Netherlands offers to facilitate import of Indian green hydrogen into Europe

The Netherlands has offered to facilitate import of Indian green hydrogen into Europe, in addition to buying "significant quantities" of green hydrogen for its own use, reports the Business Line newspaper. 

This assumes significance against the backdrop of Europe desiring alternatives to Russian natural gas. “One of the alternatives is green hydrogen. As it happens, it is one of the goals for India to become a net exporter of green hydrogen; we could become a net importer, because the Netherlands doesn’t have enough space to produce all the green hydrogen ourselves,” Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme, Climate Envoy of The Netherlands, has told visiting Indian journalists. 

                                                Prince Jaime de Bourbon de Parme

The war in Ukraine has put dialogue around energy dependence on a faster mode. There is a need for alternatives to Russian gas. 

The report says that green hydrogen is derived from water electrolysis using renewable energy like solar or wind. Biomass-based hydrogen production technologies also qualify under the green category. On the other hand, brown and grey hydrogen are produced through coal gasification and natural gas reforming, respectively. These production pathways generate a significant amount of carbon dioxide. Integration with appropriate carbon capture and utilisation technologies results in blue hydrogen.

Focus area

Indian Oil has already announced setting up the nation’s first ‘Green Hydrogen’ plant at its Mathura refinery. Hydrogen being the cleanest form of energy is the latest focus area across the globe to satiate the rising energy needs. 

According to Parme, the requirement for green hydrogen is not just for the energy-intensive industry, but also for transport and household usages. Potentially, gas could be replaced by green hydrogen. “The Netherlands is well-positioned to be your gateway to the rest of Europe, with the Port of Rotterdam as Europe’s biggest port, linking Northern European countries, including Germany and Belgium,” he said, adding that there’s a potential to explore for two countries.

According to calculations by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), India needs about $42 billion over the period till 2030 per year for the annual renewal energy investments.

Netherlands is the fifth biggest Foreign Direct Investor in India. So, “you can expect to see these investments shifting from fossil fuels to renewals, going forward”, he said.

Talking about potential in industry for use of green hydrogen, he said he is in dialogue with the industry because they should be placing orders. “So, the question is how do we structure it and what infrastructure do we need. Are you going to ship hydrogen as ammonia or in frozen form? All that needs to be agreed to see which way is the best. Right now, Singapore and Japan are the furthest developed in importing green hydrogen, so we are looking at them also to set the standard and to see what is the standard going forward,” he said. 

Netherlands is working with India on an MoU on Renewable Energy. It has MoU’s with quite a few countries as an open agreement to see and explore how we can work together. “There are several areas of collaboration, such as research, knowledge, building plants and infrastructure such as ports and solar and wind generation. All these areas need to be mapped out and severely reduce emissions if we are to preserve a futureproof planet,” he said.

The MoU is expected to be taken up during the visit of President Ram Nath Kovid to Netherlands next month.

Toyota Kirloskar launches India's first Hydrogen car

Toyota Kirloskar Motor, on March 16, launched Toyota Mirai, a green hydrogen-powered advanced fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). The vehicle is capable of running up to 650 km on a single charge. Also, it takes only 5 minutes to refuel. The tank can take 6.5 kg of hydrogen.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), along with the International Center for Automotive Technology (ICAT), is conducting a pilot project to study and evaluate the world's most advanced FCEV Toyota Mirai, which runs on hydrogen, on Indian roads and climatic conditions, reports the Mint newspaper. At the inauguration event, the Union Power Minister R K Singh said he has given a target to NTPC to start buses (which will run on hydrogen) from Delhi to Jaipur, report says. 

The sedan comes with a high-pressure fuel tank and an electric motor, reports HT Auto.

Mirai, would be the first car on the Indian roads to run on hydrogen, though there are hydrogen powered buses. Also, it is a 2nd generation car. Toyota first launched Mirai in the year, 2014 and the present Mirai is a much improved version, according to various news reports.

NHPC to set up Himachal Pradesh’s first hydrogen plant

  

The government of India-owned National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) will set up a green hydrogen fuel generation plant in the Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh soon—the hill state’s first hydrogen plant. 

The Hindustan Times newspaper has reported that the decision was taken in a meeting of Chamba district administration with NHPC Ltd held recently which was presided over by Chamba Deputy Commissioner DC Rana and attended by NHPC’s General Manager (Project), Chamera-II and Chamera-III SK Sandhu. 

Chamba deputy commissioner DC Rana said that it would be the first hydrogen mobility-based project in the district. 

The plant will produce hydrogen through a 250KW photovoltaic solar plant, Hindustan Times says.  

Apart from setting up the hydrogen fuel plant the NHPC will also provide the district administration a 33-seater hydrogen fuel cell bus on pilot bases. 

The bus will be operated by the Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation in the important tourist places of the district. The range of the hydrogen fuel-powered bus would be 200 km. 

The report quotes Rana as saying that after the hydrogen is produced from the solar plant, the remaining electricity supply will be sent to the local grid. 

In the meeting it was also decided that a hydrogen fuel plant will be set up on the land already available with the NHPC. 

The deputy commissioner was also directed to constitute a committee of officers of various departments under the chairmanship of the SDM concerned to identify the suitable site for the project. 

A committee is to be constituted to inspect the land available with the NHPC in different areas of the district on March 15. 

The deputy commissioner also asked all the departments concerned to meet the departmental parameters required for setting up the project. 

It was decided in the meeting that the plant established at IOCL Faridabad would be visited by various departmental and NHPC officials. 

Rana has been quoted as saying that it would be “a matter of pride to establish the first such project in the district.” 

 

Pitch for hydrogen production by natural gas pyrolysis

The Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW),  Delhi-based think-tank is preparing a pitch for the production of hydrogen using natural gas pyrolysis (NGP).

In NGP, natural gas is heated, typically by passing it through a column of extremely hot, molten metal (usually tin or iron). At temperatures of about 1,000 degrees C, the carbon and hydrogen in natural gas split; the hydrogen bubbles up and is captured, while the carbon floats on the metal, which is skimmed and the solid carbon put to industrial uses (graphene, carbon black etc).

In an article the Business Line newspaper quotes Hemant Mallya, Senior Programme Lead, CEEW, as saying that NGP is "a good interim solution" until green hydrogen from water electrolysis becomes economically viable.

It is understood that CEEW would be bringing in a report on NGP shortly. The message of the report is likely to be that NGP is a guilt-free way of using natural gas, as it emits no CO2. 

BASF, the German chemical MNC, says that 3 kg of carbon is produced for every kg of hydrogen.

                                             Image courtesy: BASF

The article also takes note of research work underway at IIT-Madras in NGP, and speaks of the lab-level success achieved by Prof R Viny and Prof R Sarathy, in doing NGP at much lower temperatures, using a method called 'non thermal plasma'.

Comment

While India does not have much natural gas, whatever is available could be run through NGP to produce hydrogen, and perhaps thence to green ammonia. 

India also does keep stumbling upon some natural gas resources here and there, as this report says. All the newly available natural gas could be, by policy, reserved for green hydrogen technologies, like NGP.

Besides, if coal or biomass is converted to methane, such methane, instead of being burnt, could be put into NGP for the production of green hydrogen and carbon.

Sources say that Birla Carbon is thinking of entering NGP, but this has not yet been confirmed with the company. 

ResearchandMarkets comes out with India H2 Fuel Cell market report

ResearchandMarkets.com, the Dublin, Ireland-based market research company, has released a 'India Hydrogen Fuel Cell Market Report', a priced publication.

A press release issued on 21st February says that the country research report on India hydrogen fuel cell market is a customer intelligence and competitive study of the India market. It provides "deep insights into demand forecasts, market trends, and, micro and macro indicators in the India market."

Also, factors that are driving and restraining the hydrogen fuel cell market are highlighted in the study. This is an in-depth business intelligence report based on qualitative and quantitative parameters of the market.

Additionally, the 40-page report provides readers with market insights and detailed analysis of market segments to possible micro levels. The companies and dealers/distributors profiled in the report include manufacturers & suppliers of hydrogen fuel cell market in India.

The report provides technology-wise details, dealing as it does with several types of fuel cell technologies, such a phosphoric acid fuel cells, PEM, SOFC, Direct Methanol Fuel Cells and Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells. It also discusses fuel cells from the point of view of applications, such as automotive, power storage and material handling. 

Ohmium's 2nd research partnership, with CSIR-CECRI

It is Ohmium's second research sponsorship, after the one with IIT-M Research Park, in January 2022.

US-headquartered Ohmium International, which is into PEM electrolysers for green hydrogen production, has announced that it would sponsor “research into new material to support the next generation electrolyzer technology” at the Central ElectroChemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, which is one of the research laboratories of the government of India’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). 

A press release issued by Ohmium today said that the collaboration began on February 4; the sponsorship is for a duration of three years. 

The release quotes Dr. Chockkalingam Karuppiah, Chief Technology Officer, Ohmium, as saying that the sponsorship would enable Ohhium "to leverage CECRI’s deep expertise and resources, which will benefit both our current and the next generation technology.” 

Dr. Kalaiselvi, Director, CSIR-CECRI, says in the release that the research would "focus on material innovation, deployable as sustainable solution provider.” 

Ohmium, which has a plant in Bengaluru, is the only electrolyzer manufacturer in India and the Bengaluru plant is the only manufacturing facility the company has anywhere in the world. 

This Ohmium’s second research sponsorship in India. In January, the company had announced a similar agreement with the IIT Madras Research Park “to accelerate Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer performance enhancements.” 

 

Emphasis on green ammonia hailed

An article in the Business Line newspaper has hailed the hyphenation of green ammonia with green hydrogen in the first tranch of the Green Hydrogen policy, announced on Feb 17 by the Union Power Minister, Mr R K Singh.

The article is by far the only one that has taken due note of the government's emphasis on green ammonia; all other newspapers and media have focused on G-H2, completely ignoring green ammonia.

The article argues that a green ammonia unit linked to green hydrogen, provides a ready market for G-H2. Ammonia is much easier to store and transport and, though its primary use is in the manufacture of fertilizers, it has wide and multiple applications.

Atmanirbhar possibility now

The article further notes that till date India had no option but to import, because ammonia is typically manufactured with natural gas (hydrogen source), and India has very little natural gas.

However, when domestic G-H2 is produced, it provides an alternative source of hydrogen for the Haber-Bosch process, which forces hydrogen and nitrogen to combine, under high temperature (450 Degrees C) and pressure (200 bars). At last, India has a chance to be self-reliant in ammonia and hence in fertilizers. Hence the hyphenation of green ammonia with G-H2.

But really, the green ammonia would be the greenest only if the electricity supplied for the Haber-Bosch process also comes from renewable sources.