The Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) successful GSLV launch this January, with indigenous cryogenic engine, catapulted India into the exclusive club of elite space technology.
In this historic moment Shell-N-Tube had reason to feel proud of its own contribution as well; the twin coiled LN2-LOX/ GHe heat exchangers used for successful testing of the GSLV’s steering engine had been designed and manufactured by Shell-N-Tube. The company had also supplied several metres of vacuum insulated LOX and LH2 propellant lines, used for various needs at the cryogenic engine test facility.
Shell-N-Tube (SNT) was born out of a dream between two friends in 1987, each a professional in his own right. Munjal Mehta was a management graduate and gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Planning and Management, while Shankar Ghosh was a chemical engineer from Regional Engineering College, Durgapur. Both had a few years’ experience in the design, manufacture, operation and management of cryogenic air separation plants and application-based marketing in India.
With a meager total capital of $200, the first few years were difficult to say the least. SNT activity consisted of setting up oxygen supply systems for steel plants around India, including its first successful import substitute product – large ambient heated vaporizers up to single unit capacity of 4000nm3/hr in all the medium sized steel mills across the country during 1988-1994.
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