PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION

PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION

Subject: Science & tech

Context: The Union Health Ministry informed on April 15, 2021 that 100 new hospitals will get their own oxygen plants under the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-CARES) Fund.

Concept:

• The Health Ministry shared that the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants manufacture oxygen and will help hospitals become self-sufficient in medical oxygen.
• Around 162 PSA plants sanctioned under PM-Cares are being closely reviewed for early completion of 100 percent of the plants to enhance self-generation of oxygen in hospitals, especially in remote areas.

Pressure Swing Adsorption

• Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a technology used to separate some gas species from a mixture of gases under pressure according to the species’ molecular characteristics and affinity for an adsorbent material.
• It operates at near-ambient temperatures and differs significantly from cryogenic distillation techniques of gas separation.
• Specific adsorbent materials (e.g., zeolites, activated carbon, molecular sieves, etc.) are used as a trap, preferentially adsorbing the target gas species at high pressure. The process then swings to low pressure to desorb the adsorbed material.

PM-CARES

• Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, or the PM CARES Fund, was set up to tackle distress situations such as that posed by the COVID19 pandemic.
• The fund receives voluntary contributions from individuals and organisations and does not get any budgetary support. Donations have been made tax exempt, and can be counted against a company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR)
• It is also exempt from the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, and accepts foreign contributions, although the Centre has previously refused foreign aid to deal with disasters such as the Kerala floods.
• The Prime Minister chairs the fund in his official capacity, and can nominate three eminent persons in relevant fields to the Board of Trustees. The Ministers of Defense, Home Affairs and Finance are ex officio Trustees of the Fund.