LIVE TV
Odisha
Photo: DRDO
Recommended Stories
Bhubaneswar: In a bid to address the oxygen crisis at hospitals especially during the time of Covid pandemic, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has geared up to set up seven medical oxygen plants in Odisha.
The DRDO’s move is a part of its massive oxygen unit establishment drive across the country under which it has decided to set up as many as 500 plants in the country within three months with the help of its indigenous developed technology.
Also Read
Under the initiative, a total of 7 such units will be installed in Odisha, one each at Boudh, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Gajapati, Jharuguda Nayagarh and Koraput districts.
The plants would be functional soon for which works have already been initiated at many places.
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has been entrusted with the job of civil and electrical work construction of the plants. Places for the establishment of the units in these districts have already been identified while the NHAI has already commenced works at two places- Boudh and Cuttack.
The DRDO has developed Medical Oxygen Plant (MOP) technology for On‐Board Oxygen Generation for LCA, Tejas by DEBEL, a statement issued by the government of India stated.
The oxygen plant is designed for a capacity of 1,000 litres per minute (LPM). The system can cater to 190 patients at a flow rate of 5 LPM and charge 195 cylinders per day.
“Transfer of Technology has been done to M/s Tata Advanced Systems Limited, Bengaluru and M/s Trident Pneumatics Pvt. Ltd., Coimbatore, who will be producing 380 plants for installation across various hospitals in the country,” the statement added.
The MOP technology is capable of generating oxygen with 93±3% concentration which can be directly supplied to hospital beds or can be used to fill medical oxygen cylinders. It utilizes Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technique and Molecular Sieve (Zeolite) technology to generate oxygen directly from atmospheric air, the statement further read.
Once the plants become functional, hospitals can generate oxygen from the on-site plant instead of depending on other sources. It would be also cost-effective for the health centres. These plants would be very useful for the patients especially those who are suffering from Covid-19 disease.
