Osmanabad district in Maharashtra requires about 18 tonnes of medical oxygen daily to treat Covid-19 patients. Soon, this oxygen will come from a sugar mill in the locality.
The Dharashiv Sugar Mill has modified its ethanol plant and is expecting to generate 20 tonnes of medical grade oxygen every day by catching and processing the oxygen which is released in the atmosphere. The molecule required for purifying the oxygen to medical-grade has been installed and oxygen production is on the anvil, according to mill Chairman Abhijit Patil.
The development has stirred sugar circles in Maharashtra and has put the industry on the guard.
In the last few days, especially after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar held a meeting of millers to discuss oxygen manufacturing in mills, the sugar industry is treading with caution, especially considering the cost involved, impact on ethanol production and infrastructure.
Costs involved
“This (oxygen manufacturing) is the dire need of the hour. Initiative and Technology is welcome. More such plants are certainly possible but would see the day only after the success of Dharashiv pilot plant,” said Prakash Naiknavare, MD, National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories.
Pawar, who also heads Vasantdada Sugar Institute (VSI), said that factories which are still in the crushing season as well as those which have taken on distillation projects, should produce medical oxygen, while those which have completed crushing can produce and supply oxygen kits to patients. Pawar insisted that sugar factories have been refining ethanol and separating carbon dioxide in distillation projects. They now have to just install an oxygen separation project.
Industry’s stand
Of the 190 sugar mills that started crushing this season in Maharashtra, 156 have already completed their operations. Of the 34 functional mills, 24 are from Ahmednagar and Aurangabad districts and many of these mills are already struggling to manage their finances. Mills across the State have still not paid ₹2,073 crore due to farmers for the cane the latter have supplied for crushing. In the given scenario, many mills could seek government support to manufacture oxygen.
“Sugar mills have no system to manufacture oxygen but some have ethanol plants. There are suggestions that molecular sieve in ethanol plant must be modified so that oxygen could be filtered. But there are three things involved in this. Mills will have to stop ethanol production. There is a cost involved in the modification and what happens to the investment when there will be no demand for medicinal oxygen,” said one of the senior industry players speaking to BusinessLine.
He said that Dharashiv sugar factory is new and is not producing ethanol and hence it was smooth for the mills to make modifications and manufacture oxygen. “We don’t have a ready system. It needs modification. Some mills are also in the process to import skid-mounted oxygen units, but this process will take time,” he said.