Chromium
is widely used in various industries like leather, steel, chrome plating, paint
manufacturing, wood preservation etc. Untreated effluents from these industries
cause widespread contamination of water as been reported in several parts of
the country.
Chromium
in the environment primarily exists as Trivalent Chromium Cr(III) and
Hexavalent Chromium Cr(VI). The later is toxic and the World Health
Organization has classified it as carcinogenic and can cause stomach ulcers and
cancers and severe damage to kidneys and liver.
As
per Indian standard IS10500 for drinking water, the maximum permissible
concentration of Cr(VI) in drinking water is 50 microgram per litre. The US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends a still lower permissible
concentration of 10 microgram per liter.
Detection
of Cr(VI) at such low levels is not only technically challenging but also
expensive and time consuming since it involves collection of water samples from
affected areas, transport to laboratory, storage and finally analysis. The
method can be used for limited water samples with errors due to conversion of
Cr(III) to Cr(VI) and vice versa during transport and storage.
BARC
has developed a simple, user friendly, quick and cost effective kit for onsite
determination of Cr(VI), which meets IS10500 as well as EPA criterion. It
provides the much needed solution to measure the level of Chromium
contamination in drinking water and tap water, lakes, rivers as well as ground
water. The procedure involves adding a specified amount of specific reagents to
the water sample and identifying the developed colour.
The
colour develops within 5 minutes and the distinction can be made with naked
eye. For ease of comparison a colour chart is provided with the kit. Water
samples can be immediately categorized as being safe or toxic for drinking from
Chromium(VI) point of view. The kit provides several advantages including
onsite detection and instantaneous results, elimination of use of sophisticated
instruments for analysis, low investment on infrastructure for production of
the kit, easy availability of raw materials and very good accuracy for the
intended purpose.
Colour chart for
detection of Cr(VI)
Existing
kits for onsite detection of Chromium (VI) are currently imported and the cost
of analysis is beyond Rs.100 per sample. In comparison, analysis using BARC kit
costs Rs.16 per sample. This is yet another example of BARC’s efforts towards
‘Make in India’ campaign of the Government of India.
The
technology of the BARC kit for Cr(VI) detection has been transferred to M/s
LTEK Industries, Nagpur yesterday.
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KSD/NK/PK
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