Foundation Stone Laid for Indian Oil?s Second R&D Campus in Faridabad

Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said, ?The R&D centre of Indian Oil has over the years blossomed into a state-of-the-art research institution for downstream petroleum R&D, focusing on indigenising technologies and processes to suit Indian conditions. Indian Oil?s R&D Centre has contributed significantly towards the Prime Minister?s dream of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.?

Expressing gratitude to the Haryana government for its support to the activities of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in the state, he congratulated Chief Minister Khattar for making Haryana a kerosene-free state. He said that the state could play a leading role in converting the agro residues into clean energy. He also said that the state had huge potential to harness alternative sources of energy.

The minister said that during the coronavirus crisis India had played an important role in supplying medicines to the world. He said that the petrochemical requirement in the country is going up, and the country would have to reduce import of the petroleum products. He called upon the industry to work towards making India a petrochemical hub.

The Haryana chief minister, in his address, said that during the coronavirus pandemic, the state rose to the occasion, by tackling the crisis effectively, and also providing relief to the affected workers. Expressing gratitude for selecting Haryana for setting up Indian Oil?s new research unit, Khattar said that the state is a front-runner in not only the agriculture sector but was also developing as a sports hub and is a major player in the country?s automobile sector. He said that the state had played a pro-active role in making it a kerosene-free state as it was felt that some unscrupulous elements were using it for adulteration purposes and, therefore, there was no opposition when it was implemented. The households were being provided with LPG connections. He said that the state will definitely move ahead in the LNG and agro-industry sectors.

The R&D centre will be a laboratory for alternative, clean and indigenous energy solutions and is being seen as a major step towards realising the goal of making India a self-reliant in the energy sector.

The centre is being built at an investment of Rs 22.82 billion on a 59-acre area. The new campus would focus on the demonstration and deployment of various technologies developed by Indian Oil R&D and will work in tandem with the existing campus at Sector-13, Faridabad.

The research infrastructure at the campus includes state-of-the-art laboratories and pilot plants in the domains of alternative and renewable energy, e.g., fuel cell, hydrogen, gasification and solar energy research, semi-commercial nano-material production unit, scale-up or pilot plants in petrochemicals, catalysts, biotechnology, etc.

The new extension of Indian Oil?s R&D centre is going to focus on non-conventional energy domains besides the conventional ones and will aim at indigenisation of several new technologies such as petrochemicals, batteries or energy storage devices, bio-energy-greenhouse gas (CO2) capture, novel nanomaterials for catalysts or fuel cells, hydrogen production pathways and fuel cells for both mobility and stationary applications.