NEAT - Key Persons
Navinchandra Ashar graduated from the Banaras Hindu University in 1954 and proceeded to study further at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA). He worked under the guidance of the late Dr. H.P. Meissner, (Professor of Thermodynamics at MIT) for "Reduction of Iron Ore in a Fluidised bed" and was later on selected as a Research Associate for Solar energy projects. He made a presentation at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1960 on the data collected on MIT Solar House IV.
He also made a presentation at Rome in 1961 on the "Prospects of Air Conditioning by use of Solar Energy in India and Pakistan".
After returning to India, N.G. Ashar joined Dharamsi Morarjee Chemical Company and was involved in many prestigious projects for Environmental Pollution Control [Recovery of Mercury for Hindustan Zinc at Vizag, Effluent Treatment of Flourides at Hyderabad for Hindustan Organic, Chromium and Nickel removal in liquid effluents at Lucknow for Eveready Batteries etc.] and design, erection, commissioning for conversion of the 360 TPD SCSA sulphuric acid plant at Ambarnath in 1963 and later in 1974 raising it to 4 50 TPD Sulphuric acid plant by DCDA process.
These projects enabled N.G. Ashar-to gain very valuable experience in the fields of Environment Pollution Control. Sulphuric Acid plants, Chloro Sulphonic Acid, Oleums, Cogeneration of Power etc. Also, he made a significant contribution for the drafting of the Environment Protection Act as Chairman of Environment and Safety Committee of Indian Chemical Manufacturer Association which was enacted as a law by the Parliament in 1986.
N.G. Ashar has contributed extensively to dissemination of this experience and his own expertise in the form of Technical Articles written for many prestigious journals in the field of Chemical Engineering.
He established his own engineering and environmental consultancy company in 1987 as NEAT [Navdeep Enviro And Technical] Services Pvt. Ltd and carried out many assignments for improving performance and increasing production capacities of SA plants in India; for cogeneration of Power, development of processes for Liquid SO3, Liquid S02 (which was a great improvement over the existing process of compression and refrigeration, Chiaro Sulphonic Acid etc.) besides promoting use of Solar Energy.
Mr. N G Ashar has recently developed an innovative process, which he calls the "The cold process", to manufacture Sulphuric acid, oleums, liquid S0 3 and liquid S0 2 in an isothermal high pressure reactor using fluidized bed of cesium activated vanadium catalyst with zero emission of S0 2." This process will be a turning point since it would be requiring half the capital cost and one-third area than conventional DCDA plants.