The second oxygen plant at Sterlite copper smelter in Thoothukudi is likely to commence production on Sunday.

The company has been producing 20-30 tonnes of liquid oxygen from its first plant which began operation a couple of weeks back.

The company has two oxygen plants with a combined capacity of over 1,000 tonnes.

But each plant can produce only about 30 tonnes of liquid oxygen. Rest of the output is in gaseous form and is let out in the atmosphere.

According to Pankaj Kumar, CEO, Sterlite Copper, the company is investing in an oxygen bottling facility. This facility is likely to start production on Monday and can progressively fill as much as 3,000 cylinders per day from each plant.

“We hope to increase the overall production to 100 tonnes per day by June 10,” he told BusinessLine .

Sterlite has been supplying the liquid oxygen to various hospitals in southern Tamil Nadu as directed by the government. Kumar said the company has spent ₹25 crore to re-start the oxygen plant and will be spending ₹5 crore to operate each plant every month. It has been supplying the oxygen free of cost.

On the future plans, Kumar said that Supreme Court has given permission to produce oxygen up to July 31.

The company will approach the Apex Court based on the prevailing situation. He pointed out that when the oxygen plant was started on May 13, the requirement of oxygen in Tamil Nadu was only 300 tonnes but today the requirement is nearly 650 tonnes.

Other States like Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra approached the company for oxygen. The nodal agency will decide, he said.

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