IIT Madras Develops Indigenous Zero-Discharge Pilot Plant To Process E-Waste

IIT Madras researchers have developed an indigenous pilot plant capable of processing 100 tonnes of electronic waste per year, marking a significant step in India’s efforts to strengthen sustainable recycling and resource recovery.

The facility has been set up at Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Tiruchirappalli , and is designed to treat bare printed circuit boards (PCBs) , which are among the most hazardous and metal-rich fractions of e-waste.

It uses a zero-discharge single-acid hydrometallurgical process , developed from laboratory research into a scalable system that enables recovery of valuable metals such as copper, lead and tin without generating harmful effluents.

The approach is notable for minimizing secondary waste streams compared to conventional multi-chemical recycling methods, which often require complex separation stages and produce additional chemical residues.

The pilot plant also reflects an internally funded research initiative at IIT Madras, supported by the Department of Chemical Engineering, and demonstrates successful translation of lab-scale innovation into a working industrial prototype.

It aligns with Make in India , circular economy goals , and India’s push for critical mineral security , particularly as demand for recovered metals from electronics continues to rise globally.

Professor S Pushpavanam of the YBG Varma Chair at the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, said the system offers a ready-to-scale model for clean metal recovery and highlights key differentiators including automation, safety integration and indigenous manufacturing.

It further demonstrates the potential for scaling academic research into industrial deployment in India’s growing e-waste management ecosystem in this sector overall today globally.