A senior professor of the Paint Technology department at the Harcourt Butler Technological University (HBTU) has developed technology of producing eco friendly wall paints from the cow dung.
The innovator of the technology professor PK Kamani said that the efforts were afoot to get patent rights over the technology after trials and recording of the whole process.
The vice chancellor of the HBTU Professor NB Singh said there has been thrust on researches which could be patented and could be put to commercial use.
Professor Kamani said the technology to make paints with cow dung took ten years’ rigorous research. He said he chose cow dung to be used as paint base for two reasons. Firstly it has been treated as auspicious for centuries and secondly because it was insect repellant. We have not used the excreta of any other animal for the purpose he added.
He said that the paint developed with cow dung was used on walls, stones and tin objects and it was found very effective. So far we are using a synthetic as binder in the patent but we want to replace it with some natural binders to make the colour more eco-friendly,”he said.
“The paint with cow dung could be made in all colours except in white colour. The paint could remain as “fresh” for about three years and the walls painted with this paint could be washed with water. It does not produce any foul smell,” he added.
Kamani said that the paint was termite and dampness proof. It would also help to maintain the natural cool atmosphere of the room.
He said that the machines for producing cow dung paint were also developed to suit the purpose and to minimize the production cost. In the initial stage the cow dung paint producing unit would be set up in the villages where the cow dung was in abundance.
The process of producing cow dung paint was simple. The cow dung is first put into a mixer and later chemicals to give it different colours were added to it. With one kilogram of wet cow dung about one and a half liters of paint could be produced and it would be cheaper by 40% as compared to chemical based colours available in the market he said.
He said that a cow dung paint unit could be set up with a nominal investment of rupees twenty five thousand. This could prove as boon for the unemployed youths who preferred start ups.
Innovative ideas
Comments are closed.