As the country looks for alternate fuel sources amidst the West Asia crisis, a team of scientists of the CSIR – National Chemical Laboratory in Pune led by Raja Thirumalaiswamy, Senior Principal Scientist, a Tamil from Bhavani is getting ready to transfer technology for a reactor and catalyst that will produce Dimethyl Ether that can be used as an alternative to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
“Already, seven companies and four countries, including Finland and Ghana have approached us for this technology on which we have been working since 2016. We started producing 500 milligrams and we have now scaled up to 2500 kg/day. ONGC has tied up with us for producing 2.5 tonnes/day at its facility at Hazira. We have five patents for the indirect method of deriving DME from methanol. Our catalyst works in lower temperatures and is better in terms of purity and operational costs,” Dr. Thirumalaiswamy explained.
The process has been certified with due-diligence from IOCL Research and Development, Faridabad, Attrium Innovations, Pune and ONGC, New Delhi. “We got the patent for our catalyst in 2019. It is very strong and will not crumble easily. It works in 10 bar pressure. We have designed cooking stoves that work with both LPG and DME. Though DME is heavier than air and will sink, we have designed it in such a manner that the flame will burn upwards. Ordinary household stoves usually work with 64% to 68% efficiency. Ours work with an efficiency of 74.5%. Regular stoves can use up to 20% DME blended with LPG without making any changes,” he explained.
The catalyst, which is the key to their variant of DME, has been on trial for over 15,000 hours with scientists including Manikandan, Sivaprasad, Prabhu and Praveen continuously monitoring it. “Our catalyst can withstand sulphur that comes from gassification of coal up to a certain extent,” he added.
The Tamil connect
“Though I have been working in Pune for over 23 years now, I have not learnt much of Marati or Hindi. I prefer taking Tamils in my team since its easier for us to communicate. My father retired as a deputy collector in Tamil Nadu. I am the Dharmakartha of a Murugan temple in Pune. We continue our services to Tamil here also,” he said.
Published – March 29, 2026 02:23 am IST
