This paper is based upon a study we carried out to take stock of the growth of activity in India in the area of cryogenics, low temperature physics, superconductivity, cryogenic Industry and covers most of the institutes and industries of India. The report 1 submitted to DST, lists the agency (Institutes, Industries & suppliers) with details of activity, facility and manpower. This paper presents the summary of the report with statistics of Institutes, facilities and man power, engaged in this exciting area in research institutes and the industry. The report was prepared on the basis of (1) information provided to us by individuals in response to our questionnaire, (2) compiled information on facilities as provided by the heads of lab/group/center, (3) through personal contacts 3, (4) visiting facilities, (5) internet searching and finally (6) through cross references. The UNESCO report 2 was also referred for some specific information

Cryogenics became a buzz word in India only during 1980s when Russia refused to supply cryogenic engines to ISRO for its space programme. Cryogenics, however, started in India as early as 1930 when a British company installed an oxygen Plant. This was followed by Indian Oxygen Limited (IOL), which in 1938 established first air separation plant of capacity only 30 M³/hr at Jamshedpur. Today single air separation plants of capacity more than 1000 Tons/day are being manufactured by several Indian and multinational companies in the country. These tonnage plants fall under the category of gas industries supplying gases like oxygen, nitrogen and argon to steel manufacturing units, fertilizers, petrochemical complexes and the pharmaceutical Industry.

Commercial helium liquefiers (Collins type) became available around 1950 and one such liquefier of capacity 4 litres/hr was installed in India at National Physical Laboratory (NPL) New Delhi in the year 1952. This was the beginning of basic research at low temperature (4.2 K) in India. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai and IIT(Kanpur) got its helium liquefier in the year 1962, Solid State Physics Laboratory (SSPL), Delhi and the University of Delhi in 1966. Many more institutes particularly from Department of Atomic Energy joined this exclusive club. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Bombay, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) Kolkata and Indian Institute of Sciences (lISc), Bangalore established the liquid helium facility towards the end of 1970s.

Philips Liquid Nitrogen Plants, Model PLN 106 with 6 litres/hr and PLN 430 with 30 litres/hr rate of liquefaction became popular with the research laboratories to meet the demand of liquid nitrogen for pre cooling and other purposes. Towards the end of 1970s IBP Cryogenics Division initiated a programme on the development of small capacity (10 litres to 60 litres) liquid nitrogen containers primarily to cater the requirement of animal husbandry sector for artificial insemination. In fact 80% of small capacity Philips liquid nitrogen plants belong to animal husbandry department. Similarly, BHPV also started developing indigenous air separation plants as well as high capacity storage vessels.

Large scale use of cryogenic liquids, namely, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen started in India by ISRO during 1980–90 to boost their geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle programme. This Launch vehicle in its final stage has a cryogenic engine using hydrogen as fuel and oxygen as an oxidizer. Liquid Propulsion Space Centre (LPSC) at Valiamala and Mahendragiri is dedicated for this cryogenic engine development programme. More than 200 scientists, technologists and technicians are working in this centre.

Beginning 1990, India embarked on major national projects involving usage of large quantities of liquid helium and liquid nitrogen. And few of them are Superconducting Cyclotron at VECC. Kolkata, Superconducting LINAC at IUAC. Delhi and at TIFR.Mumbai, Steady State Superconducting Tokamak at IPR. Gandhinagar. Superconducting Generator at BHEL. Hydrabad, SQUID development at IGCAR. Kalpakkam. LHC-CERN collaboration on magnet with RRCAT. Indore. Department of Science and Technology too enhanced funding to support research on HTS, Low Temperature and High Field facilities. All these programmes fueled the growth of cryogenic facilities and manpower in India. This growth went up almost exponentially.

Indian industry like BHEL, BOC India, Vacuum Techniques, INOX India Ltd. M/S Shell N Tube and many other associated industries actively participated and contributed to the success of these projects. Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has embarked recently on an ambitious programme, namely Accelerator Driven System (ADS) and that will require many superconducting cavity modules and will be operated at 2 K. In 2005, India joined in International Thermo Nuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project as a member state. This lead to the constitution of Inter-India, who is responsible to the design, development and the supply of complete cryolines, valve boxes and the cryostats for ITER. Present paper will be highlighting the growth in man power, facilities, activity in this field and the future trend.

The total no of entities engaged in this exciting area, excluding gas industry comes out to be about 85. Out of these 85 entities 49 are Scientific and Academic Institutes, 15 manufacturing industries and 21 are suppliers of cryogenic components. There are approximately 150 Gas Industries producing industrial gases like oxygen, nitrogen and many other gases. Six of them are major industries. These are BOC-Linde, Air Liquide, Praxair, Industrial Oxygen, Goyal Gases and M/s Pure Helium. Out of 49 research/academic institutes, 15 institutes belong to DAE and ISRO alone. Even though this number is small, yet they together account for 65 % of the total manpower of 600. Strength of cryogenics is given in figure l.

The total estimated man power in this area is 4100, which includes 3000 persons from gas Industries alone.Out of the remaining 1100 persons, man power from scientific and academic institutes accounts for 600 persons. Rest 500 are from cryo manufacturing industries and suppliers. It is also observed that exponential growth of man power in this field took place only after 1995, when the Govt, sanctioned major projects on accelerator, fusion and space programme. Earlier, the human resource was confined to research institutes only.

Majority of the Academic/Scientific Institutes are involved in low temperature physics studies and superconductivity(LTP-SC). Cryogenic engineering (CE) activity is limited to only 10 institutes. Limited no of institutes are engaged on both. Other than this there are 6–7 institutes, who are engaged on large scale(LSA) application on superconductivity and cryogenics. Distribution is presented in figure 2.

There are 12 Institutes with more than 20 personnel. Out of these 12 institutes DAE/ISRO account for 10.

We also find that out of a total man power of 600 from Institutes, DAE and ISRO (figure3 together account for 383, rest are from Academic Institutes and other Scientific Establishments under CSIR, UGC, DRDO etc.

In spite of our best attempt, we are able to collect information from 375 individuals out of a total of 600. Majority of missing names are from ISRO establishment and for obvious reason. We also find that out of 375 persons working in this field, 180 have Ph.D. degrees, 50 persons have M.Tech. Degrees and another 120 persons have M.Sc./B.Tech. degrees. (figure 4)

Out of 180 Ph.D. degree holders, 32% are Ph.D in Cryogenic Engineering and the rest Ph.D in Science. It is also found that Ph.Ds in science prefer to work equally in Scientific as well as in Academic Institutes. On the other hand 80 % Ph.D in Engineering are found to stay with Academic Institutes. Qualification distribution pattern among the institutes are shown in figure 5.

Majority of Ph.D.s in Science have been found actively involved in basic research on superconductivity and low temperature physics and less than 10 % are engaged in development projects. Development projects in DAE, ISRO and other Scientific Institutes are mainly piloted by M.Tech and M.Sc/B. Tech qualified personnel.

Our studies show that about 400 M.Tech. (Cryogenic Engineering) students passed out from IIT. Kharagpur, LD College of Engineering, Ahmadabad and TKM College of Engineering, Kerala. Data reveal that out of 200 passed out M.Tech students from IIT. Kharagpur, 40 % are continuing their career in cryogenics number of Ph.D.s in Cryogenic Engineering is about 58 and more than 80% are from either IIT Kharagpur or IIT Mumbai. Out of 58, 45 are working in Academic Institutes, 7 in Scientific Laboratories, 3 are in private industries, 3 are settled abroad.

Data have been obtained on the major facilities like Liquid Helium Plants, Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS), Magnetic Property Measurement System (MPMS), Vibratiing Sample Magnetometer (VSM), Cryo Free Superconducting Measurement System etc. We find a huge growth of these facilities in the country after the year 2000 because of liberal funding from DST under FIST programme and Low temperature High Field Facility Programme together with DAE funding.

National Physical laboratory was the first in India to have acquired a liquid Helium Plant of capacity 4 litres/hr in 1952. The total no of Helium liquefiers/refrigerators procured in last 50 years is 40 and the growth is shown in figure 6 &7. Out of which 21 are presently working with a total capacity 1485 litres/hr. Out of these 21 operating liquefies, 6 are for major projects with a total capacity 920 litres/hr. Fifteen liquefiers with a total production capacity of 555 litres/hr. are dedicated to basic research on superconductivity. Again out of 21 liquefirs, seven DAE institutes account for 13 liquefiers/refrigerators with total capacity 1170 litres/hr. Cost of a liquefier of capacity 20 litres/hr is in the range of Rs. 4–5 Crore.

There are 150 small capacity (10–40 litres/hr) liquid nitrogen plants in the institutes (figure 8 & 9). Majority (90 %) of them are based on Sterling Cycle and 10 % on Linde Cycle. At present small users (100 litres/day consumption) are preferring table top Nitrogen plant based on cryocooler technology.Medium users (200 to 1000 litres/day consumption) prefer either Sterling or Linde plant. Large Projects prefer external supply from gas industries and storing in large capacity storage vessels.

Procurement of imported ready built low temperature measurement facilities like Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS), Magnetic Property Measurement System (MPMS), SQUID Magnetometer and Cryo Free Magnet System has become very common in the country. In house development of measurement cryostats has vanished. Estimated number of these facilities is 73 and distribution with respect to zone is shown in figure 10 Here also, like helium liquefiers, DAE institutes (TIFR, RRCAT, SINP, IGCAR, and BARC) top the list with 40 % of these facilities.

Other than DAE Institutes, these facilities are available only with a few selected academic institutes like IISC Bangalore, UGC-DAE. CSR centre at Indore and Kolkata, NT Bombay, NT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, Hyderabad University, NPL and IACS. There has been a sharp rise in the purchase of these measurement systems after 2000. Funding to these institutes for such facilities has largely come from DST under Low Temperature High Field Facilities and FIST Programme. Cost of such facilities vary from 1.00 crore to 4.00 crore

Soon after the discovery of High Temperature superconductor, National Superconductivity Programme (NSP) was launched by DST. Liberal funding to this programme came from DST, DAE and CSIR. This project lasted from 1988 to 1996. A total of Rs. 50.00 crores was sanctioned under this PMB (Programme Management Board) Programme. DST shared 50% of this amount and the rest came from DAE and CSIR. A total of 135 projects were approved and funded among 46 institutions. 87 projects were in Basic Research area and 48 in application area.

Low Temperature High Field Facility Programme was initiated by DST in 2003. Under this programme, DST sanctioned Rs 30 crore over a period of 5 years. This money was shared by 12 institutions and used for acquiring 14 major facilities. These facilities are supposed to be used as Users'Facilities. Institutes like IISc. Bangalore, UGC-DAE CSR at Indore and Kolkata, Hyderabad University, NTs got benefitted and modernized their laboratories.

Under the FIST Programme, many facilities like PPMS, VSM, Cryo Free Magnet, Helium/Nitrogen Liquefiers were added in institutes like IISc, and NTs (figure 10 A total of Rs 27 crore was sanctioned during the period 2005–2008. IISc and IITs together shared about 80 % of the total DST funding. Another Major project on “ SQUID Based MEG system” was sanctioned by DST separately to IGCAR. Kalpakkam with a total funding of Rs 5.6 crore. (2002–03). Significant funding by DST and ONGC together to SINP was available for helium recovery project from thermal spring and Natural gas. Cryocooler development accounts for major funding in cryogenic engineering. In recent past BRNS and BRFST also sanctioned good number of projects in the field of cryogenics. Detailed on funded project is available in the DST report, we submitted to DST.

Ever increasing demand for oxygen in steel industry, and nitrogen in fertilizer and petrochemical industry kept the production graph of L02 and LN2 rising. This rise in the production of these two cryogenic liquids became very steep since around 1990. The concept of large capacity plants in place of small capacity plants is now well accepted in India. Large capacity plants are much more economically viable as the power cost is reduced very significantly. The largest capacity plant operating in India is 2500 Tons/day manufactured by Praxair India. Further, almost 90 % of the total demand of 50,000 tons/day, is controlled by just 5–6 Global Players in association with Indian counterparts like BOC India, Praxair India, Air liquide India, Inox Air products and some others. Only about 10 % of the total demand is met by approx. 150 small gas industries. These industries have production capacities ranging from 100 M³/hr to 1000 M³/hr. one Ton/day plant produces about 30 M³/hr Oxygen. Large capacity plants (say 400 tons/day) too are manufactured by only 5–6 global big companies. Small capacity plants are manufactured by Indian Industries like Sanghi Oxygen and KVR International.

First Superconducting MRI in India was installed at INMAS, New Delhi in 1986. Until 2000, India had less than 50 MRI units in the hospitals. The on going technology upgradation (efficient cryostats and provision of re-liquefaction of evaporated helium) increased the refilling time to 9 months to one year. As a result, number of MRI units in the country increased manifold. Our estimate shows that approx. 400 MRI units are operating in India at the present time. This number is expected to rise further and sharply. The same is true for NMR spectrometers. First Superconducting NMR unit was installed at IISc. Bangalore in the year 1976. NMR technique is used to study the structure of very complex molecules and finds application in all physics, chemistry and bio labs. It is an essential analytical tool in petrochemical and pharmaceutical Industry. In the early years the number of NMR units grew by about 2 units/year which has now jumped to 20 units/year. As on today there are about 200 SC-NMR spectrometers working in India.

Preservation of Blood using liquid nitrogen lost its momentum and it appears that no blood bank in India is using this technology. Whole blood continues to be preserved using conventional technique. On the contrary, stem cell preservation using liquid nitrogen is picking up all over India. Similarly, Cryosurgery on skin is again limited to a handful hospitals. Animal semen preservation and distribution system in India has been going on in the country since 1965 and has a rather extensive network. This sector consumes large amount of liquid Nitrogen. Most of these preservation centres prefer to buy small capacity plants (5–10 litres/hr). Maintenance of these plants in the countryside is a big problem and therefore the down time is large. Majority of the plants are not working.

Superconductivity is taught in M.Sc (Physics) as one of the subject in solid state physics in most of the Universities and NTs. Specialization in low temperature physics and superconductivity is carried out post M.Sc. either as a research fellow through their Ph.D. programme or after joining as scientist in DAE, ISRO, CSIR or some other scientific laboratories.

IIT. Kharagpur was the first to start M.Tech Course in Cryogenic Engineering in 1980. After 1990, LD college of Engineering, Ahmedabad and TKM college of Engineering (Kerala) started M.Tech Progrmme mainly to facilitate the scientists from IPR and ISRO to have M.Tech degree in cryogenic engineering. Since 1980 about 450 M.Tech students have passed out of these institutions. Indian Institute of Technology(Mumbai), Mechanical Engineering Department offers M.Tech (Thermal & Fluid Engineering) course. The syllabus covers many topics in Cryogenic Engineering. More recently, NIT, Rourkela and NIT (SVNIT), Surat have initiated few optional courses in cryogenics in their M.Tech programme.

Ph.D. in Cryogenic Engineering has been limited to IIT, Kharagpur and IIT. Mumbai only. Now at least in a dozen institutes offer Ph.D. in cryogenic engineering albeit with limited experimental facilities. Majority of the students are pursuing research topics related to the design and fabrication of the cryocoolers.

There is an acute shortage of technical assistants in this field. We don't have personnel to take care of liquefier operation and to maintain the costly measurement facilities like PPMS, SC magnet system and so on.

The authors express their thanks to the Department of Science and Technology (NSTMIS) for having sanctioned the project “DST/NSTMIS/05/84/2006–07. We also thank Dr. Amit Roy, Director IUAC for his keen interest and support to this work. We acknowledge the suggestions and help provided by the members of Local Project Advisory Committee (LPAC). We thank all the Scientists, Academics, Engineers, Managers from Institutes and Industries who found time to compile informations and shared with us.

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