Heavy Water Board to sign MoU with IIT

Mumbai, July 31: Heavy Water Board (HWB), a constituent unit under Department of Atomic Energy, will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai) tomorrow to solicit technical support for installation of solar energy devices for generating steam in the drying process of sodium sulphate.

Solar energy has a huge potential in India for supplying industrial heat, which can save a large amount of heating fuels, derived from crude petroleum, thus reducing country's dependence on oil imports, a release issued by the IIT, Mumbai said here today..

However, most of the thermal power energy systems generate heat at a temperature ranging between 60-80 degree celsius, using flat plate collectors.

''A few systems using concentrating collectors are available that can generate the heat at a temperature of 100 degrees, whereas the industrial heating applications are observed to be in the range of 210-200 degree celsius. At present, low pressure steam is utilised for drying of sodium sulphate at NWB, Kota (Rajasthan),'' the statement said.

The present project aims at evaluating different solar thermal technolgies and designing/developing a suitable solar thermal system including optimisation integration system for the drying of sodium sulphate.

The Board is primarily responsible for production of Heavy Water (D2O) which is used as a 'moderator' and 'coolant' in the nuclear power as well as research reactors.

HWB is successfully operating six Heavy Water plants in the country. It has mastered the complex production technology, using two chemical exchange processes.

India is said to be the largest manufacturer of heavy water in the world as of today and perhaps the only country, which has mastered both these state-of-the-art processes to meet the heavy water requirements of the Indian nuclear power reactors.

UNI