Environment 
Ethanol from Wheat Straw: Cheaper pretreatment
(0)Researchers from IIT Madras have found a way to make the process of making ethanol from agro-waste cheaper. A move towards increasing farmers’ income, fulfilling fuel needs and reducing pollution from burning agricultural residues.
Heat loving Bacteria from the Himalayas: Breaking cellulose
Researchers from the CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology have isolated a heat loving bacteria from the cold Pangi Valley of the Himalayas. The ability of the strain to break down cellulose very rapidly will find many industrial applications.
Hydrogen from Food Waste: Piloting the process
An estimated seven crore tonnes of food waste is thrown out by Indians every year, polluting the environment. Converting this waste into biohydrogen energy is an economic opportunity, say researchers from CSIR-IICT. Municipalities need to listen to this.
Dairy Wastewater to Power: Microbial fuel cells
Instead of polluting environment, diary wastewater can be used for electricity generation, say researchers from NIT Agarthala. Read on.
Expanding peafowl distribution in Kerala
Sanjo Jose and P O Nameer, from the Kerala Agricultural University were puzzled about increased sightings of peacocks in Kerala. Investigating into the environmental and climatic factors that increase distribution of peafowl, they find that the species may soon extent its territory in Kerala.
Elemental Carbon: Air quality indicator?
Aerosols of two and half and ten micrometres are considered as measures of air pollution. The proportion of elemental carbon in the aerosols that gets deposited in lungs may also need to be included, argue scientists.
Duckweed in Action: Checking xenobiotic pollution
Duckweed may be called a weed, but we may need to change our attitude to it. It may be useful to clean up aquatic ecosystems, says a research team from Doon University. The weed, of course, suffers from Ofloxacin antibiotic in water, but removes it efficiently.
Rice Mill Wastewater Cleaned by Energy Crop
J Umamaheswari and S Shanthakumar from the Vellore Institute of Technology show that it is feasible to upscale energy crop production with wastewater from rice mills – which otherwise would pollute the environment.
Drum Composting for Household Kitchen Waste
IIT Bombay and NEERI Nagpur suggest decentralised composting of kitchen and garden waste to alleviate the urban wet gargabge problem. They developed a modified drum technique to accelerate compost production within five weeks.
Paper Industry Waste to Construction Material
Scientists from CSIR-CBRI Roorkee, IIT Roorkee and IIT Bombay tell paper mills how to avoid causing environmental harm by converting their waste materials to economically viable raw material for construction industry.
