Background:
Institute had developed and commercialized Pusa Hydrogel invented from the same lab as the present technology. The product and the process were licensed to industry. The product presently in the market under several brand names, presented few R&D challenges to be addressed, based on the feedback of industry and other stakeholders, such as affluent treatment, use of organic solvent and the cost of product high as per user’s perspective:
Technology Details:
The bench scale process of gel manufacture being described here offers the following industry friendly features, overcoming the stated constraints: 1. No need to alter the existing hydrogel manufacturing plant (applicable to the licensees manufacturing Pusa Hydrogel) 2. Green Process-Zero affluent discharge, zero organic/ toxic/inflammable solvent use, use of indigenously available raw materials 3. Excellent yield ratio, reaction time 9-10 hours per batch (excluding drying period) 4. Batch yield increased by factor of 1.5 at an additional cost of only Rs. 150 approximately; Cost of product on dry weight basis reduced by around 30%