Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan, along with the Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal, today laid the foundation stone of Indian Oil’s Technology Development & Deployment Centre as its second R&D Campus at IMT, Sector-67, Faridabad.

The new centre with an investment of Rs. 2,282 crore, covers an area of about 59 acres. The new campus would focus on demonstration & deployment of various technologies developed by IndianOil R&D, and will work in tandem with the existing campus at Sector-13, Faridabad.

The research infrastructure at the new campus includes laboratories and pilot plants in the domains of alternative & renewable energy, e.g., fuel cell, hydrogen, gasification & solar energy research, semi-commercial nano-material production unit, scale-up/pilot plants in petrochemicals, catalysts, biotechnology, etc.

This new extension of Indian Oil’s R&D Centre is going to focus on non-conventional energy domains besides the conventional ones and will aim at indigenisation of several frontline and sunrise technologies such as petrochemicals, batteries/energy storage devices, bio-energy- greenhouse gas (CO2) capture, novel nano materials for catalysts or fuel cells, hydrogen production pathways and fuel cells for both mobility and stationary applications.

Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said, “The R&D Centre of Indian Oil has over the years blossomed into a state-of-the art research institution for downstream petroleum R&D, focusing on indigenizing technologies and processes to suit Indian conditions. IndianOil’s R&D Centre has contributed significantly towards Hon’ble Prime Minister’s dream of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.”