Naval teams revive two of AP's major oxygen plants

VISAKHAPATNAM: Teams from Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam have achieved a major breakthrough by successfully repairing two major oxygen plants at Nellore and Srikalahasti, thereby giving a major boost to oxygen supply in Andhra Pradesh during a highly critical situation.

Based on a request from the state administration, Eastern Naval Command airlifted specialists from Visakhapatnam using a naval Dornier plane. The specialists successfully made the Nellore and Srikalahasti oxygen plants operational on Sunday morning by overhauling compressors and replacing adapters and accessories manufactured within the Naval Dockyard.

Krishna Teja Oxygen Plant at Nellore is a big cryogenic plant capable of charging 400 jumbo-type cylinders a day. It had been non-functional for past six years. The naval team succeeded in achieving the cryogenic temperature of minus 186 degree Celsius at the plant, which built the requisite output oxygen pressure to charge bottles. The output now is 98 percent oxygen, zero percent carbon monoxide and 0.01 percent carbon dioxide, which meet the requirements of medical grade oxygen.

The oxygen plant at Srikalahasti near Tirupati is a big facility based on VPSA technology. It is capable of generating 16,000 litres per minute of oxygen at 5 bar that feeds oxygen lines directly. The naval team repaired the plant and achieved the requisite output of above 93 percent medical-grade oxygen, zero percent carbon monoxide and 0.02 per cent carbon dioxide.

Both teams of specialist were led by Commander Dipayan. They worked tirelessly for almost seven days, along with engineering teams of AP health department, to revive the defunct plants successfully.