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Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO), Kerala has taken all steps to augment the production of gaseous oxygen and limit to optimum level the usage of an already depleting liquid medical Oxygen (LMO) in the State.
As per the advice of PESO, the LMO production at Inox India limited has been increased from 149 tonnes per day to 160 tonnes by reducing Nitrogen production.
R.Venugopal, Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives, PESO and Nodal Officer (Medical Oxygen Monitoring), Kerala & Lakshadweep said that a new air separation unit (ASU) will be commissioned on May 12 in the private sector at Auxilium Products LLP at Vadakkancherry in Palakkad which can produce 235 litres of high purity liquid Oxygen. The facility could also produce 260 cubic metre of high purity medical oxygen in cylinders. An estimated 700 cylinders of seven metre cube can be filled per day here. The facility can also store 40 tonne of LMO.
Another new ASU at Veli in Thiruvananthapuram in the private sector has been accorded permission to produce 130 metre cube per hour. The plant can fill 400 cylinders per day. PESO has also asked the company to convert their 20KL Argon tank to liquid medical oxygen tank. A capacity of 33 KL LMO tank will be available at the new plant.
PESO has also taken urgent measures to restart an ASU plant in Malappuram which has been closed since 2016. This can augment the gaseous oxygen supply in cylinders in Malappuram and adjoining districts. The 100-metre cube per hour plant can fill 300 cylinders per day. The project is expected to be commissioned by the end of May.
Referring to the oxygen supply situation in Kerala, Venugopal said the average supply of medical oxygen in cylinders to hospitals by the cylinder filing pin is 66.46 tonnes in the past 8 days. The direct supply of liquid LMO directly to hospitals amounts to 140.57 tonnes. The total medical oxygen supply (gaseous and LMO) durig this period is 207.04 tonnes. Medical oxygen consumption for Covid care based on a Kerala Medical Services Corporation report is 74.5 tonnes and non-covid care is 33.84 tonnes. The total medical oxygen consumption is 108.35 tonnes.
Kerala has 45,454 D type cylinders and 5228 B type cylinders in its custody for filing medical oxygen. PESO has advised district collectors to seize all industrial oxygen cylinders lying at industrial units across the state. As many as 2473 cylinders have been seized.
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