During a time when governments of the world pay little heed to afforestation and in fact, turn a blind eye to the millions of tonnes of untreated waste, both industrial and domestic, that is dumped into the seas, oceans and on the land as well, contributing to the ever worsening pollution of the earth, one inconspicuous third year engineering student from Mailam has taken it upon himself to invent a technique that will increase the quantity of oxygen in the atmosphere and help make the world a healthier place.
Sivashkthi Velan is an innovating young mechanical engineer at Milam Engineering College who has successfully devised a technique that will help clean the environment by pumping more oxygen into the atmosphere and thus proportionately reducing the other harmful gases such as sulphur, carbon and nitrogen in the air. These gases are known to contribute to global warming in a very effective way.
The mechanical engineer-to-be comes from a remote village, Thagudi, Thirukoviloor in Villupram district and has invested a lot of time from his school and college days in an effort to find a solution for a better world.
He says, “Environmental pollution is an issue that haunted me ever since I was a small boy. That made me even more interested in science especially chemistry. When I was studying for my tenth standard I came across a chapter on ‘colloidal carbon precipitator,’ that moved me very much. It dealt with the removal of carbon molecules from dusty air. However, it was during my first year of Engineering that I could rigorously pursue my dream of finding the solution to air pollution.”
“My principal, Mr Ravichandran, played an important role in my research efforts and with the available laboratory facilities I give my concept a shape. But I am not sure how far that made sense,” he continued.
Velan solicited the help of scientists and used the advanced equipment available at the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and Trichy Emission Centre to test the results of his experiment, which eventually proved to be successful on February 22, 2011.
“With my findings, I am now working out plans to reach out to WHO and Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, Clean Technology and Waste Minimization, New Delhi. If everything goes well and if any of the agencies that I am approaching responds favorably, it will give me a sense of satisfaction of having contributed to improving the state of the environment by releasing more oxygen into the atmosphere through my discovery,” he concludes.
