Indigenous development of PSA technology based medical grade oxygen plant

In IIT Kharagpur’s assistance, Nektor Health Science System, Ahmedabad has developed an indigenous prototype plant for generation of medical grade oxygen.

Globally, the shortage of medical oxygen has become a major challenge for treating COVID-19 patients. Considering the fact, in corroboration to IIT Kharagpur researcher, the highly experienced team of Nektor Health Science System, Ahmedabad, has developed an indigenous Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen manufacturing plant with required purity and pressure.

“One of the best methods to generate oxygen with the purity level of 93% to 96% directly from compressed air is PSA technology, where the molecular sieve selectively adsorbs the nitrogen when air is compressed and passes through one of the absorbers (PSA system consists of two adsorbers filled with Zeolite) and the oxygen gas is released from the adsorber bed as a product”, said Prof Parthasarathi Ghosh, Department of Cryogenic Engineering, IIT Kharagpur.

When the adsorber becomes saturated with nitrogen, the inlet airflow is switched to the second adsorber through the pneumatic valves. The first adsorber is regenerated by desorbing nitrogen through depressurization and purging it with some of the product oxygen. The cycle is then repeated and the pressure continually swings with the help of pneumatic controls between a higher level at adsorption (Production) and a lower level at desorption (Regeneration).

IIT Kharagpur Director, Prof Virendra Kumar Tewari congratulated the whole team and also mentioned, “Our researcher, Prof Ghosh was involved with the product development through technical advice on process design, generation of equipment specifications, procurement of equipment and materials as well as testing of the prototype. It is highly appreciated that Saving Lives, Saving Nation is the primary aim for conducting the whole product development process efficiently.”

Media Contact: Prof Parthasarathi Ghosh, Professor

Email: psghosh@cryo.iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.:  +91-3222-283594

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

Email: media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282004