Turning dreams into reality

Ankesh Nagar, a student of UPES has applied for a patent for his concept of an Offshore Nuclear Desalination Platform:

Neha Bhatia

'Bold ideas are like pawns in a game of chess they might be killed in the beginning but make an opening for a winning move'. The words above clearly define Ankesh Nagar's innovation of an Offshore Nuclear Desalination Platform. Explaining more about the concept, Nagar shares, "The project is a concept for reusing an oil/gas offshore platform with its existing infrastructure and modifications to generate much needed drinking water and electricity for the industrial developments of regions lacking power by nuclear energy. With India signing the Nuclear Deal new vistas have opened up for peaceful use of Nuclear Energy."

Presently in his third year, Nagar is pursuing a dual degree five-year course of B.Tech (Applied Petroleum Engineering, Upstream) with MBA (Oil & Gas Management) from University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, Dehradun. Son of an Armed Forces surgeon in Indian Navy, he is a product of Kendriya Vidyalaya Colaba, Mumbai and a bright student since his early school days. Besides academics his interest were equally balanced in games and co-curricular activities. Despite his selection for software engineering he chose petroleum engineering as a career. A keen nature lover he believes in conserving ecosystem and using green energy for harvesting hydrocarbons required for regional development and growth of any country. His broad based reading and applications crystallized the idea of the Offshore Nuclear Desalination Platform (ONDP). The idea was conceived in January 2009 and after crystallizing the concept Nagar obtained the view and opinion of Dr PK Tiwari, Head Desalination Division at BARC & Chairman of International Nuclear Desalination Advisory Group (INDAG) of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna who encouraged him to present it in the international conference. Nagar says, "I first presented this concept at 'International Desalination Conference' INDACON 2010 at Chennai. The paper was well appreciated by scientists present there from any countries." For this paper Nagar was awarded a special cash research award by the university and by the Governor of Uttaranchal, Margaret Alwa in 2010. "To make the concept concrete I have applied for a patent for the same and the application has been published by Indian Patent Office in March 2010," added Nagar.

The concept was established by Nagar foreseeing the huge demand for water. Talking more about it, he says, "'Oil rich' nations are 'water poor'. The ONDP will enable oil companies to sustain these oil platforms, recover oil to the hilt and gradually transform an oil platform to a simple desalination platform marketing electricity and water. The minimizing of 'carbon footprint' and 'carbon offsetting' by the oil company will add to its offers."

Nagar further shares how his concept will help India and other developing countries in the long run. "India has a long coastline and has underdeveloped regions all along; the population of these regions can survive, thrive and industrialize if drinking water and power is made available cheap. In the world, especially for the oil rich WANA (West Asia & North Africa) region which is fighting hard to provide water to its population, ONDP is the 'Silver Bullet'. Offshore located nuclear desalination platform will save money on pumping water to shore, chemical treatment of water, maintenance of membranes due to fouling, brine disposal and multiple offshore uses like EOR and Gas Hydrate extraction in petroleum industry." A budding petrocrat Ankesh is proud to be a student of University of Petroleum & Energy Studies Dehradun that gave him encouragement and fertile ground to be what he is today and will be tomorrow.