Published 16:06 IST, August 20th 2020
Kerala: V Jayaprakash's invention aids COVID-time waste management
Innovator V Jayaprakash’s smokeless incinerator has become a boon to the district administration in their efforts to dispose of waste generated at COVID centres
Innovator V Jayaprakash’s smokeless incinerator has become a boon to the local district administration in Kozhikode, Kerala in their efforts to dispose of waste generated at COVID care centres. His product, which won the Kerala State Energy conservation award 2019, can burn 5 kgs of medical waste in ten minutes with a meager 5 milligrams of LPG.
With this, discarded PPE Kits, surgical gloves, and masks, as well as disposable equipment used in the treatment of Covid19 can be burnt in the incinerator easily. The machine can touch a peak temperature of 1250 degrees.
“The machine can be loaded with new waste while the incinerator is combusting,” says Jayaprakash, who is only a pre-degree holder.
The machine also is odourless during combustion and doesn’t emit any smoke. The incinerator is designed in such a way that carbon monoxide which is produced during the combustion is injected with fresh bouts of oxygen and then the resultant mixture is vaporised as carbon dioxide.
Four panchayats and two municipalities in Kozhikode have already installed this machine at their COVID First-Line Treatment Centres (CFLTC). 12 more local bodies are in queue to receive this incinerator.
A popular inventor
“In the 1960s, my father used to send clay stoves from Coimbatore which my mother retailed here in Kozhikode,” says Jayaprakash to Republic TV. The young Jayaprakash began to fiddle around with these stoves and created a smokeless clay oven from it which he started selling in the neighbouring town of Koyilandy. “That was my first invention and I improved the design and it was sold in large numbers,” he says.
Later, in 1998 he received training at ANERT. During that time, he Incidentally read about a people’s protest against a private hospital for dumping medical waste in the neighbourhood. He approached the hospital owner and pitched that he can make an incinerator at the rooftop of the hospital with brick, pipes, and mortar. He also quoted Rs 20,000 as its cost.
However, as he started developing, the budget overshot to Rs 1,10,000. Yet, the hospital management gave the green signal.
“With the assistance of ANERT engineers, I learnt about gasification technology and created my incinerator,” says Jayaprakash.
His achievement in energy management is not ordinary. His energy-efficient cooking stove, approved by the UNDP, was used for Government mid-day schemes in many districts of Kerala.
His invention was adopted in Cuba and Bangladesh as well. He has also taken training for the Indian Army and IIT Delhi showcasing various energy-saving methods.
He modified Bukhari stove’s of Kashmir and increased its efficiency at the request of the science and Technology Ministry.
This 2012 presidential award winner has got his hands full during the Covid19 crisis. “I will continue to dedicate more time to invent things that helps humanity,” he says with an immaculate resolve.
Updated 16:06 IST, August 20th 2020