Aligarh: Prof. S. S. Shah of Department of Civil Engineering, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has been awarded with the prestigious IGS-Prof. A.V. Shroff Biennial Award at Indian Geotechnical Conference-2009 held at RVR & JC College of Engineering, Guntur (Andhra Pradesh).

Prof. Shah's paper entitled "Stabilization of Heavy Metal Containing Waste Using Flyash and Cement" published in the Indian Geotechnical Journal was judged best paper on "Grouting Technology/ Environmental Geotechnical Engineering".

Prof. Shah said that about 3,881 million litres of effluents are being generated by different industries in India.

The waste-water generated in Aligarh by lock industries, specially electroplating industries is around 250 million liters per day.

The present study was carried out with an aim to stabilize and precipitate electroplating waste sludge using Portland cement and flyash as binder of solidification.

In this study a modest but environmental friendly method has been proposed to solidify the waste to a solid having structural integrity with prior destruction of cyanide and reduction of Cr (VI) to Cr (III) by effective precipitation.

He said that the proposed technique is very effective in stabilizing these two waste using 8% cement. Around 30% - 45% waste and 50% - 70% flyash have been utilized and a compressive strength of 43.4 N/mm2 was obtained.

The Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) also suggests that the technique is very useful in immobilizing the heavy metals and proper disposal of waste and flyash.