The moving spirit behind Airgases Projects is a team of specialists drawn from the Indian Air Separation industry, each of whom has been in the industry for over 30 years. They each have played a leading role during their tenure with their respective organizations and consequently, contributed immensely to the development of this industry in India. Each of them is well known and well regarded in the Air Separation industry in India and therefore, will provide the required know-how and capabilities to the Airgases Projects. Besides possessing the functional domain expertise, they also have an extensive network within the Indian industry- with both the end customers as well as leading Project Management Consultants (PMC’s). With strong existing relationships with all key Indian and international vendors for the Air Separation industry, these specialists will provide Airgases Projects the necessary competitive advantage.

Mr. H M Bengani, CEO of the company is a Chemical Engineer. Post his graduation from BITS Pilani in the year 1976, he initially worked with Bharat Heavy Plate & Vessels (BHPV) as commissioning engineer, where he was associated with commissioning of around a dozen Air Separation Plants of Air Liquide design. In 1980 he joined the then Indian Oxygen which was later renamed as BOC India and currently known as Linde India. During his stint at BOC/Linde, he was closely associated with various parts of the business such as process design, mechanical design, shop fabrication, construction and commissioning besides overall Project Management which provided him hands-on experience across the full spectrum of business. He assumed responsibility as Head of Engineering business of BOC/Linde in the year 2002 and retired from services of Linde in 2014 after working for more than 34 years.

Mr. Bengani is credited with the phenomenal growth of ASU business for BOC/Linde from a modest value 200 Million INR in 2003 to a staggering 5000 Million in the year 2013 (a stupendous growth of almost 50% CAGR year on year for 10 years). Besides Linde technology, he has experience with various other international technology providers such as BOC, Sumitomo, Air Liquide, Costain and other Russian plant suppliers. Mr Bengani was also instrumental in significantly bringing down the cost of Air Separation units in India during these 10 years by innovative business models and relentless efforts in localization of critical equipment. He was associated with almost every core sector industry in India, be it steel, refinery orpetrochemical.Besides being a global traveler, he has widely traveled across almost the entire length and breadth of our country.

As CEO, Mr. Bengani will provide critical leadership to Airgases Projects to achieve its vision of providing high quality products and services to the Air Separation Industry at internationally competitive prices.

Mr. K.P.Venugopal, a Chemical Engineer, graduated from NIT Trichurapally.

After a brief internship in Madras Refineries Limited (MRL), he joined as a Management Trainee at Bharat Heavy Plates & Vessels (BHPV) in 1977. He worked in the Process engineering discipline and was responsible for Process simulations & design, P&ID development and proposal management in the specialized area of Cryogenic Air Separation Plants & gas separation units. He underwent extensive training programs at Air Liquide, France which enabled him to become a specialist in the gas processing technologies in Indian Industrial gases market.

In 1992, he joined Air Liquide Engineering India, a JV with Air Liquide International, France as Process Engineering Manager. Due to his prior experience in Process design and because of his specialist technical skills, he was recognized as a Senior Expert in Process design within the entire Air Liquide group worldwide. He played a key role in helping Air Liquide Engineering India attain market leadership, by developing and leading a highly competent team. Mr. Venugopal was soon appointed President and Dy. Managing Director of the company. As part of this role, he was responsible for all the Board matters and acted as a liaison between Air Liquide Head Office, France and ALEI for all matters on Finance, Budgeting & Reporting as well as business plans and forecasts of the company. As an active member of ALEI board, he contributed to elevating ALEI to a highly profitable position by achieving operational excellence

Mr. Venugopal’s experience spans over 30 years and his core competency lies in conceptualizing and managing complex projects, facility expansion projects and assessing feasibility of high risk technical tie-ups with national and International Process licensors.

He is an excellent leader who not only developed ALEI as a profit making organization but also set an example for winning several projects involving large investments with very competitive pricing. His leadership in the market has set a benchmark on pricing, customer trust, proactive business practices, international image, viability of high risk projects, tight schedules, and continuous after sales service and rigorous commitment for end user operations. He is very highly regarded in the industry and his technical capabilities and his ability to deliver high quality products and services at competitive prices remain unparalleled till date.

Mr Venugopal, as a custodian of technology (including conceptual and process design) will provide Airgases Projects a clear competitive advantage and enable it to offer innovative and cost effective solutions to its customers.

Mr.Ranjan Ray, graduated in mechanical engineering from BE College Shibpore in the year1975. Soon after graduation he joined department of Atomic Energy where he was involved with design engineering work of nuclear power projects with focus on nuclear piping and pressure vessels. After gaining valuable experience of five years in nuclear power projects, Mr Ray in the year 1982 joined country’s most prestigious engineering consultancy organisation M N Dastur& Co which specialises in providing engineering services to steel, power, chemical and other core sector industries.

Mr Ray worked at MN Dastur for long 36 years starting as design engineer. After working in several important positions he was elevated to position of Technical Director where he was leading a team of more than 100 engineers responsible for basic and detail engineering of utility, gas and fuel systems of integrated steel plants. In addition his team was responsible for design and project engineering of utility systems, power generation, by-product gas storage and distribution systems, HVAC, gas cleaning plant and BF turbo-blowers etc. Air Separation plants being one of main utility in steel plants, he had long experience in providing engineering consultancy in setting up large Air Separation Units for steel plants covering wide spectrum of activities right from preparation of tender specification, evaluation of bids from vendors, review of design documents from ASU vendors and overall project monitoring. Mr Ray has been involved with several energy recovery applications, captive power plants, energy optimisation study and projects related to renewable energy. His personal key competencies include piping design, pressure vessel design, and selection of rotating equipment like fans, blowers and compressors.

Mr Roy has been associated with setting up and expansion of most of large steel plants in India i.e. Vizag steel Project, Rourkela steel project, Tata steel Jamshedpur, Tata Steel Kalinganagar, Tata Sponge Iron plant and Jindal Steel Works (Dolvi). He was also associated with several overseas projects including that at Bhutan Ferro-Alloy, Libyan Iron and Steel Plant, Egyptian Iron and Steel plant and Arcelor Mittal steel plant expansion /modernization projects at Bosnia and Ukraine.

His experience in undertaking detail engineering as well as review and approval of design documents of vendors will ensure that detail engineering done by Airgases Projects for its projects will meet client’s requirements and be approved by client and its PMC in a seamless manner.

Mr R K Nehru is unarguably most well-known face in operation & maintenance of oxygen plants in India, A career spanning over 40 years in operation and maintenance of ASU’s supplied by various ASU suppliers and of different capacities.

Mr Nehru, a chemical engineering graduate from IIT Delhi in 1975, worked his l,ife time for Steel Authority of India Joining as graduate engineer trainee after a stint of 2 years with a private project management company. After joining Bhilai Steel Plant in 1977, Mr Nehru had phenomenal career progression and becoming in charge of all oxygen plants and entire utility services (Compressed Air & Chilled Water,Air Conditioning & Ventilation and Water Management etc) at Bhilai steel plant. He was responsible for operation and maintenance of variety of Air Separation units 3x160 tpd ASU supplied by Russians, 2x550 tpd ASU supplied by BHPV ( AL design) and 550 tpd ASU supplied by BOC. He was main expert from Bhilai Steel Plant during technical evaluations/ negotiation with all bidders and later during evaluation/ approval of ASU supplier design drawings. He was also actively involved in technical evaluation of 500 tpd ASU ordered on AL and later 2x1200 tpd gas supply scheme on Prax Air. By nineties he was best ASU expert in SAIL and was actively involved in final decision making while ordering ASU by other steel plants. His through knowledge of functioning of BOF and blast furnaces made him expert on optimization of oxygen plants based on demand from various consumers.

He was promoted to General Manager at Bokaro Steel plant as overall in-charge of all Oxygen Plants, Compressed Air Stations & Chilled Water Plants. Air Conditioning & Ventilation Dept., Lubrication Dept. and Water Management Dept. He played important role in optimization of 5x450 tpd ASU’s as well as 1250 tpd gas supply scheme set up by private gas company. He was instrumental in various fuel optimization projects including Propane Plant and Propane Injection into Mixed Gas to Reheating Furnaces of Hot Strip Mill.

In the year 2011 he was promoted to Executive Director – Materials first at Rourkela and later at Bhilai steel Plant. However even holding this position, his passion for oxygen plants never diminished and was consulted across all steel plants in SAIL while setting up new oxygen plants or major repairs on ASU’s. As a result in year 2014 he was designated Director Technical to mainly oversee installation and commissioning of 2x750 tpd ASU’s supplied by Linde. He continued working with SAIL till 2016 as Technical Advisor mainly focusing on oxygen plants.

Mr Nehru as a key member of team will be responsible for commissioning and after sales as well as provide valueable inputs in optimum plant selction and high degree of reliablity

Mr. M V V Prasad Reddy, a Chemical Engineer, graduated from Andhra University, Vishakhapatanam. After graduating, he worked for 7 years in operation of a chemical plant after which in 1975, he joined Bharat Heavy Plates & Vessels (BHPV) as Engineer in Erection and Commissioning department, where he was responsible for installation and commissioning of Cryogenic Air Separation plants. At that time, BHPV under collaboration with Air Liquide,was the only organization building large Air Separation units in India. Mr. Reddy worked at BHPV for over 28 years during which he was responsible for installation of several large Air Separation Units and other gas processing units all across country. Today, he is unarguably one of most knowledgeable and experienced specialists in setting up large Air Separation Units in India. Mr. Reddy has received extensive training from suppliers of key equipment of ASU such as Demag (Siemens) Germany, Cryostar, Cryomec and Sulzer etc in selection as well as installation of these equipment. He has always been a hands-on person and understands the intricacies involved with project execution and installation work. He has diverse working experience with multi province, multinational and multi ethnic personnel for more than 40 years and under different scenarios and roles.

For the last 10 years Mr. Reddy has been actively associated with several engineering organizations such as Goyal MG, Uhde India, Bhushan Power & Steel and Air Liquide where he was engaged in setting up Air Separation units, oil refinery and other process plants.

With in-depth knowledge of project execution and installation of Air Separation Units & other process plants as well as his ability to effectively manage diverse projects, Mr. Reddy will be responsible for overseeing quality and site operations at Airgases Projects and will ensure that Airgases Projects meet all its commitments to customers in terms of quality and timely execution of projects.

Dr Prof D Prahlada Rao graduated as a Chemical Engineer from Andhra University, Vishakhapatanam in the year 1965 followed by post-graduation from IIT Kharagpur and later doctorate from BITS Pilani. He was a professor in the chemical engineering department at BITS Pilani until 1976, after which he joined IIT Kanpur where he worked till retirement in 2005. He was head of the chemical engineering department from 1992 to 1995. He was also a visiting professor at University of California in 1995 for a period of two years.

Professor Rao has been actively associated with research work and has been a guide to several doctorate students at IIT Kanpur. He had set up several pilot plants at IIT Kanpur to undertake research work and establish several new technologies including those associated with adsorption. He has done extensive work in adsorption technology and has several technical papers related to Adsorption and process intensification published in International reputed journals to his credit. Additionally, he is also an accredited expert in process intensification from European Process intensification center.

Dr Rao is currently a consultant to several international and Indian organizations such as CHEVRON, WR GRACE, PRAXAIR, GAIL India, HPCL, Satyvati minerals, Solfirst technologies and IIT Kanpur.

Dr Rao with his 45 years of professional experience will be a big asset to Airgases Projects and help it in evaluation and assimilation of new technologies by providing technical knowhow and mentorship to Airgases Projects team on PSA and VPSA plant portfolio, which will enable it to provide innovative solutions to its customers.

Bonne A. Rook, a Dutch national, is widely regarded as a leading expert of cryogenics in Europe, specially related to cryogen distribution system and liquid helium related systems.Bonne, has basic qualification in chemistry and chemical engineering supported by further specialisation / training at Royal Dutch Air Force Officer School/ Nuclear Physics / VDI German Cryogenic Engineering Course/ Astra Zeneca, Sweden, Diploma Passcard Course / VCA Netherlands Diploma for Operational Supervisors and Linde Group Germany, Befähigte Person für den sicheren Umgang mit Gasen

Bonne’s total work experience spans over 45 years in various roles at different organisations including as Royal Dutch Airforce as a subaltern officer, RCN Netherlands Nuclear Centre, reader for Physics Department, Cryoson Technical Laboratory MiddenBeemster, Physics Sales, Torso Vacryo, Design and Engineering Vacuum & Cryogenics, Keltorr Cryogenics BV, Alkmaar, Achenbach Cryogenics, Kreuztal and Intec Cryogenic Tyre Recycling, Berlin.

Bonne is owner of M/S Cabbar Cryoconsult BV and has extended his expertise in cryogen distribution to most reputed companies and institutions in Europe including German Space Research Agency, SPS Cryogenics, BOCI India, MBB Claas, Germany, Linde Gas, Germany, Air Liquide Germany, AMT All Metal Technics, Oldemarkt, Ingenieurs Büro Snoussi, Germany, Stirling Cryogenics, Netherlands, Aga Gas, Sweden, Messer Gas, Europe, Kryoanlagenbau Germany, Achenbach Cryotechnik, Germany and Messer Europe

Bonne is active member of several organisations related to cryogenics including Cryogenic Society of America, German Hydrogen Society and Dutch Vacuum Society.

Bonne’s area of expertise relates to production, application, conditioning, liquefaction and purification of various cryogens (oxygen, nitrogen, argon, helium and hydrogen). He also has huge experience in the design of cryogenic systems for superconducting magnet systems as well as Space simulation systems.

Mr. Divya Prakash Bengani graduated from St. Xavier’s College Kolkata and subsequently qualified as chartered accountant in the year 2008. He brings with him 7-8 years of experience of working with several large corporate houses such as Price Water House, Indian Oil Corporation, Voltas etc. he has good experience in Budgeting, monitoring of receivables, financial planning, commercial negotiations and direct & indirect taxation matters.

With his experience, Mr. Bengani will be responsible for all commercial functions at Airgases projects and will add immense value to Airgases projects by managing the important business functions such as Purchase, Finance, Taxation and General administration.