Hydrogen fuel to be introduced in Delhi next year

The next generation zero emission fuel, Hydrogen, will be launched from Delhi, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Published on: Nov 26, 2006, 18:28:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The country's first Hydrogen filling station will become functional at the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) owned petrol pump near Nigambodh Ghat from early next year. "By next year a dispenser each for filling pure Hydrogen and Hydrogen mixed with CNG will be available in Delhi," said Dr RK Malhotra, General Manager, Research and Development at IOC.

To start with, Hydrogen will be blended with CNG to reduce Nitrogen Oxide and Particulate Matter emission from vehicles by almost half. "Hydrogen is the cleanest among all available fuels including bio-fuels. It's burning emits no carbon and the final result is water," said Dr SK Chopra, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy.

For CNG blended with Hydrogen till 10 per cent, only a few improvements in vehicle with no engine modification is required. If the blending is more than 10 per cent, engines modifications are mandatory. Seven vehicles models --- Tata Indica, Tata bus, Bajaj three wheeler, Ashok Leyland mini bus, Eicher mini bus, Mahindra three wheeler and Mahindra Utility --- are expected to be ready by early next year with modifications to run on up to 30 per cent Hydrogen blend.

Duleep Chenoy, Director-General of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), said, "Engine optimisation of these seven types of in-use CNG engines have already begun. By early next year these vehicles will be ready for field trials". Before SIAM, Banaras Hindu University has developed modified two-wheeler and three-wheeler engines compatible for CNG-Hydrogen mix and rights have been bought by Hosiarpur based International Cars and Motors Limited to manufacturer three wheelers.

With the already successful CNG model and tests on in-use CNG vehicles being carried out in the Capital, Chopra said, the government opted for the city with an "eye on huge potential for an alternative fuel." In addition, the new blended fuel is expected to reduce Nitrogen Oxide (NOX) and Particular Matter (PM) emission by almost half -- a boom for the city grappling with high levels of NOX and PM.

Despite the advantages, the competition between Hydrogen and CNG would be stiff. Hydrogen as a fuel is four times as costly as CNG, even though it has three times more energy than CNG. "The initial manufacturing cost of Hydrogen is high because of the cost of technology involved. We are confident that the prices will fall once the market for Hydrogen gathers momentum," Malhotra explained.

The first filling station, having Hydrogen manufacturing and storing facility, will cost about Rs five crore, to be equally shared by IOC and the ministry. The station will have generation capacity to meet demand of over 1,000 vehicles in a day. Officials said the vehicles manufacturers would also come up with facilities to modify existing CNG vehicles for the Hydrogen blend.

Email Chetan Chauhan: chetan @hindustantimes.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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