IIT-B converts nitrogen plant into oxygen generator
MUMBAI: At a time when there’s a shortage of medical oxygen in the country for treatment of Covid-19 patients, the Indian Institute of Technology-bombay (IIT-B), has set up a demonstration unit to convert nitrogen generators, which are found in all parts of India, into oxygen generators by fine tuning the existing nitrogen plant set up.
The oxygen generated by this plant at IIT-B lab was tested and found to be 93-96% pure and at 3.5 atmospheric pressure.
Nitrogen generation plants, which take in air from the atmosphere and separate oxygen and nitrogen to give out liquid nitrogen, can be found in various industries such as oil and gas, food and beverages. Nitrogen is dry in nature and is used commonly for purging and cleaning of oil and gas tankers.
Milind Atrey, institute chair professor, department of mechanical engineering, IIT-B, along with Tata Consulting Engineers Limited (TCE), demonstrated a proof of concept of quickly converting nitrogen plants into oxygen plants.
“In nitrogen plants, the pressure of the air is controlled and then it is cleaned of impurities such as water vapours, oil, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons. After this step, the purified air goes into the PSA chamber which is fitted with carbon molecular sieves or filters that can separate nitrogen and oxygen. We are proposing that the sieves be replaced with ones that can separate oxygen instead,” said Atrey, a specialist in cryogenic engineering and dean, research and development at IIT-B.
The team replaced the carbon molecular sieves with zeolite molecular sieves in the PSA Nitrogen plant in the Refrigeration and Cryogenics Laboratory of the institute. Zeolite molecular sieves are used for separating oxygen from the air. By controlling the flow rates of the containers, the researchers were able to convert the nitrogen plant into an oxygen generating plant. Spantech Engineers, a city-based company that deals with PSA Nitrogen and Oxygen plant production, partnered on this pilot project and installed the required plant components as a skid at IIT-B for evaluation. Amit Sharma, managing director of TCE, said, “This pilot project displays how an innovative solution for emergency oxygen generation using existing infrastructure can help the country tide over the current crisis.”