State-run oil majors spearheading R&D on hydrogen

India’s national hydrogen mission includes the development of hydrogen as a fuel for transportation. Toward that objective, state-run oil and gas companies are engaged in a number of projects, including the blending of hydrogen with compressed natural gas for use as a transportation fuel, and the use of green hydrogen for fuel-cell-based mobility.

August 9, 2022 Uma Gupta

Hydrogen bus under Oil India's startup program

Image: Oil India

State-owned oil and gas companies in India have launched a number of research and development (R&D) initiatives related to hydrogen.

They have formed a hydrogen corpus fund to fund R&D related to multiple as of hydrogen, including its application as an automotive fuel, according to a recent statement by union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Rameswar Teli, in the upper house of parliament (Rajya Sabha). Oil and gas companies have also launched R&D projects to use green hydrogen for fuel cell-based mobility.

In addition, the government is supporting R&D and technology demonstration projects at academic institutions. Some of these projects are hydrogen fuel-based two-wheelers, developed and demonstrated by Banaras Hindu University, and hydrogen fuel-based three-wheelers developed and demonstrated by Banaras Hindu University, IIT Delhi and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Indian Oil has developed a compact reforming process to produce hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas (H-CNG) as a fuel for buses in Delhi. As part of a joint study with Indraprastha Gas Ltd., it installed its compact reformer plant at Delhi Transport Corp.’s Rajghat bus depot and carried out a six-month trial to run 50 gas-powered buses on the blended fuel.

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