State-run Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOCL) Research and Development (R&D) centre has filed its 1,001st patent this week, making the refiner the first among oil and gas PSUs to do so.
“The R&D Centre’s IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio comprises 794 active patents, of which 542 patents were granted abroad and 252 in India. The centre has also registered a healthy commercialisation rate for its patents, higher than the global average,” the company said.
IOCL chairman Sanjiv Singh pointed out that several quality upgradation projects implemented at IOCL’s refineries for the production of BS-VI fuels are based on deep de-sulphurisation, isomerisation and dimerisation technology patents developed at this research centre. From being the birthplace of the highly successful, fuel-efficient ‘Nutan’ kerosene wick-stove in the late 70s, the R&D centre has come a long way in four decades, he said.
“IOCL’s internationally-awarded INDMAX technology patent, successfully commercialised at Paradip Refinery, improves LPG yields by 40 per cent, besides ensuring the highest propylene yields in its class. Similarly, the centre’s bio-methanation technology is best-in-class in methane yields and is being implemented at the Namakkal (Tamil Nadu) plant for the production of compressed biogas,” IOCL said.
According to SSV Ramakumar, director (R&D), with 50 per cent of its active patents in the refining category, followed by 16 per cent in biotechnology, the R&D team has made considerable progress even in the highly IP-crowded field of Ziegler-Natta catalysts, used in the production of polymers. “We have not only created white space here but succeeded in earning a rich haul of patent grants that are well recognised globally,” he said.