'OM Redox': a new device from a Bengal Startup to produce oxygen from water

KOLKATA: A new device 'OM Redox' has been invented by a startup in West Bengal that can produce oxygen from water just by clicking a switch, according to the founders of the tech.

Developed by Solaire Initiatives Pvt Ltd, which is incubated in the Webel-BCC&I Tech Incubation Centre, the device provides pure oxygen from water.

The startup venture's cofounders Dr Soumyajit Roy and his wife Dr Pei Liang on Thursday claimed that the device is nothing but a "deep science innovation that generates oxygen which is 3.5 times purer than that one normally gets from a concentrator".

On its 10th foundation day, the Department of Biotechnology selected this device for showcasing and launch at the 1st Bio-Tech Expo 2022.

Roy, a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata said, "Pressure swing adsorption method for production of oxygen works with the liquefaction of air, while concentrator operates through concentration of air by a compressor and then passing it through a catalyst.

"In these two processes, oxygen is generated from the air. Ours is an alternative technology". He told that their innovation is called pneumatically coupled water oxidation by electrocatalytic reaction (Power) in which the life-saving gas is produced from water.

This machine is also featured in a book released by Dr Jitendra Singh, the Union Science and Technology Minister, commemorating 75 years of Independence.

"This technology is patented, and approved by World Health Organization and European Conformity," he claimed. He also added that they are holding discussions with several organisations for licensing the device, and manufacturing and marketing of it.

"The product is a sleek white pinewood box, weighing 8 kg, which provides oxygen just on pressing a switch and runs with electricity and also with a battery back-up of 3.5 hours," said Pei Liang who holds a bachelor of medicine from a Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China.

Speaking at a programme organised jointly by West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited (Webel) and the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, she said, "The device can be made handy and scaled up".

"We are actively considering the proposal for manufacturing and marketing of the device that produces oxygen. We are positive about the technology and impressed with its simplicity of it. A girl or boy can operate the device."

"Given the progress that the startup has made, commercialisation of the device is expected in the next three months," West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited (Webel) Managing Director Sunrita Hazra said.

Kalyan Kar the mentor of the unit said that the incubation centre which is a joint initiative of Webel and Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, incubated around 54 companies in the last few years, including around 18 entities which are going through the process at present.

"Of the companies which completed the incubation process, 10-12 reached the commercial state," he said, adding that several companies have approached the centre from tier II and III cities of the state and the participation of women entrepreneurs is also significant.

With PTI inputs