India, New Delhi
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., the flagship national company in the
downstream petroleum sector, has launched India’s first Hydrogen-CNG
(HCNG) dispensing station at its R&D Centre at Faridabad near
Delhi. The commissioning of the pilot HCNG dispensing station marks a
new milestone in India’s quest for energy security through harnessing
alternative fuels.
The HCNG dispensing station was inaugurated by Shri Mani Shankar
Aiyar, Hon Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and
Panchayati Raj, at IndianOil’s R&D Centre at Faridabad on Sunday.
IndianOil has undertaken several strategic initiatives for green energy
options like the ethanol-blended petrol programme, bio-diesel from
non-edible oils, and research into Hydrogen energy. Having been
nominated as the nodal agency of the hydrocarbon sector for ushering in
Hydrogen energy into the country, IndianOil’s R&D Centre has drawn
up a concrete roadmap to take the country towards a Hydrogen-fuelled
economy.
The commissioning of the pilot dispensing station will provide the
Hydrogen implementation team at IndianOil’s R&D Centre a hands-on
experience with onsite Hydrogen production, storage, distribution and
supply. The team will study the performance and emission
characteristics of the vehicles operating from 5% – 30% Hydrogen
blended with CNG and stored onboard at 200 bar.
IndianOil’s R&D, in coordination with vehicle manufacturers, will
take up lab scale development of the HCNG engines, optimising them for
emission reductions using existing storage infrastructure onboard. The
emission and performance testing of these vehicles will be done at
IndianOil’s R&D Centre. After optimising the engine and HCNG blend
ratio in labs, the manufacturers will assess the changes in vehicles
and decide on the target number of buses and three-wheelers for
demonstration. A small fleet (comprising a mix of LCVs and
three-wheelers) will be operated on optimised ratio of Hydrogen blended
with CNG. The fuelling facilities will also be set up at two locations
in Delhi apart from IndianOil’s R&D Centre.
Some of the projects identified by the Hydrogen implementation team led
by IndianOil R&D include development of Hydrogen-powered
three-wheeler and bus engines in association with SIAM (Society of
Indian Automobile Manufacturers), conversion of CNG three-wheelers and
buses to HCNG mixture, and development of Hydrogen conversion kit for
portable gensets. Joining with the National Hydrogen Energy Board
(NHEB), the team aims to achieve usage of 30% HCNG in engines by
2005-07 and neat Hydrogen by 2008-10.
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