Nagpur: A group of chemistry professors and Sanskrit scholars have been working together on two projects that can be of significant contribution to the field of chemistry. These members of NGO Swadeshi Sanshodhan Vigyan Sanstha are experimenting on producing electricity through ashes of herbs as well as production of iron from iron ore at a low temperature.
“The base for both these experiments have been derived from ‘Vaimanika Shastra’, an early 20th century Sanskrit text on aerospace technology,” says member and ex-professor of chemical engineering at LIT college, professor Prashant Holay.
Holay, who is at the helm of conducting these experiments, said, “At present, iron is obtained by heating coal at nearly 1,500 degree Celsius. Our experiment suggests that it can be obtained from iron ore at 400 degree Celsius. This will save energy and obviate the need of coal," he said, adding that the process will take place through generation of methane, which decomposes into hydrogen, and hydrogen reduces the ore.
Talking about using herbs to create electricity, he said, “Instead of light energy, heat energy will be used.”
Holay, along with over 20 other chemistry professors and Sanskrit scholars are part of the movement in Nagpur, which works to unearth Indian heritage in chemistry by translating and experimenting Sanskrit verses written on the subject.
He says that over 7,000 verses in ancient texts are based on chemistry. The group, operational in Nagpur since 25 years, has been successful in establishing two patents — one on water disinfection and the other on lossless digital data transmission technique. Forty-seven research papers have also been published in different journals, written by the members of this group.
The group does not have formal meetings with the members keeping in touch over phone and Internet, he says. “We have lost out on our heritage due to various reasons such as the Independence struggle, language barrier, personal patents etc. Even today, there are several things written about chemistry in our texts which is unknown to modern practitioners,” says Holay.
The group is also working to create solar thermal energy, one of the alternative being, conversion of heat of Sun into steam, used to run turbine and in turn generate electricity.
Holay explains the four stages of experimentation: First stage, called probing, tries to identify whether a verse is true or false, by way of experimentation. Second stage determines whether the concept is useful today. Third step, called modelling, tries to bring the concept to use in today’s age. And, in the fourth, an industrial project is designed centred around the idea.
Started nearly two years ago, both the projects by the sanstha are at the modelling stage now.
