Indus Valley Times

By Pravakara Sahoo

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 28 : CSIR-IMMT has conducted WIM-CO₂ED workshop cum industry meet held on January 23.This workshop aimed at enabling sustainable development of indigenous electrolyze for converting CO₂ to value added chemicals namely formic acid and syngas, which can be utilized further for various industrial applications.

It was organized under the aegis of Ministry of Steel & CSIR Mission on CCUS program.  During workshop the participants deliberated on potential of recycling CO₂, development of CO₂electrolyser along with catalyst manufacturing atindustrial scale and associated business opportunities.

Prof. Suddhasatwa Basu, director CSIR-IMMT and PI of this Project, shared the progress and highlighted the capability of this technology for achieving Net Zero Emission along with CO₂ utilization and value generation to the participating industries.

Dr Mukesh Kumar, Senior Advisor, Jindal Steel and Power Group appreciated on achieving the project target and enlightened the other panelist with significance of the work. Dr. Mukesh further advised to reorient the development towards production of Syngas in alignment with emerging demand of alternative reductants for the steel industries, which will help in reduction of the overall carbon foot-print of the industry.

Dr. Amit Chatterjee, Chief R&D Officer, Vedanta Co Pvt. Ltd. remarked that in backdrop of achieving sustainable goal this technology can prove to be truly disruptive.

Dr. Nitin K. Labhsetwar, Chief Scientist, CSIR NEERI pointed out that the development of this technology is challenging and commands lot of industry support for indigenization. Mr. Paramjeet Singh, Addl industrial advisor ministry of steel also expressed his appreciation for development and approved of the roadmap of the electrolyses development at CSIR-IMMT.

Dr. D P Chakraborty, Chief, Iron Making Technology Group, Process Technology, Tata Steel appreciated the significance of this project for steel industry. Further, Dr. Chakrabotry remarked if the CO₂ can be captured techno economically CO₂Electrolyser will become a step further in converting it to valuable products.

Dr. Ashok Sahu, Head SPBD, CSIR-IMMT remarked that CSIR will like to take up the scale-up work with adequate Industry input and collaboration.

Dr Mamata Mohapatra presented the Technical aspects of the CO₂Electrolyser and technology demonstration was done by her and Dr. P Senthil Kumar, Research Associate. Dr. Abdul Rauf Sheikh, Pr. Scientist, Ms. Barsha Marandi, Sr. Scientist and Ms. Pooja Sahu, Sr. Scientist discussed to understand engineering aspects for scaling up of the CO₂Electrolyser.This event concluded with promise of developing indigenous commercial electrolyze technology for successful utilization of CO₂ by the relevant industries.