India’s ‘Nett Zero’ Mission: A first-of-its-kind effort on the national level was recently organised with the goal of evaluating the issues and solutions related to manufacturing hydrogen and their impact on achieving net zero status in India. Anthronik held a two-day conference on “Nett Zero” with a specific focus on the problems and solutions towards creating Green Hydrogen, with the assistance of FITT-IIT Delhi and the Technology Development Board GOI.
Under the direction of the Ministry of Oil, Petroleum and Natural Gas, the event took place at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on the 10th and 11th of August. Legends in the field presented and discussed the idea of Nett Zero, its effects, and how it directly relates to global carbon footprints during the event.
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Experts on India’s ‘Nett Zero’ mission
Dr. VK Saraswat, Member Technical Niti Ayog and Technical Advisor to PMO, spoke at the event and emphasised the urgent need to address the reduction of carbon footprints, emphasising that the usage of hydrogen is one such straightforward solution. In addition, Dr. Saraswat discussed the technical details of creating “Clean Hydrogen.” The term “Green Hydrogen” is a misnomer because it doesn’t exist in its current form anywhere in the world, and every form of hydrogen leaves a carbon imprint.
He then explained the necessity to concentrate on the availability of natural resources for power and water, both of which would remain obstacles to be overcome if we are to create 5 MMT of clean hydrogen by 2030. Every producing unit should concentrate on SMRs (Small Modular Reactors) for power and heat as an achievable solution to power requirements for electricity and heat without adding extra load to the existing national grid, as India is already experiencing a demand-to-supply shortage to the tune of 2.7%. SMRs are not only feasible but also easily achievable due to locally available natural resources and global sources.
Budget
While several nations have begun to concentrate on this area, India has to get going more quickly. The same would lower the cost of hydrogen production and make contract purchases by end users appealing.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Prof. Malhotra, President of the Hydrogen Association of India and Adjunct Professor of Energy Studies at IIT Delhi, said, “We not only need to focus on producing Clean Hydrogen to the tune of 5MMT, but we should also look at an additional 3MMT approximately by 2030, considering the fast-paced industrial growth the nation is working on.” Additionally, he emphasised the need to work much harder on the industry-academia interface, which is still mostly just lip service outside of a few companies.
The Rs 400 Crore granted by the Ministry of Finance for research on developing green hydrogen, according to Shri Rajesh Pathak, Secretary Technology Development Board-Ministry of Science and Technology, is way too little and likely need a relook. Additionally, he noted that the Technology Development Board is already assisting Level 6, Level 7, and other SMEs as well as other manufacturers in obtaining the necessary support components for the creation of Clean Hydrogen.
The Research
The Pyrolysis of Methane, which is already a by-product of the coal industry and can easily be obtained by refineries that can create clean Hydrogen at $1.5/Kg, even with carbon capture technology added to the system, was given by Prof. KK Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee. This is not only feasible in the smallest amount of time, but it is also a desirable alternative for buyers.
Similar to Dr. Saraswat, he said that “Green Hydrogen should not be considered as Hydrogen with Zero Carbon Footprints, rather every colour code should indicate the maximum level of Carbon Footprints it can be allowed to generate.” India should take the lead on this Colour Indexing, at the very least in our National Standards, in the lack of any Global Standards.
Prof. Ramkrishna Sonde of the Chemical Engineering Department at IIT Delhi discussed how the ultimate goal of all techniques should be to reduce carbon footprints in conjunction with other initiatives, and that this should be the primary focus. He also suggested that India might have a large indigenous methane resource that could be exploited to produce clean hydrogen using carbon capture technology in addition to our current thermal power facilities.
Contribution of IIT Delhi in Advancing India’s ‘Nett Zero’ mission
Prof. Sukumar Mishra from the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Delhi lectured on how to employ renewable energy sources to produce hydrogen as well as the input and electromechanical systems needed by the sector. Additionally, he described the power systems and transportation methods that would be used to store and move hydrogen efficiently.
Dr. SS Bhattacharyya, Technical Advisor and Consultant to FITT-IIT Delhi and Anthronik, discussed how the industry was buying systems from vendors and investing significant resources without first assessing their efficacy in other countries or areas. He elaborated on the need for the industry to perform due diligence on the matter at the RFQ level, noting further that India has been a pioneer in many technologies, including space research, defence, PPE kits, and others. As a result, he said, we should become global leaders who show the way rather than imitating other countries since every country has its own internal dynamics and methodology. Additionally, he discussed the idea of solid-state hydrogen generation, which may represent the best way to produce hydrogen at room temperature from non-hazardous inputs in the future for both India’s industry and transportation. Additionally, he noted that 21 countries are already implementing it, some of which are already well along in the process of creating systems that are suitable for use in the industry; India is one of the few developed countries that has not taken note of this strategy.
Dr. Anil Wali, CEO of BioCyTih-Bits Pilani, also spoke on the broadcast about fostering and supporting entrepreneurs who would ultimately help to facilitate the supply of domestic components while moving away from international suppliers. Resources won’t be an issue, according to Dr. Wali, and his organisation is eager to assess and support any such projects. Dr. Bhattacharyya oversaw the programme under the direction of Drs. Swarnim Dixit and Rahul Deo, directors of Anthronik.
