Chennai: The National Centre for Combustion Research and Development (NCCRD), said to be the world's largest, was opened at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) here on Friday.
The Rs 90 crore centre was inaugurated by V.K. Saraswat, member, Niti Aayog, according to a statement issued here by IITM.
"The NCCRD is one of the premier centres in the country. The intention is to make it a knowledge base in areas like gasification, combustion, propulsion and automotive sectors," Saraswat said.
"This is the one of the best diagnostic centres in the country to understand combustion."
He said the NCCRD has been set up as a nodal centre in the region. Any institute and industry can work with NCCRD as it is totally IT-enabled and possesses a strong simulation facility.
The establishment of the centre will give a major boost to the Indian scientific community and will provide an impetus to research in alternative energy and environmental protection by focusing on effective utilisation of combustion as a means of thermo-chemical energy conversion.
The centre is supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, the IITM statement said.
The NCCRD will develop state-of-the-art capabilities in combustion research involving experts in the country. The research interests are in three major application sectors -- automotive, thermal power and aerospace propulsion, besides fire research and micro gravity combustion to a minor extent.