Deadline: 31-Jul-2025
The Department of Science and Technology is calling for applications to develop innovative and sustainable technologies aimed at reducing the environmental damage caused by industrial waste and consumer lifestyles. The initiative seeks to assess and improve material recycling systems that have low environmental impact or to discover better alternatives. It also aims to establish the techno-economic feasibility of these proposed technologies.
The focus areas include industrial waste, where projects should develop and demonstrate technology for extracting critical metals, including rare earth elements, from secondary resources, by-products, waste, and urban ores using a zero-waste approach. For toxic and hazardous waste, the emphasis is on chemical sludge from the textile sector, aiming to utilize it as an energy resource by producing biochar or briquettes. This requires pilot-scale technology demonstration at a 0.5 to 1 metric ton scale, done in collaboration with industry partners.
In terms of organic wastes, the program supports developing pilot-scale technologies to recover resources and soil-grade products such as potash, phosphorus, and macro- and micronutrients from industrial waste like incineration ash, spent wash from fermentation processes, and wastewater from agriculture and biomass-based industries. The plastic waste category targets the creation of pilot-scale technologies for upcycling plastics, focusing on increasing efficiency in resource recovery and producing value-added by-products for industrial applications, following a circular economy framework.
Applications are invited from faculty, scientists, engineers, and technologists working in Indian universities, academic institutions, or R&D laboratories that have adequate infrastructure and facilities for R&D work. Applicants must register as Principal Investigators on the DST Online Portal and submit their proposals under the Technology Translation and Innovation Division’s Waste Management Technologies scheme. The program encourages collaborative, multi-institutional, and multidisciplinary projects, with each participating institution represented by a Principal Investigator and supported by Co-Principal Investigators.
For more information, visit Department of Science and Technology.
