Technological Disruption cannot be better represented than these twin pictures taken 13 years apart. In the first picture, of the Easter Parade on 5th Avenue in New York taken in 1900, you have to look hard to find a Car among a sea of horse-drawn carriages. The second picture is taken in 1913 of the same parade where you have to look hard to find a horse-drawn carriage among a sea of Cars.
Defex New Materials Pvt Ltd not just epitomises this technological disruption in the field of Thermal Insulation in India but in fact catalysing and leading the change from the front.
Thermal Insulation had remained much of the same for the last 50 years till Aspen Aerogels Inc. based out of Boston, Massachusetts brought a commercially manufactured Aerogel Thermal Insulation based on Nano Technology. We were one of their first partners in the world and the first to introduce it in India. It was first used to insulate this Ethane-Propane Storage Sphere for operations at -20 Degrees C but was also designed to withstand petrochemical pool fire for up to 45 minutes as per UL 1709.
We were instrumental in pioneering the Dual Insulation strategy to keep costs and energy losses down, this was later used across the entire J3 Program at Reliance Industries Ltd, Jamnagar.
NanoWrap™ a unique proprietary Aerogel based solution developed by our company that can simply be wrapped on a Hot Pipe facing heat loss due to obsolete insulation simply regenerates the original thermal efficiency of the insulation and restores it to its pristine efficiency. This product has been successfully installed at three different petrochemical plants of Reliance Industries Ltd at Dahej, Vadodara and Hazira successfully. Further discussions are on hold till we launch our own Aerogel Insulation, which is a work in progress.
Below: The Black Oil Line, the longest Pipe Single Pipe work of the J3 Petrochemical Complex executed by our company insulated by Aerogel Insulation at Jamnagar for Reliance Industries Limited.
Problems with Thermal Insulation kept the sea trials pending for over 3 years while also causing casualties for sailors due to exposure to NOX emitted by conventional insulation within the closed confines of the sub. We not only tested the insulation for the potential NOX, replaced the conventional insulation with Aerogel, designed and supplied Convection Heating furnaces to heat the insulation to flush the NOX, and also supplied the material, took trials of the flushing and got the installation done on the sub. L&T took over for the commercial installation for the rest of the boats. The idea for an Indian Aerogel was born here due to non-cooperation of the Americans to share data with Ministry of Defence & the Indian Navy.
Aerogel Tents at High Altitude, High Altitude Clothing can save precious lives. The technology is available with us to provide these & the discussion for exclusivity upon success is ongoing. Soldiers can last forever in these tents with Aerogel because it is possible to design this equipment with zero heat-loss with 1/4th weight as compared to conventional insulation. This reduction in weight helps to reduce effort to lug the equipment in oxygen deficit environments. It also keeps the soldiers agile and efficient in their movement. These are a irreplaceable part of a Modern Army in today’s fast evolving world.
Defex New Materials has assigned the patent for Aerogel based Load Bearing Pipe Support System, a High Temperature Pipe Support system that can not only insulate but also bear the weight of the pipework. Globally, while Pipes are insulated, Pipe Supports are not. Especially in cold environment because of the temperature difference, the heat loss flowing from these un-insulated junctions are massive to say the least.
Defex Team for the commissioning of the Aerogel Precision Fabrication Machine required for precision fabrication of Aerogel for the Load Bearing Pipe Support System. A first of its kind, non-water jet precision fabrication system in Line with TS16949 Quality Management System – with rejections rate of 66 PPM and 99.9% reproducibility of product – cycle time 12.5 seconds – could fabricate 1000s of Sq meters of aerogel in a single day – War or Peace – can produce precisely fabricated aerogel on war footing – with negligible or no rejection – for any application.
On left hand side is the sample of precision fabricated aerogel elbow in lobster tail format. On right hand side, notice how four layers of these elbows, having different length, width, radius have been snugly fitted over one another. This is the magic of precision fabrication. This can also be done using expensive water jet cutting but our machine can produce 100 times more material without ANY rejections or losses.
Below is a sample of Aerogel Based Load-Bearing Pipe Support System
The Load Testing Facility to test Vertical, Lateral & Axial loads of 10 tonnes each for Pipe sizes upto 24” is available with us, because it is not possible for customers to witness tests anywhere else in our country.
Defex is the only Indian owned company to manufacture Engineered Supports for Cold & Cryogenic temperature. Below is a batch of 1150 Supports being despatched to a German MNC for a prestigious project in India.
Below: We are also helping customers in India to migrate from conventional PUF Blocks to Engineered Pipe Supports to achieve far better plant Integrity & Reliability.
It has been shocking for us to know that in our country, there is a distinct lack of innovative engineering work with wonder materials like Polyurethanes and Polyisocyanurates to adapt them to the Indian context to solve problems. In India, businesses have flourished around what can be copied or whatever can be purchased off the shelf / someone else comes and starts the machine for us & then the machine keeps doing the rest. Whether it is building insulation, industrial thermal insulation, engineered pipe supports, marine or aerospace, India is far behind even countries like China. It is not as if there is a lack of knowledge in India, we have built nuclear missiles but import bullets. The key lies in lack of innovation, execution & skill across most industrial sectors. Defex New Materials sees this as a business opportunity to introduce these import-substitute products in these segments of business not just for domestic consumption but to use the same facility as a manufacturing hub to cater globally. All products are made to ASTM and / or other global standards and can achieve scale easily in a few months depending on demand. Cheers !