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Indian Oil Corporation’s ( IndianOil ) Research & Development centre has filed its 1,001st patent this week. This makes IOCL the first among oil and gas PSUs to achieve this.
“The R&D centre’s IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio comprises 794 active patents, of which 542 patents were granted abroad and 252 in India. The Centre has also registered a healthy commercialisation rate for its patents, higher than the global average,” an IndianOil statement said.
Several quality upgradation projects implemented at IndianOil refineries for production of BS-VI fuels are based on deep desulphurisation, isomerisation and dimerisation technology patents have been developed in-house at this research centre.
“IndianOil’s internationally-awarded INDMAX technology patent, successfully commercialised at Paradip Refinery, improves LPG yields by 40% besides ensuring the highest propylene yields in its class. Similarly, the Centre’s bio-methanation technology is best-in-class in methane yields and is being implemented at the Namakkal (Tamil Nadu) plant for production of compressed bio-gas (CBG),” the statement said.
From being the birth-place of the highly successful, fuel-efficient ‘Nutan’ kerosene wick-stove in the late 70s, the R&D Centre has come a long way in the past four decades. According to SSV Ramakumar, Director (R&D), IndianOil, the Centre has been focussing on developing high-quality, environment-friendly products and innovative refinery processes that boost resource efficiency, enhance refinery-petrochemicals integration, and offer flexibility in product pattern and yields in line with market demand.
With 50% of its active patents in the refining category, followed by 16% in bio-technology, the R&D team has made considerable progress even in the highly IP-crowded field of Ziegler-Natta catalysts, used in production of polymers (plastics). “We have not only created white space here but succeeded in earning a rich haul of patent grants that are well recognised by global majors,” Ramakumar said.
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