Indian Oil to build India's 1st green hydrogen plant
State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will build India’s first green hydrogen plant at its Mathura refinery located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, it said on July 23.
"Mathura has been selected because of its proximity to TTZ (Taj Trapezium Zone). As we see it, the green hydrogen will replace carbon-emitting fuels used in the refinery to process crude oil into value-added products such as petrol and diesel,” IOC CEO Shrikant Madhav Vaidya said.
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“Moreover, we have got several expansion plans down the line which are already approved. We will not have a captive power plant and will utilise power from the grid, preferably green power. This will help decarbonise some part of the manufacturing,” he added.
Vaidya said there is a fresh momentum for scaling up hydrogen use across sectors globally. He added that IOC’s hydrogen CNG (HCNG) pilot project in Delhi, wherein the company converted 50 CNG buses to run on HCNG, has revealed significant benefits in reducing exhaust emissions and improving the fuel economy.
IOC last month awarded Tata Motors a tender of 15 hydrogen-based proton exchange membrane fuel cell buses. In addition to supplying the buses to the Research & Development Centre of IOC, Tata Motors will also collaborate with them to undertake R&D projects and collectively study further the potential of fuel cell technology for commercial vehicles.
Vaidya said that IOC recently shared a statement of intent with the Norwegian company Greenstat to set up a centre of excellence on hydrogen in India to accelerate a gradual transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.
“We also intend to seed hydrogen mobility by commoditising the surplus quantities of hydrogen available at the Gujarat refinery with a hydrogen dispensing facility for fuel cell electric vehicles,” he said. “Initially, this facility will be refuelling 25 buses/day with a ramp-up capability to refuel 75 fuel cell buses/day. The project is expected to be operational soon.”