Wednesday, August 29, 2018

힌두교의식때 사용되는 수많은 꽃들이 낭비되는것을 재활용할려는 기발한 아이디어 화학 엔지니어 - 성공하기를

인도는 힌두교를, 국교로 지정하지는 않고 있지만, 파키스탄과 접경지역에 있는 Amrisar Province에 거주하는 시크교도들을 제외한 전지역에서, 국교이다시피 널리 펴져있는 종교다. 

https://lifemeansgo.blogspot.com/2016/01/india-tour-ganges-river.html

힌두교의 성지라고 불려지는 Varanasi에 있는 간지스강에는 약 4킬로정도가 강변을 따라 성지로, 힌두교도들에게는  일종의 종교적 Mecca로 불려지는 성스러운 곳이다.

이곳에서는 힌두교의식으로 사두들이, 성지를 찾은 힌두교도들 앞에서  종교의식을 아침저녁으로 행하고, 힌두교인들, 특히 남자들은 간지스강물에 뛰어들어, 소위 그들이 말하는 Holy Water에서 몸을 씻는데, 내가 보기에는 더러운물로 도저히 몸을 담글수 없어 보였었다. 그옆에는 시체를 태우는 화장터, 그리고 그 아랫쪽에는 남녀노소들이 모여 빨래를 하는 공동 빨래터 등등이 꽉 들어차 있다.

때로는 종교의식이 행 해지는 그입구에는 "사두"들이 좌를 틀고 앉아 신도 들의 시주를 기다리는 주문을 외고 있으며, Tour Guide의 말에 의하면, 이들은 그들이 앉아있는 cage에서 평생 나오지도 않는다고 한다. 물로 생리현상을 해결하기위한 경우를 제외하고는 말이다.

경이로운일은, 대학에서 화학을 전공하는 젊은 아가씨,Parimala Shivaprasad가, 힌두교 신자들이 힌두교 의식을 할때 수많은 꽃 송이들을 사용하고, 물에 던지는데, 이는 결국 인도가 환경오염에 시달리는 원인중의 하나인것을 추적결과 확인하고, 이를 해결하는 방법을 찾아 냈다는 낭보다.  그녀는 단지 사용된 꽃송이들을 처리 하는데 그치지 않고, 이를 다시 활용할수 있다는 방법을 찾아 냈다는 것이다.


그녀의 설명에 따르면, 힌두교 의식후 버려진 꽃송이들을 모아, 일차적으로 Oil을 생산하고, 남은 찌꺼기는 Compost에 넣고 비료를 만들어, 식물이 자라는데 필요한 비료를 만들어 사용할수 있다는 것이다.  이새로운 기법으로 사용된 아름다웠던 꽃송이들이 썩기전에 수거돼여 재활용되면, 더러운 인도사회의 환경이 좀 정화 돼기를 기대해 본다. 아래 기사들을 읽어보자.

Piles of marigolds, roses, carnations and other flowers are left at temples, mosques and sikh gurudwaras for use in religious ceremonies.
Afterwards, the flowers can prove difficult to dispose of.
Tipping the discarded petals into flowing waters is one option, but this can add to the burdens for India's often heavily polluted waterways.
Chemical engineer and eco-entrepreneur, Parimala Shivaprasad, thinks she has the solution.
The 26-year-old from Bangalore, currently a postgraduate student at the University of Bath, wants to turn the leftover flowers into a useful product.


Her big idea is to build a social enterprise that will enable temples in India to extract essential oils from the flowers.
The remains, she says, can be used as organic compost for growing vegetables to help feed the poor.
"I want to collect the floral waste and extract the essential oils from the fragrant part, the biomass, and then compost the rest of the biomass to produce organic manure, looking at completely recycling the flower waste," she says. "That manure could be used by small households or even the temples on their vegetable patch, because usually temples tend to feed people on a daily basis."


Parimala was constantly surrounded by flowers when she was growing up in India.
While studying for a degree in chemical engineering, she became interested in the idea of developing a business based on recycling floral waste from temples.

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"Flowers from religious places cannot really be combined with normal waste," she says.
"Where [temples] have access to rivers and lakes, they tend to dispose of them in flowing waters because that is considered holy.
"Otherwise, they try and get them into the land fills, but if it cannot be combined with the waste it is dumped on open ground and this has led to a lot of pollution in rivers and lakes and on land."
Organic matter from rotting flowers contributes to the growth of algae, which can deplete oxygen levels and cause marine life to die. Rotting flowers may also cause pollution problems on land.


Parimala says about two million tonnes of floral waste in India are discarded every day after religious ceremonies, much of which could be totally recycled.

Step one: Test the idea in the lab

Parimala has developed lab equipment that would allow individual temples to extract essential oils.
"The early idea is to scale up the lab equipment I have to accommodate about five kilos of flower petals to work with on a daily basis and run the extraction unit for about eight hours a day," she says.

Step two: Conduct pilot studies

Feasibility testing suggests the idea could work on a small scale, suitable for use in temples.
Parimala is planning to carry out a pilot study at a temple in Bangalore, with the help of her father, who is a chemist.
If this proves successful, she will extend the trial to more temples in the area before looking at setting up franchises across India.

Step three: Living the dream

She says her dream is to turn the idea into a social enterprise that will help tackle the floral waste problem in India.
"Seeing so much floral waste in India - and because I was a chemical engineer - I thought the two could come together and make something useful," says Parimala.
"An entrepreneur was totally unexpected for me because I was getting into my PhD. But, I really enjoy both being in the university and the journey so far as an entrepreneur."


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44885573

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