Team:MITADTBIO Pune/3D MODEL

• HOME
• TEAM▾
  • | TEAM MEMBERS
  • | COLLABORATIONS
  • | ATTRIBUTIONS
• PROJECT▾
  • | DESCRIPTION
  • | DESIGN
  • | EXPERIMENTS
  • | RESULTS
  • | MATHEMATICAL MODELLING
  • |FUTURE PROSPECTS
• PARTS
• SAFETY
• COMMUNITY▾
  • | HUMAN PRACTICES
  • | PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
  • | SURVEY
• AWARDS▾
  • | MEDALS

3D MODEL

Environmentalist and social activist Mr. Sathya Natarajan has rightly pointed out about the dignity of labour being compromised due to lack of proper equipment sanitation workers have while handling used sanitary napkins. After a lot of brainstorming, our team came up with the idea of creating a system that can deal with the colossol amount of used napkins with minimum human contact and risks. This will ensure that PEred is used in such a way that is both safe and convenient for the stakeholders.

MODEL DESCRIPTION

Here is a video demonstrating overall view of our model

	Components
A	Inlet
B	UV radiation strips/tubes
C	Glass Containers
D	Outlet for Dry Waste
E	Collection baskets
F	Shredder

Figure 1. The overall mechanism of the prototype system

Our design consists of a shredder where the used/soiled sanitary napkins will be fed. The major reason for shredding these pads is that the degradation process becomes faster and more efficient due to an increase in the surface area. Not only this, it also helps our bacteria to cover all the portions, including the inner layers, of a sanitary napkin which include cellulose, top and bottom plastic sheet and super absorbent polymer.

Next, the soiled shredded pads move through an inlet into a system.

Figure 2. Prototype parts

Our prototype system's body could be of two types, cylindrical or cuboidal. The design of our system consists of UV tubes/strips. This, not only serves our purpose of sterilization but will also help in deteriorating the PE, increasing the hydrophilicity which modulates bacterial attachment. Our prototype will also have nozzles for spraying our engineered bacteria, PEred. These bacterial nozzles can be programmed to spray a certain quantity of bacteria at timed intervals. The quantity of bacteria sprayed can be calculated depending on the amount of waste that is being fed into it.

In the centre of the prototype chamber will be a ribbon drill. The function of this ribbon drill will be to rotate all these soiled, shredded pads to make sure that every part has bacteria on it thus covering maximum surface area. Also, the drill pushes all these soiled pads ahead through the system outlet into a collection box.

When PEred encounters the soiled pads, the Potassium (K+) present in the blood switches on the PEred circuit. The Laccase and the Biofilm genes present downstream of the Potassium promoter get activated. Laccase helps in degrading the plastic components. Biofilms allow bacterial cells to form colonies and adhere to a certain surface. This increases cell survival,defence and nutrient availability.

Figure 3. Collection baskets

The shredded, UV treated, bacteria coated pads are now collected in baskets which will then be left for a few more days for further degradation. In addition to this, there will also be an outlet for collecting wet discard which can be sterilized and discarded.

---

IMPLEMENTATION

We have a working organism. We have a working prototype system. However, the sanitation workers like Mr. Deepak Kukale will still have to segregate the Sanitary waste before we can degrade it. Without proper training and protection gear, he is still at risk for blood-borne infections. Faced with this hurdle, our team began working on an implementation plan for our bacteria.
With the creation of dedicated Sanitary Waste collection bins, with an attached paper bag dispenser for disposal, people from all walks of life are free to dispose off their sanitary waste in a safe and simple manner, while preventing any infection during the transit from Bin to Prototype system. These bins can be situated in societies initially, where women residing in the colonies are free to dispose off their used pads.
We propose a fleet of 3 trucks operating in a test area, that will routinely and safely collect sanitary waste from colonies nearby, and bring it to a common collection point where we can degrade them. To man them, a task force of trained and equipped workers, who know the dangers of improperly discarded sanitary waste, and the precautions they must take must be trained and employed.

While this may sound like a fanciful dream, we have put together a brief data sheet showing our financial plans. This is not meant to be a profit-making venture, but an investment for a safer, and less hazardous tomorrow.

Components	Quantity	Price
2nd hand Trucks	3	Rs. 20 Lakh/- * 3 = Rs. 60 Lakh /- One Time Cost.
Truck Drivers	6	Rs. 10,000 *6 = Rs. 60,000/- Recurring Monthly Salaries.
Prototype Handlers	4	Rs. 10,000 *4= Rs. 40,000/- Recurring Monthly Salaries.
Protective Gear	10	Rs. 5000*10= Rs. 50,000/-
Truck Maintenance		Rs 3300*3 = Rs. 9900/- Recurring Monthly Costs.
Total Cost		One Time – Rs. 20 Lakh/- Recurring – ~Rs 2 Lakh /month

NOTE:

• Does not include fuel costs, as they will be determined by region taken into consideration and distance traveled by trucks each day.
• Does not include costs of constructing and maintaining system, since a working model has yet to be built.

While more thorough financial anaylsis must be done before approaching investors, the provided figures are sufficient for us to realise that bringing this project to life is not an easy task. However, we remain steadfast in our belief that our project will help improve the lifestyle of not only this generation, but of all those yet to come.