WCAS holds lecture on ‘Biological Waste Management of Paper’

Prof (Dr) S L Gupta, dean, WCAS, said, “To inculcate the culture of research in college, WCAS has started sponsoring research projects from the year 2016.”

Dr Sadaf Zehra, HoD, Department of Biotechnology, who recently completed the college's sponsored research project delivered a lecture on 'Biological Waste Management of Paper' in the college premises.

The principal investigator of the project was Dr Sadaf who said that Oman can benefit from biological waste management of paper. She said paper recycling is the process of turning waste paper into new paper products. In conventional methods, paper recycling involves mixing used paper with water and chemicals to break it down. It is then chopped up and heated, which breaks it down further into strands of cellulose, a type of organic plant material; this resulting mixture is called pulp or slurry. It is strained through screens, which removes any glue or plastic that may still be in the mixture and it is then cleaned, de-inked, bleached and mixed with water. Then, it can be made into new paper.

Dr Sadaf said that the paper industry has been investigating biological replacements for some of the chemicals used in the pa- permaking process in hopes of reducing capital and operating costs and minimising its environmental impact. One area where biological replacements have a good opportunity in the paper industry is in recycled fibre applications.

Dr Sadaf's research focused on the non-harmful biological processes used to recycle or modify the waste products into useful products. Dr Sadaf said, “At this time of crisis when the world is looking for alternative energy sources and conserving our environment at the same time, the proposed research findings can prove to be very helpful for the economy of Oman.”