An oxygen generation system based on technology developed at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) was installed at the Pobbathi Medical Centre here. The system has been designed based on a multi-species gas separation process for hydrogen production.
It was inaugurated by Gaurav Gupta, Chief Commissioner, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), on Tuesday. The installation was carried out by Electrowing Technologies, a Bengaluru-based company, and supported by the Give India Foundation in association with Zerodha.
According to a release, the team conceptualised and developed an oxygen generation system based on a swing adsorption process, which uses low power and meets the specifications defined by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW), last year.
“The process involves drawing ambient air through a compressor along with a conditioning system to remove any contaminants before separating oxygen. The separation happens within a twin-bed Swing Adsorption system integrated with small storage and discharge vessels and various safety systems. The oxygen produced fulfils the quality requirements prescribed by Indian Pharmacopeia and can be used in ICUs/CCUs/OTs and other clinical wards,” the IISc. release explained
To cater to the pressing oxygen need in India, the team developed an open-source design for a 50 LPM medical oxygen plant and has also signed technology transfer agreements with four agencies from across the country for installing oxygen generation systems at various capacities (50 LPM-1000 LPM) to meet the requirements of hospitals.
The system installed at Pobbathi Medical Centre, which is the first unit based on this technology, is designed for generating medical-grade oxygen at 50 LPM with oxygen purity around 93%.
“It is IoT-enabled for continuous and remote monitoring from any location having a mobile signal. This would allow stakeholders to assess the health of the oxygen generator and enable timely service intervention, thereby enhancing the reliability of the system,” the release added.
The IISc. team is also seeking support for implementing oxygen generation systems at smaller 50-bed hospitals in a mission mode, using the process developed at the institute.
