— Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), informed Professor SK Gupta.
“Around 20 – 25 kg of organic fertilizer could be produced by feeding 100 kg of the Solid Organic Waste (SOW),” he added.
Notably, the ROWS is designed by Professor S. K. Gupta and Nitin Kumar, Research Scholar, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering (ESE), ISM Dhanbad, to rapidly convert solid organic waste into a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer.
Briefing about ROWS Professor Gupta said, the working of the rapid organic waste stabilizer (ROWS) is based on novel thermal digestion technique in which the waste is shredded into a particle size < 10mm and then uniformly heated at a temperature around 150oC through convection mode of heating. “This process digests the organics and coverts the nutrients into a simpler and plant available form which can directly be used for agricultural purposes,” he added.
Professor Gupta said this technology could prove to be a milestone for recycling nutrients, i.e., “From the Nature to the Nature”.
He said, that the “Swaach Bharat Mission” phase II, encourages the bulk waste generators to use mechanized composters for the treatment of the solid organic waste.
Speaking on the occasion Professor Rajiv Shekhar, Director ISM, talked about the ways the IIT(ISM) Campus is administering towards conservation of environment such as commencing ROWS at 48 quarter for the treatment of all the solid organic waste.
He said, ISM is also conserving the water through rain water harvesting system. “The sewage treatment plants in the campus treat all the waste water generated within the campus and the treated water is being used for the horticulture need,” he added.
Deputy Commissioner, Dhanbad Sandeep Singh, said that Dhanbad is generating about 162 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day and approx. 50 – 60 per cent of the MSW consisted of solid organic waste. “We need to scale up such technologies for the sustainable management of MSW,” he added.
Rajni Singh, Dean Media and Branding of ISM said, a pilot scale plant has already been installed at the 48 Quarters of the IIT(ISM), Dhanbad. The future plan includes the installation of such more plants at the municipality levels.
“Discussion with various municipalities and industries is going on to commercialise this technology,” she added.
