Indian Oil Corporation (like any refiner) produces tons of hydrogen--from fossil sources. The company, both out of its own volition and by government's fiat, intends to shift at least 10 per cent of its self-consumption of hydrogen to 'green' hydrogen, which today is basically produced by splitting water using solar power.
The question before IOC is, therefore, what the deuce to do with the grey hydrogen it produces. The company, according to its Director-R&D Dr SSV Ramakumar, has an option--use it to make ethanol, reports the Business Line newspaper.
Usually, hydrogen is produced by steam reforming of ethanol, but here the process is the reverse.
The calculation goes like this. The government of India has mandated "20 per cent blending" of ethanol with gasoline (petrol) by 2023. This will create a demand for ethanol of about 1,000 crore (100 million) litres of ethanol; the current Indian production is 35 m litres. The yawning gap of 65 m litres needs capacity to be created. Using the grey hydrogen is one such (easy) way for IOC.
IOC, the biggest oil refiner in India, which is also state-owned, produces about half of the country's grey hydrogen production of 6 million tons annually.
IOC's plan, according to Dr Ramakumar, is to produce biogas for use in aviation from the ethanol, following the global movement towards ATJ (alcohol to jet) fuels.
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