IIT Mandi researchers say presence of heavy metals in water can cause many complications in humans including Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

IIT Mandi researchers develop great method for heavy metal removal

IIT Mandi researchers developed the filter using biopolymer-based material to remove heavy metals from water.

The paper has been co-authored by Dr. Sinha Ray and his research scholar, Mr. Ashish Kakoria, along with Dr. Suman Sinha Ray, Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago.

IIT Mandi researchers says acid mine drainage containing large quantity of heavy metals is a menace.

Heavy metals in water could lead to several neurological problems in human including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, and it is important to develop filters to treat effluents that are released into water bodies to prevent pollution.

Dr. Sumit Sinha Ray who led the team of IIT Mandi researchers said the problems of arsenic pollution in the Ganga basin are well known in India.

The Indian National Science Academy reports that the major hazardous metals of concern for India in terms of their environmental load and health effects are lead, mercury, chromium, cadmium, copper, and aluminium, that are released into the water through anthropogenic activities such as mining, manufacturing, electroplating, electronics, and fertilizer production, among others, say IIT Mandi researchers.

‘In this work, we have provided a novel, industrially scalable method of production of adsorbents that can bind to heavy metals.’

One specialty of these adsorbents is that they contain a large amount of a biopolymer, Chitosan, derived from crab shells that is mixed with a well-known polymer, Nylon, said Dr. Sumit who led IIT Mandi researchers.

While normally the fibres used to make regular cartridge filter-assemblies are processed by a method called melt blowing, the IIT Mandi researchers have used a process called ‘solution blowing.’

Solution blowing produces fibres that are nanometres in diameter – a hundred thousand times thinner than a single human hair, say IIT Mandi researchers.

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When the fibres get finer, their surface area increases tremendously, which results in better adsorption of heavy metals, say IIT Mandi researchers.

Apart from producing nanofibres, solution blowing processes can enable blending of natural polymers like chitosan, lignin etc. with synthetic polymers like Nylon, Poly(methyl methacrylate) etc, says Dr. Sumit Sinha Ray who led the team of IIT Mandi researchers.

The replacement of synthetic polymers with natural polymers is a welcome move in this era of environmental consciousness.

Using the solution blowing technique,IIT Mandi researchers could replace 40% of the nylon with chitosan, which means 40% less fossil-fuel-derived, polluting plastics.

Along with this, IIT Mandi researchers have also observed that while normally adsorbent fibres bind to the target metal only at their surface, in their nanofibre membranes, the adsorption was seen to happen at the sub-surface scale as well, which translates to higher metal removal efficiency as per the researchers’ hypothesis, like – for copper almost 302 mg of metal ion could be adsorbed per 1 g of adsorbent.

The membranes could be reused at least eight times before there was considerable reduction in the efficiency of metal adsorption, say IIT Mandi researchers.

Recovery of the adsorbed metal in a metal-hydroxyl nitrate form was also easy, which is a value-addition to the membrane filter.

‘We tested with a prototype with four litres of heavy metal-laden water in the lab and have seen impressive results,’ say the IIT Mandi researchers.

The researchers tested their membrane with copper laden water, to establish proof of principle.

Dr. Sumit Sinha Ray and his team of researchers are all set to scale up the technology to industrial scales, to handle larger volumes of metal-contaminated water.

This study is funded by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India.

Admission into UG medical courses, popularly known as MBBS would commence with conducting NEET UG for 2025. Candidates who pass the exam have to take part in the counselling for MBBS admission.

A few other sources convey that registration for NEET UG in 2025 may also commence in March 2025.

Schedule

NEET UG 2025 registration schedule will be made known after the announcement about exam’s application submission commences.

The NEET UG 2025 registration would usually be open for a month or more. The application correction facility will be made active after submission comes to an end.

After corrections, the admit cards are made available for download. Those who have completed their NEET UG 2025 application submission process successfully, alone will be able to download the hall ticket.

Candidates have to write the exam and pass it with required qualifying marks to be eligible for taking part in the counselling process for getting admitted into a medical college.

More about the exam

The full name of the exam is National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test  Undergraduate.

The exam is conducted offline in pen-and-paper mode and answers have to be registered on a separate answer sheet.

The questions in NEET UG 2025 would be related to biology, physics and chemistry which are taught in classes 10,11 and 12 in recognized educational institutions across India.

Questions will be in a multiple-choice format where each question has more than one reply and the right one among that has to be chosen to get marks.

Students willing to join BDS in colleges located across India also have to submit NEET UG 2025 application.

Medical colleges abroad also consider scores of NEET UG for providing admission into MBBS courses.

Who can take up NEET UG 2025 application submission?

Candidates who have passed plus-two in the science stream with biology, physics and chemistry as subjects can take up NEET UG 2025 application submission.

Students who have appeared for their final year exams and are waiting for the results or students who are about to appear for the final year exams of their qualifying degree can also take up NEET UG 2025 application submission.

However, these students have to pass their exams and provide proof of it by the time of admission.

1. The above URL has to be typed into the browser and submitted to allow the website to download.

2. Once the webpage is ready, candidates can click the button Click Here for Registration/Login

3. Clicking the above button will open another webpage with URL ‘https://neet.ntaonline.in/frontend/web/’

4. Once the webpage with above URL opens, candidates can click the registration link and create an account with username and password.

5. After obtaining the account, they can come to the same webpage (https://neet.ntaonline.in/frontend/web/) and login and start applying for the exam.

Website for NEET UG 2025 Application is Here

NEET UG 2025 application submission fees

NEET UG 2025 application submission fees is Rs 1700 for General category candidates and NRI applicants. The same is Rs 1600 for General-EWS/OBC-NCL category applicants.

SC/ST/PwBD/Third Gender category applicants have to pay Rs 1000 while taking up NEET UG 2024 registration.

The fee may also change due to various reasons, candidates can read information bulletin related to NEET UG 2025 application when it is released.

How to download hall ticket?

The process to download hall ticket is online and it can be done on the official website ‘https://exams.nta.ac.in/NEET’

1. Candidates have to type the URL mentioned above in the browser and submit it to allow the website to download.

2. Once the website is ready, candidates can click the link for the hall ticket.

3. This will likely open another website and there, they have to enter their application number and other details and submit them to view the admit card.

Point to remember

Once the admit card is visible, applicants can download and take a printout. Only those who have successfully completed NEET UG 2025 application submission will be able to download admit card.

The link to download admit card will be made active on the official website at the appropriate time.

Students can visit the official website as the exam time nears, to find the link for download hall ticket. Link for obtaining admit cards are usually made available about 10 to 15 days before the exam day.

Students who pass NEET UG 2025 application submission with the required qualifying marks can apply for counselling where they choose the college and course. Counselling takes place to fill seats at the All India level and state level.

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Students who wish to study in central government institutions can apply under the All India Quota for which Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) conducts the counselling.

Respective authorities of various states in India conduct counselling at their state level. Candidates can visit the official websites of the respective authorities for more information.

The best thing to do would be to follow the website of NTA for updates on 2025 NEET UG. Registration can be done at the appropriate time.

Candidates who do not get a seat in the institution of their choice in the initial rounds of counselling can apply in the subsequent rounds.

Preparation involves studying all the lessons in the syllabus, students must ensure that they have mastered all the subjects to score marks in NEET UG for 2025.