A Sustainable Point-of-Use Filtration Unit for Treating Pesticide Contaminated..

Pakistan-US Science and Technology Cooperation Program
Phase 6 (2015 Deadline)

A Sustainable Point-of-Use Filtration Unit for Treating Pesticide Contaminated Groundwater
US partner: Eakalak Khan, North Dakota State University
Pak partner: Asad Khan, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore

Progress Reports

2016: The main goal of the proposed project is to develop a sustainable point-of-use water filtration unit to treat water contaminated with pesticides in the Punjab province of Pakistan. People living in the rural areas of Punjab cannot afford costly treatment processes such as activated carbon and membrane filtration. This project aims to provide them with an economical, easy-to-use, and very efficient filtration unit by using locally available iron turning waste from the iron industry which is ubiquitous in Pakistan.

Efforts in the past one year focused on contaminated site selection and water sample collections and analysis, experimentation on the ability of iron turning to degrade/remove pesticides from water, and familiarization of the project team members between the two sides. Most of the proposed work has been completed. The sites have been selected and water samples have been collected. Pesticide levels in the water samples will be determined once analytical equipment, which is being acquired, is available. Experimental results on the ability of iron turning to degrade/remove pesticides are very promising. Out of six pesticides studied, iron turning is able to degrade/remove four of them more than 90% and two of them at 64% and 85% within 10 minutes. Currently, work to optimize the order, composition and age of filter media for pesticide removal is being conducted.

The U.S. PI, Eakalak Khan, visited Pakistan for one week (May 9-14, 2016) for project kick-off meeting and planning, and familiarization with COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Lahore personnel and facilities. During his visit, he not only met the Pakistani side project team (PI, Co-PI and a Ph.D student) at CIIT Lahore but also visited three main cotton growing cities/divisions: Sahiwal, Vehari and Faisalabad, where the proposed water treatment technology is intended to be installed and tested. He visited several villages in these cities/divisions to familiarize himself with the villagers and their lifestyles, drinking water quality, and irrigation systems and tubewells for farming. Moreover, he visited with several farmers to learn about pesticide uses and handling. During his visit to Vehari and Sahiwal, he visited CIIT campuses in these cities and interacted with their environmental sciences faculty to understand water contamination issues in the region. During his visit to Pakistan, he delivered two seminar presentations to CIIT faculty, staff, and students as follows:

• “Current and Cutting-Edge Environmental Research Topics”, May 9, 2016, CIIT, Lahore
• “Susceptibility to Silver Nanoparticles of Biofilms at Different Stages of Maturity”, May 13, 2016, CIIT, Wah

Dr. Asad U. Khan (PI, Pakistani side) attended the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah on November 8-15, 2015 and made a side trip to visit the U.S. PI at North Dakota State University (NDSU) on November 16-20, 2015. During his time at NDSU, he interacted with the Ph.D student on the U.S. side and visited relevant research laboratories.

2017: The main goal of the proposed project is to develop a sustainable point-of-use water filtration unit to treat water contaminated with pesticides in the Punjab province of Pakistan. People living in the rural areas of Punjab cannot afford costly treatment processes such as activated carbon and membrane filtration. This project aims to provide them with an economical, easy-to-use, and very efficient filtration unit by using locally available iron turning waste from iron industry which is ubiquitous in Pakistan.

Efforts in the past one year focused on fine-tuning filtration unit/media and water sample collections and analyses, experimentation on the ability of iron turning to degrade/remove pesticides from water in the presence of minerals such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and nitrate, and pesticides degradation mechanisms. On the U.S. side, most of the proposed work has been completed. However, on the Pakistani side, the procurement of equipment for pesticide analysis is pending and has slightly delayed the progress of one of the tasks.

Experimental results produced by the U.S. side showed a promising ability of iron turning to remove/degrade pesticides in the presence of minerals in groundwater of Punjab, Pakistan. The presence of minerals either favored or had minimal effects on the removal of 5 out of 6 pesticides. The only negative result is on the presence of potassium alone which substantially inhibited the removal of one of the six pesticides studied. The U.S. side was also able to find out complete pesticide removal/degradation mechanisms. The final degradation products are far less toxic than the parent pesticides. Currently, work to regenerate and optimize the filter media for pesticide removal is being conducted.

The U.S. and Pakistani sides have been communicated mainly via e-mails. A video conference call with the Pakistani side was held on December 14, 2016 to update and integrate research findings from both sides. Asad Khan (PI, Pakistan side) will visit North Dakota State University (NDSU), USA on August 17-21, 2017. The US PI (Eakalak Khan) and his graduate student will travel to Los Angeles, USA on August 12-17, 2017 to present research findings at the 18th International Conference on Diffuse Pollution and Eutrophication.

2018: The main goal of the proposed project is to develop a sustainable point-of-use water filtration unit to treat water contaminated with pesticides in the Punjab province of Pakistan. People living in the rural areas of Punjab cannot afford costly treatment processes such as activated carbon and membrane filtration. This project aims to provide them with an economical, easy-to-use, and very efficient filtration unit by using locally available iron turning waste from iron industry which is ubiquitous in Pakistan.

Efforts in the past one year focused on optimization of water filter to treat pesticides in water. On the U.S side, all the proposed work has been completed. Experimental results produced by the U.S. side showed a promising ability of iron turning as a filter media to remove/degrade mixture of pesticides under continuous filtration. Slow filtration was effective in removing all six pesticides completely and/or below drinking water standards for at least 400 hours of continuous filtration, even when the pesticide concentration was 10 times higher than drinking water standards (2 µg/L, for five out of six pesticides). Biological regeneration of filter media resulted in further longevity and sustainability of the filter for treatment of pesticides in water.

The U.S. and Pakistani sides have communicated mainly via e-mails. A project closing meeting was held via a video call with the Pakistani side on September 9, 2018. The U.S. side shared with the Pakistani side the information required to transfer, install, and operate the sustainable water filters in the rural areas of Punjab, Pakistan.

Asad Khan (PI, Pakistani side) visited North Dakota State University, USA on August 17-21, 2017. The U.S. PI (Eakalak Khan) and his graduate student (Tauqeer Abbas) shared the experimental findings and design of filter prototype with Asad Khan during his visit. On the U.S. side, research findings resulted in oral presentations at several International conferences and won the best presentation award at the 20th International Conference on Water, Waste and Energy, Management, June 6-7, 2018, San Francisco, USA.

Publications: Please provide citations for any published papers, conference presentations, websites established, patents and inventions, curricula developed, etc. as a result of your project.

Oral Presentations:

1. Abbas, T., McEvoy, J. Khan, A. and Khan, E. (2018) Utilization of iron turning waste as efficient point-of-use water filtration media for removal of endrin, in the International Water Association World Water Congress & Exhibition, September 16-21, 2018, Tokyo, Japan.
2. Abbas, T., McEvoy, J. and Khan, E. (2018) A Sustainable and low-cost filter to treat pesticides in water, in the 20th International Conference on Water, Waste and Energy, Management, June 6-7, 2018, San Francisco, USA.
3. Abbas, T., McEvoy, J. and Khan, E. (2017) Iron turning waste as affordable and effective filtration media for rural communities to treat pesticides in water, in the 8th International Conference on Geochemistry in the Tropics & Sub-Tropics, December 9-12, 2017, Shenzhen, China.
4. Abbas, T., McEvoy, J. and Khan, E. (2017) Iron turning waste as sustainable point-of-use water filtration media for treatment of groundwater contaminated with pesticides, in the 18th International Conference on Diffuse Pollution and Eutrophication, August 13-17, 2017, Los Angeles, USA.