(272a) Adsorption under ”non-ideal” conditions: Experiences in developing small-scale O2 concentrators during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on global society. In April 2021, India started seeing a surge of COVID-19 cases, and consequentially the demand for medical oxygen went up. Several deaths during this period were attributed to the lack of oxygen. Although several large industries diverted liquid oxygen to hospitals, the demand was overwhelming, that the market could not keep up. Government and private hospitals went on a spree to purchase pressure swing adsorption (PSA) based oxygen concentrators for hospitals, and there were serval grassroots initiatives to build portable oxygen concentrators. The research groups at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, India and at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, are currently co-developing a small-scale PSA-based oxygen concentrator. In this talk, we will discuss the challenges in designing such PSA systems: scientific, logistical, societal. The constraints posed by such emergency conditions are very different from those that the research community is used to. They also provide opportunities to rethink how the research community could respond to such emergencies in the future, collaborative development of critical technologies, low-cost solutions, open-source systems, digital/physical-twins, etc.