IIT-Delhi starts making sanitisers to combat shortage amid Covid-19 fears

Anil Elias, head of the chemistry department, said the formulation contains three chemicals apart from aloe vera and the major component, isopropyl alcohol (around 75%).

The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-Delhi) is making its own hand sanitiser with markets across the city seeing a shortage of the product amid the Covid-19 outbreak. The chemistry department of the institute has prepared 50 litres of hand sanitiser using the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) prescribed formula for destroying the sars cov2 virus which causes the disease.

Many educational institutions in other states, including Kerala and Assam, are producing hand sanitisers. (HT photo (Image for representational purpose))

Anil Elias, head of the chemistry department, said the formulation contains three chemicals apart from aloe vera and the major component, isopropyl alcohol (around 75%). “Alcohol rub sanitisers containing at least 70% alcohol are known to kill micro-organisms within 30 seconds to one minute of application. As per the WHO guidelines, we can only produce 50 litres of sanitiser with such a high quantity of alcohol at a time,” he said.

The product can be used by around 200 people for the next few weeks, he said. “We have sent out emails to other departments and residents to collect the sanitiser from us,” Elias said.

Many educational institutions in other states, including Kerala and Assam, are producing hand sanitisers. In Guwahati, Cotton College is producing hand sanitisers using the WHO prescribed formula and distributing it among those who can’t afford to buy the product.

The Kerala government, on the other hand, has got its prisons to produce hand sanitisers and masks in view of the acute shortage of both items in the market.