The Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said it has ramped up its production of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) from zero to 1000 MT per day which constitutes more than 11% of the country’s total medical grade liquid oxygen production.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, the company has supplied over 55,000 MT of medical liquid oxygen to various State governments free of cost, it said. Its Chairman & Managing Director Mukesh Ambani is supervising the production and supplies from Jamnagar, it said.
“In addition to the production of high-quality medical grade liquid oxygen, the other challenge has been to quickly overcome the transportation bottleneck in its supply to various parts of the country. This necessitated increasing the loading capacity for its safe and quick transportation,” the company said.
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To achieve this, its engineers made smart logistical modifications to rail and road transport, such as laying parallel lines, using hoses, and loading up liquid tankers through pressure differential, since liquid oxygen pumps cannot be installed at short notice, it said.
The company also converted nitrogen tankers into transport trucks for medical grade oxygen, through innovative and safe processes that were approved by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO), the regulatory body.
It also organised the airlifting of 24 ISO containers to India from Saudi Arabia, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Thailand which were sourced from Saudi Aramco and BP, thus adding 500 MT of additional transportation capacity. More such containers are being organised, it said.
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“There is an immediate need to maximise India’s production and transportation capacities for medical grade oxygen. I am proud of our engineers at Jamnagar who have worked tirelessly, with a great sense of patriotic urgency, to meet this new challenge. I am truly humbled by the determination and sense of purpose shown by the bright, young members of the Reliance family,” said Mr. Ambani.