“Oxygen cylinders to be produced in Nepal, NAST carries out successful experiment“

The first test of an oxygen cylinder made in Nepal by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) has been successful. The tests were conducted in the presence of Education, Science and Technology Minister Krishna Gopal Shrestha in the capital . Shrestha inaugurated the cylinder test on the premises of NAST on Tuesday.

Stating that the oxygen cylinder made in Nepal has passed the ‘pressure test’, Nast said that it can go into commercial production after the final test. With the surge of COVID-19 cases and an acute shortage of oxygen cylinders, Nepal has tested the cylinder production with a target of producing oxygen cylinders within the country.

Nast has put forward an oxygen cylinder manufacturing project with the objective of meeting the oxygen shortage using locally available resources.

For this, Nast has also collaborated with the industry sector. According to Nast, Scientist and Senior Technical Officer Shankar Dhakal is leading the project. Similarly, engineers Sujan Shrestha, Krishna Dhakal and Purna Raj Subedi from the industry sector are involved in this.

Scientist Dhakal said that the final test would be conducted in a few days by adopting safety measures and then discussions could be held with the company producing the cylinders to allow commercial production. With the first wave of the corona virus, Nast pioneered the development of technology to combat cobwebs under the ‘Nast Covid 19 Combed Mission’. So far, more than three dozen experts and technicians have joined.

Oxygen cylinder production projects have been started in Nepal under this campaign. Oxygen cylinders were not manufactured and tested in Nepal till now.

There was even an attempt to test the oxygen cylinder developed at Nast in the labs of the same gas industry (LPG). LPG gas cylinders are designed to withstand a pressure of 15 kg per square centimeter.

But the oxygen cylinder has to carry a pressure of 150 kg per square centimeter. Thus the capacity of the testing equipment of the gas cylinder and the oxygen cylinder could not be tested in the setup. The oxygen cylinder test was then set up at Nast. Now the quality test of other cylinders will also be done at Nast.

At present, it is available in the market at Rs 12,000 to Rs 14,000 per cylinder, but the cylinder prepared by Nast can be made available at Rs 10,000.