Green Hydrogen: Have We Found A Replacement For Conventional Fuel?

The Paris Climate Change accord saw a global consensus to curb the rising global temperatures and reduce greenhouse gas. This summit gave us the primary goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and limiting global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Vast strides must be made in the right direction world over to achieve this goal. Switching to Hydrogen based fuel cells, more popularly known as green hydrogen is a significant step along this trajectory. 

The technology, of using Hydrogen instead of coal, will derive hydrogen from water (H2O) through electrolysis, that is, splitting water into its component parts of Hydrogen and Oxygen. This will then be compressed, liquified and stored in large containers, which can be transported world over via ships, pipelines and cryogenic liquid hydrogen trucks for domestic and industrial use. 

While this process seems straight forward, there are multiple challenges which we must look into:

• Firstly, Hydrogen is a highly explosive gas. Any mishandling on the part of the producer or consumer can lead to loss of human life, pipeline explosion and infrastructure damage to name a few issues.
•  Secondly, Hydrogen needs to be transported at a freezing temperature of minus 253 degree Celsius. This is difficult to achieve across distances, given the varied temperature, altitude and topography pipelines have to traverse. 
• Thirdly, producing hydrogen will require vast amount of energy, which will invariably be derived from fossil fuels. This defeats the purpose of phasing out non-renewable energy sources by 2050, which has raised questions over hydrogen’s green credentials. 
• The other major hurdle is that the vehicles using hydrogen based cells are  currently very expensive and not easy to manufacture.
• This also brings us to the question of making liquid hydrogen economically viable at par with coal, which stands at $1.5 per kilogram.
•  Lastly, fuel dispensing pumps are scarce and will require a vast infrastructure overhaul across the country. This is already being experienced 

Despite these hiccups, several governments across the globe, along with oil and gas companies are not holding back from financing this technology. The last 10 months drew an investment of $150 billion in this field the world over. Countries like USA, China, and Germany are already using Hydrogen powered buses. Japan had planned to phase out fossil fuel buses and only use Hydrogen cells in turn, before the 2020 Olympics were cancelled. Norway is also proactive in using Hydrogen.

India is supporting projects that support the usage of this technology. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, has been providing oversight on various projects in academic institutions, laboratories and industries. Also, The Ministry of Science and Technology has supported two networked centres on hydrogen storage led by IIT Bombay and Nonferrous Materials Technology Development Centre, Hyderabad. A Hydrogen fuel cell based bus was also launched by TATA Motors in collaboration with Indian Space Research Organisations (ISRO) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL). While we have individual industries taking interest in this technology, a lot is left to be desired on the legal front. 

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH)  has recently notified Motor Vehicle Rules, 2020. This act notifies requirements for safety of vehicles run on hydrogen fuel cells, which are at par with international standards. MoRTH has also issued standards for Hydrogen Enriched Compressed Natural Gas (H-CNG) for use of 18% mix of Hydrogen in vehicles. The objective is to promote environment friendly and energy efficient fuel. 

The government is taking a lot of positive steps to play its part in reduction of global carbon emission, but a lot is to be done on the technological, infrastructure and legal front.