KOTA's FLY ASH GOT PATENT

Fly ash of Kota Thermal Power Plant (KTMP) has received a patent as catalyst for manufacturing of tablets such as Aspirin and Disprin. Kota University's professor Aashurani and research scholar Chitralekha Khatri had been working for last four years on the research project 'Green Catalytic Process for Aspirin Synthesis Using Fly Ash as Hydrogenous Solid Acid Catalyst' funded by Fly Ash Mission, Government of India. The present process of manufacturing Disprin consumes too much water and causes pollution, whereas making the same drug with fly ash consumes a little water as its catalyst fly ash is in solid form, Aashurani said. Following the reaction, very little quantity of water is required to separate Disprin, she said. She further said the Disprin manufactured with ash fly would be 50 per cent cheaper than the drug presently being sold in the market. The letter from the Intellectual Property Right (IPR) for the patent of the Disprin drug by fly ash has been received on January 25, 2014, she added. "It's a point of pride for the University of Kota and the research team," Aashurani said. The Disprin is likely to come in the market in the next 2 to 3 years as National Research & Development Corporation (NRDC) has taken up the responsibility for commercial manufacturing of Asprin and Disprin through fly ash process, she added.