Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Water Purification
Environmental Entrepreneur,Green Biz.NRN Murthy of Infosys says that we Indians are weak in execution.We need to realize the need and practice of gud project management. Form a group of competent Managers,Give them responsibilities and review the project from day One.
Water Purifiers - How Safe is the Water You Drink?
Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water, but water in its raw state is not suitable for drinking. It contains numerous contaminants, which can be dangerous to human health.
But, thanks goes to Science that has invented devices to shield civilization against such aqua ailments. A water purifier is one of such devices that purify our drinking water. A water purifier is a wonderful device that converts raw water so that it tastes like nectar; therefore by this process it makes ordinary tap water perfectly suitable for drinking.
Health Benefits of a Water Purifier:
A water purifier is very beneficial for healthy living. Ordinary untreated water can contain numerous contaminants including bacteria, algae, viruses, fungi, minerals, and man-made chemical pollutants that cannot be seen with the naked eye. These contaminants are very pernicious for one’s health.
A water purifier kills these organisms and filtrates the contaminants to make the water perfectly fit for drinking. Thus water purifiers save us from numerous dangerous bacterial and viral diseases that easily spread when water becomes contaminated.
Water Purification Techniques:
Different water purifiers use different techniques of purification. The common techniques used to purify water include boiling, carbon filtering, distilling, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, electrode ionization, water conditioning and plumbo-solvency reduction.
Carbon filtering: This technique is commonly used in home water filters. Charcoal, a form of carbon with a high surface area due to its mode of preparation, adsorbs many compounds, including some toxic compounds. The water is passed through activated charcoal to remove such contaminants. Granular charcoal filtering and sub-micron solid block carbon filtering are the two types of carbon filtering systems.
Granular charcoal is not very effective for removing contaminants such as mercury, volatile organic chemicals, asbestos, pesticides, disinfections byproduct (trihalomethanes), mtbe, pcbs etc. The sub-micron solid block carbon filter is the better system that removes all of the contaminants.
Home water filters drinking water sometimes also contains silver. These small amounts of silver ions can have a bactericidal effect.
Reverse osmosis: The reverse osmosis water system is the technique in which mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. The process is called reverse osmosis, and is theoretically the most thorough method of large-scale water purification.
Ion exchange: Most common ion exchange systems use a zeolite resin bed and simply replace unwanted Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions with benign (soap friendly) Na+ or K+ ions. This is the common water softener. A more rigorous type of ion exchange swaps H+ ions for unwanted cations and hydroxide (OH-) ions for unwanted anions. The result is H+ + OH- → H2O. This system is recharged with hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, respectively. The result is essentially deionized water.
Electrodeionization: It includes passing the water through a positive electrode and a negative electrode. Ion selective membranes allow the positive ions to separate from the water toward the negative electrode and the negative ions toward the positive electrode. It results in high purity de-ionized water. The water is usually passed through a reverse osmosis unit first to remove nonionic organic contaminants.
Water conditioning: This is a method of reducing the effects of hard water. Hardness salts are deposited in water systems subject to heating because the decomposition of bicarbonate ions creates carbonate ions that crystallize out of the saturated solution of calcium or magnesium carbonate. Water with high concentrations of hardness salts can be treated with soda ash (Sodium carbonate) that precipitates out the excess salts, through the common ion effect, as calcium carbonate of very high purity. The precipitated calcium carbonate is traditionally sold to the manufacturers of toothpaste.
Plumbo-solvency reduction: In areas with naturally acidic waters of low conductivity (i.e. surface rainfall in upland mountains of igneous rocks), the water is capable of dissolving lead from any lead pipes that it is carried in. The addition of small quantities of phosphate ion and increasing the pH slightly both assist in greatly reducing plumbo-solvency by creating insoluble lead salts on the inner surfaces of the pipes.
But, thanks goes to Science that has invented devices to shield civilization against such aqua ailments. A water purifier is one of such devices that purify our drinking water. A water purifier is a wonderful device that converts raw water so that it tastes like nectar; therefore by this process it makes ordinary tap water perfectly suitable for drinking.
Health Benefits of a Water Purifier:
A water purifier is very beneficial for healthy living. Ordinary untreated water can contain numerous contaminants including bacteria, algae, viruses, fungi, minerals, and man-made chemical pollutants that cannot be seen with the naked eye. These contaminants are very pernicious for one’s health.
A water purifier kills these organisms and filtrates the contaminants to make the water perfectly fit for drinking. Thus water purifiers save us from numerous dangerous bacterial and viral diseases that easily spread when water becomes contaminated.
Water Purification Techniques:
Different water purifiers use different techniques of purification. The common techniques used to purify water include boiling, carbon filtering, distilling, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, electrode ionization, water conditioning and plumbo-solvency reduction.
Carbon filtering: This technique is commonly used in home water filters. Charcoal, a form of carbon with a high surface area due to its mode of preparation, adsorbs many compounds, including some toxic compounds. The water is passed through activated charcoal to remove such contaminants. Granular charcoal filtering and sub-micron solid block carbon filtering are the two types of carbon filtering systems.
Granular charcoal is not very effective for removing contaminants such as mercury, volatile organic chemicals, asbestos, pesticides, disinfections byproduct (trihalomethanes), mtbe, pcbs etc. The sub-micron solid block carbon filter is the better system that removes all of the contaminants.
Home water filters drinking water sometimes also contains silver. These small amounts of silver ions can have a bactericidal effect.
Reverse osmosis: The reverse osmosis water system is the technique in which mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. The process is called reverse osmosis, and is theoretically the most thorough method of large-scale water purification.
Ion exchange: Most common ion exchange systems use a zeolite resin bed and simply replace unwanted Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions with benign (soap friendly) Na+ or K+ ions. This is the common water softener. A more rigorous type of ion exchange swaps H+ ions for unwanted cations and hydroxide (OH-) ions for unwanted anions. The result is H+ + OH- → H2O. This system is recharged with hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, respectively. The result is essentially deionized water.
Electrodeionization: It includes passing the water through a positive electrode and a negative electrode. Ion selective membranes allow the positive ions to separate from the water toward the negative electrode and the negative ions toward the positive electrode. It results in high purity de-ionized water. The water is usually passed through a reverse osmosis unit first to remove nonionic organic contaminants.
Water conditioning: This is a method of reducing the effects of hard water. Hardness salts are deposited in water systems subject to heating because the decomposition of bicarbonate ions creates carbonate ions that crystallize out of the saturated solution of calcium or magnesium carbonate. Water with high concentrations of hardness salts can be treated with soda ash (Sodium carbonate) that precipitates out the excess salts, through the common ion effect, as calcium carbonate of very high purity. The precipitated calcium carbonate is traditionally sold to the manufacturers of toothpaste.
Plumbo-solvency reduction: In areas with naturally acidic waters of low conductivity (i.e. surface rainfall in upland mountains of igneous rocks), the water is capable of dissolving lead from any lead pipes that it is carried in. The addition of small quantities of phosphate ion and increasing the pH slightly both assist in greatly reducing plumbo-solvency by creating insoluble lead salts on the inner surfaces of the pipes.
Environmental Entrepreneur,Green Biz.NRN Murthy of Infosys says that we Indians are weak in execution.We need to realize the need and practice of gud project management. Form a group of competent Managers,Give them responsibilities and review the project from day One.
Monday, October 02, 2006
8 lessons for budding entrepreneurs
At the Tie-ISB Connect 2006, Sanjeev Kumar spoke about the eight lessons he has learnt as an entrepreneur. These are mantras that all budding entrepreneurs should keep in mind.
1. It always takes a long time to establish a company.
2. It always costs more (than you thought it would) to start a company.
3. We need leaders, not managers, for an enterprise to succeed.
4. Perseverance pays. You have to believe in what you are creating, and keep the faith. In 2001, many people told us we were over, but we are still here.
5. History does not always repeat itself.
6. Communication is key. Listening is extremely important. You should have the ability to listen to your employees.
7. Be prepared for the culture factor in the US and in India, though a lot of cross-pollination has taken place by now.
8. In good times, be prepared for the bad times. Good times will not last forever. Business is cyclical.
He also compares India of the past to what it is today:
1. India today has the right mix of technical resources.
2. There is a better ecosystem in place. In 1999, when we were establishing ourselves, we had only personal contacts.
3. There is a more developed and distributed academic system in India today. Silicon Valley succeeded because of better academia. Today, in India, you have not just the IITs, but many good private institutions that produce excellent, technically competent people.
4. The speed at which the domestic market is growing is very heartening.
5. Infrastructure is developing fast, and is as good as what's in America.
6. India has more cost-effective communication channels.
7. Accessibility is easier today.
8. The Indian government has realised the importance of having business, so there are more incentives from the authorities. The best thing is states competing with each other to attract new ventures.
9. Many states have realised the importance of Tier 2 cities. We need more Tier 2 cities in all states.
Environmental Entrepreneur,Green Biz.NRN Murthy of Infosys says that we Indians are weak in execution.We need to realize the need and practice of gud project management. Form a group of competent Managers,Give them responsibilities and review the project from day One.
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