A chemical engineer from Loughborough University will spend ten working days in Jaipur, India, helping artisan papermakers treat their wastewater. The paper industry is a major employer in the region, but individual workshops lack access to municipal treatment systems, which are too expensive to expand. Without treatment, water cannot be reused in a city already under water stress. The visit will assess whether small-scale, decentralised systems using sustainable materials like biochar can filter and recycle the water cheaply enough for independent workers. Dr Mark Leaper will meet local researchers and industrial partners, lead a workshop for stakeholders, and clarify practical constraints such as material availability, cost, and waste disposal. If the approach proves feasible, it could allow the paper sector to grow without depleting local water supplies. The work also supports the UK-India research partnership under the UKRI-India Concordat.
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This overseas travel application will fund the visit of one academic from Loughborough University Chemical Engineering Department (Dr Mark Leaper) to the Chemical Engineering Department at MNIT Jaipur, India. The focus will be on wastewater treatment for the local paper industry. In addition to the department, Dr Leaper will visit potential industrial collaborators in the Jaipur area and will lead a workshop at the university for local stakeholders. The whole visit is planned to take 10 working days as part of a further engagement between the universities lasting 12 months. The paper industry is a major economic sector in Jaipur but relies on independent artisan workers who often do not have access water treatment facilities. Upgrading and expanding existing municipal treatment systems is expensive and not feasible; however, decentralised water treatment systems using sustainable adsorption with materials like biochar would allow expansion of the sector by allowing treated water to be re-used. This is particularly important in a water-stressed area such as Jaipur. The visit will allow clarity on issues such as scale, availability of adsorption materials, the ease of which the treatment systems could be used, cost restrictions and disposal; it will also provide an opportunity for MNIT researchers to show existing progress and identify how the involvement of Loughborough would be beneficial. This work aligns with MOU of research and innovation signed between India and the UK and other programmes to develop researchers such as the UKRI-India Concordat.
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