A very old news paper clipping on Andhra Sugars has got me more interested in it
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/they-propel-our-space-programme/article2900470.ece
It says:
ANDHRA SUGARS’ EXPERTISE
In space and rocket technology, liquid, solid and hybrid propellants are used. Liquid propellants are derived from petroleum, cryogenic (low temperature) and hypergols (instant igniters). Solid propellants are usually nitro cellulose and nitro glycerine etc., while a hybrid fuel is a mix of liquid and solid. Andhra Sugars has established such skills in its plant located in a small village called Saggonda, approximately 30 km from Kovvuru near Rajahmundry in coastal Andhra Pradesh. The plant routinely produces caustic soda. Hydrogen, which is the raw material for the propellant that the company is making to meet the demands of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is a by-product. ISRO uses liquid hydrogen as the propellant in the Geo Stationary Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The GSLV, which can place heavier satellites of the Insat class in orbit has three stages, which are sequentially ignited for the rockets to zoom into space. They are the solid propellant (first), liquid propellant (second) and cryogenic propellant (third). To the credit of this private sector enterprise, Andhra Sugars now fabricates all these propellants.
With technical support from ISRO scientists, the company has set up a facility to liquefy hydrogen gas and then get the desired purity at the plant. This follows an agreement signed in the year 1997 with ISRO. The ISRO got actively involved in cryogenic rocket technology to power the GSLV with initial help from Russia. It was in 2003 that Andhra Sugars signed a formal contract and the plant was established in 2006, says Mr G. Ramesh, a top executive at the plant.
Andhra Sugars has a 20-year contract with ISRO for the supply of propellants. It is the only fabricator of the key material in the country at present. The ISRO has a small facility at Mahendragiri, in Karnataka, where it undertakes tests for cryogenic technology development. Given the association of Andhra Sugars from the mid-1980s in the space programme, ISRO has also supported it in setting up the plant in Saggonda.
ISRO has, to its credit, developed a sound culture of involving the private sector in several of its projects, both for launching and converting the huge amount of satellite data generated towards applications for national development.
Mr Ramesh said separation of hydrogen from caustic soda is easy. However, the difficult part is to liquefy and then purify hydrogen gas to meet the stringent standards demanded by ISRO, especially for the GSLV flight. The company has imported the necessary plant equipment to fulfil the task. It has taken a couple of years, but now it has trained people and gained technical expertise to do it, says Mr Ramesh.
On January 28, 2012, the first batch of liquid hydrogen was dispatched in a special tanker to make sure that the liquid hydrogen is maintained at 20 degrees Kelvin or minus 253 degrees C (cryogenic temperature). To transport the material, a tanker, which is thermally insulated has been specially imported from Europe, he explained. It takes five days to reach the material to Mahendragiri.
Liquid hydrogen is known as rocket fuel because of its wide applications in space technology. It is also used as the fuel storage in an internal combustion engine or fuel cell. Interestingly, hydrogen gas as fuel to power transport vehicles is gaining momentum. Cars and buses running on hydrogen gas have been demonstrated.
