Project Completion Seminar on Wastewater Treatment and Reuse to Approach Zero Water Discharge at Al-Rahim Textile Industries

U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water at Mehran University of Engineering & Technology Jamshoro held the Project Completion Seminar on “Wastewater Treatment and Reuse To Approach Zero Water Discharge at Al-Rahim Textile Industries” on Wednesday, 18th September 2019, Presented by Dr. Tanveer Ahmed Project Principal Investigator (PI), Prof. Dr. Rasool Bux Mahar Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI)& Deputy Director at USPCASW, along with the participation of Prof. Dr. Bakhshal Khan Lashari Project Director at USPCASW, Prof. Dr. Kazi Suleman Memon Manager Research at USPCASW,Mr. Asif Bukhari, Mr. Raheel Tabbani Industrial Partner and Director Al-Rahim Textile Industry Pvt. Ltd., Dr. Imran Ali, Assistant Professor SMI University andEx. Manager Utilities, Yunus Textile Mills, as well as various stakeholders from textile industries, faculty members and students.

Welcome by Prof. Dr. Bakhshal Khan Lashari

Dr. Lashari welcomed the seminar participants and guests from industries. In addition, briefed about the vision of USPCAS-W towards applied and need based research with Industry-Academia collaboration. He further added that students should approach industries to design their research as per industry need and required solutions. In addition, he also emphasize the role of industrial stakeholders for allowing the researchers and students from academia and further facilitation through required technical and financial assistance.

Presentation by Dr. Tanveer Ahmed&Prof. Dr. Rasool BuxMahar

Project PI Dr. Tanveer Ahmed briefed about the project objectives and followed activities at Al-Rahim textile industries and USPCAS-W for successful execution of the planned objectives. He further discussed about the challenges faced by Pakistan Textile Industries in managing the water consumption and treatment of the generated wastewater. Moreover, he added that with the help of completed project various developments are made at Al-Rahim textile industries including: Adjustment of Water Consumption as per Textile process requirement, identification and adoption of on-site water reuse and water conservation through processes modification and water related maintenance.

Prof. Dr. Rasool Bux Mahar described the development of treatment techniques that were implemented at Al-Rahim Textile Industries in order to extensively treat the generated wastewater and 60% recovery of reclaimed water through RO membrane operations. He further highlighted the design and operating conditions that were explored developed and validated at the industry with the execution of the project. He concluded that with the help of completed project one new technique is indigenously developed for the cost effective treatment of RO Reject water/Brine.

Presentation by Mr. Raheel Tabani

Mr. RaheelTabani, GMBusiness Excellence at Al-Rahim Textile Industries, appreciated the efforts of USPCAS-W and USAID for provide funding and conducting research for development of wastewater treatment and reuse at Al-Rahim Industries. Moreover, he highlighted that the conventional industrial trend is changing towards research based solution and to achieve this academic collaboration is important and could play major role for improvement and industrial progress. Furthermore, he offered technical and financial support to the students and researchers from USPCAS-W, MUET towards planned research to be applied at Al-Rahim Textile Industries.

Address by Dr. Imran Ali

Dr. Imran Ali shared the successful execution of wastewater treatment and reuse at Yunus Textile Mills, since 2015, using Membrane Biological Reactor technology. He added that the technological solutions are available for industrial wastewater treatment and the payback of invested cost is viable. Moreover, he highlighted that the selection of feasible technology should be validated with research in analyzing the characteristic and composition of industrial wastewater; need to be treated and reused.

At the successful completion of the project, the MoU was signed between U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W) Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro and Al-Rahim Textile Industriesto create and maintain an amicable working relationship through sharing of information and opportunities. Beside other multiple roles, the key role is to offer training, capacity building, employment, and internship for USPCAS-W Faculty, Researchers and Students. Moreover Al-Rahim Textile Industries also offers financial assistance and participation for conducting need-based research or academic project at Al-Rahim Textile Industries.

According to MoU, USPCAS-W agrees to collaborate with Al-Rahim Textile Industries to leverage support across different academic departments and research centers at USPCAS-W, and offers training sessions, capacity-building workshops with Al-Rahim Textile Industries on mutually agreed thematic areas.

At the end of seminar, USPCAS-W souvenirs were presented to the respected guests by Prof. Dr. Bakhshal Khan Lashari.