NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ENGINEERING RESEARCH INSTITUTE

NEERI was established in 1958 with its headquarters at Nagpur with the following mandatory terms and conditions as follows:

    * To carry out R&D in the domain of environmental monitoring, environmental biotechnology; toxic wastes management; environmental systems design, modelling, and optimization; environmental impact & risk assessment; and environmental policy analysis.

    * To participate in National Mission programmes, e.g. inspection of environment management systems for the judiciary, Drinking Water Mission, Ganga Action Plan; and in CSIR inter-laboratory thrust area projects, e.g. development of Indian Reference Materials.

MAJOR R&D PROGRAMMES

The main areas of research and development programmes of NEERI involves :


SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS

The implementation of its reseach programmes had taken place at various institutes in different states such as:

    * Installation of defluoridation plants in Andra Pradesh for Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission

    * Water quality monitoring of Ganga and performance evalution of sewage treatment plants.

    * Audit of air monitoring stations in South East Asia Region

    * Survillance of Aerobipollutants in Nagpur

    * Monitoring of trihalomethans, pesticides, heavy metals and nitrogenous and phosphatic materials in Mumbai Water supply

    * Development of Duplex ReverseTranscription PCR(RT-PCR) for simultaneous detection of Hepatitis A and E Viruses isolated from Drinking Water Samples

    * Application of Bacteriophage based rapid detection of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in water and food.

    * Chemo-biochemical system for desulphurization of sulphur recovery unit(SRU) tail gas at Mathura Refinary

    * Construction of genetically engineered strains for microbial desulphurozation of petroleum crude.

    * Development of molecular biology approches for bioremediation of cntaminated sites

    * Application of molecular genetics for management of Nitro- aromatics in waste waters.

    * Biodegradation of Chloroaliphatics and Chloromatics in sequential anaerobic-aerobic systems

    * Environmental assessment of hazardous waste treatment and disposal facility at Daabhi(Maharashtra)

    * Application of chromosomal aberration technique for rapid genotoxic risk assessment of hazardous wastes.

    * Development of indigenous vehicular emissin control technologies

    * Development of flyash based Zeolited and delineation of their applications.

    * Development of fixed film-fixed bed reactor technology for high rate biomethanation of waste-waters.

    * Wastewater management in clusters of tanneries in TamilNadu.

    * Basic engineering for Common effluent treatment plants(CETP)in twentyeight industrila estates in NCT_Delhi.

    * Design and installation of Common Effluent Treatment plants (CETP) at Pali and Balotra.

    * Removal of Arsenic from Ground water in West Bengal.

    * Design and installation of High Rate Transpiration Systems(HRT) for treatment and utilization of waste water at Puri.

    * Reclamation and revegetation of mine spoil and flyash dumps through Integrated biotechnological approach

    * Development of tissue culture of sandalwood, Santalum albumL.

    * Carrying Capacity based Development Planning for Greater Kochi Region.

    * Examination of Sustainability and Environmental viability of select projects, viz.

    * Goshree intergrated island development plan, Kochi; Coal based thermal poer plant of Mangalore power company (with Cogentrix lead partner) at Nandikur, Karnataka; Sanghi Jetty/Cement Project, Kutch, Gujarat.

    * Monitoring of Ambient Air Quality in ten major Indian cities, viz. Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Mumbai and Nagpur.

    * Over 100 reports prepared on environment management systems in various stated of the country for High Courts in Andra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

MAJOR TECHNOLOGIES TRANSFERRED TO INDUSTRY

In the following thrust areas, technology has been either developed or devised to suit the requirement in the past.

    * Catalytic Converter and Particulate trap for automobile exhaust emission control.

    * Fixed film-fixed bed reactor technology for biomethanation of wastewater.

    * High Rate Transpiration System for treatment & utilization of wastewater.

    * Common effluent treatment plants, Pali, Balotra in Rajasthan

    * Screw jet aerater

    * Microprocessor-controlled sequential air sampler.

    * Respirable dust sampler

TECHNOLOGIES READY FOR TRANSFER

With further research and development, new technologies has been identified to be undertaken at various activities in the near future. Some of them are as given below:

    * Low-cost, Non-noble metal based catalytic converter for Auto-exhaust emission control

    * Diesel particulate filter

    * Flyash based zeolites

    * Biotechnological conversion of lignocellulosic substrates to cellulase, liquid glucose, and value-added chemicals.

    * Biotechnological production of biosurfactants

    * Production of biodegradable plastics from industrial wastewaters

    * Biobenefication of coal containing high pyritic sulphur and ash

    * Desulphurization of gaseous fuels and emissions

    * Biotechnological recovery of hydrocarbons from oily sludges

    * Oil spill remediation and treatment of petroleum refinery wastewaters

    * Bioremediation of mine spoil dumps

    * Fixed-film reactor technology for biomethantion of wastewater.

    * Recovery of biogas from landfills

    * Molten salt combustion technology for destruction of hazardous industrial wastes

    * Low-cost water treatment systems for small communities

    * Common effluent treatment plants

    * Resource recovery-based low-cost wastewater treatment systems

    * Noncellulosic membranes for ultrafilteration systems.

    * Reclamation of mine spoil dumps

    * Portable instruments for monitoring of pH,DO, temperature and conductivity

    * Microprocessor-based low-cost monostatic sodar.

    * Electronically controlled automatic sequential air sampler

    * Defluoridation of water (hand pump attachable, fill & draw, and continuous flow types)

    * Chlorine tablets and ampoules

SPECIAL FACILITIES

There are various types of facilities are available including machines, equipments and human resources for utilisation in future reseach and development programmes.

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer UV-VIS-NIR Spectrophotometer Inductively coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer(ICP- AES)

High Performance Liquid chromatograph Ocean Surface current radar(OSCR) Advaced computer work stations with necessary software for activities related to Geographic Information System(GIS), Digital Image Processing(DIP), and Knowledge Based System(KBS).

SERVICES OFFERED

Various kinds of services like consultancy, publications, written materials are also available with the institute to improve the research and development activities.

Consultancy services on various types of activities like Water and Wastewater Engineering, Air pollution Control, toxic waste management; Environment systems design, modelling and optimization; Environmental Impact and Risk Assessment; Environmental audit; Life Cycle Assessment, Natural Resource Accounting and Environmental Policy Analysis are available with the institute.

One has to tap these potentials to bring in major changes in these areas for future benefits of the nation.

TRAINING PROGRAMMES

The Institute conducts training courses in the areas of Air pollution monitoring and control, water pollution, preventive maintenance of water distribution system, analytical quality control, environmental biotechnology, solid waste management, environmental impace and risk assessment and environmental audit etc.

PUBLICATIONS

Annual Repot. The Institute brings out Indian Journal of Environmental Health, Parayavaran Patrika(Hindi).

CONTACT PERSON:

 Director
Zonal laboratories

Ahmedabad
Zonal laboratory
Suburban Sub-pumping Station
Beyond Calico Mills
Sewage Farm Road
Ahmedabad 380022
Tel:5320419(Off)
6752181(Res)
Gram:NEERI, Ahmedabad
Fax: 079-5320419

Calcutta
Zonal Laboratory
I-8, Sector 'c'
East Calcutta Area Development Project