Can make hydrogen out of wastewater, biomass, says Gadkari

Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari at Moneycontrol Policy Next summit in New Delhi.

Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has suggested extracting hydrogen from treated water instead of exploiting fresh sources, as the government doubles down on promoting the use of clean and renewable energy sources.

Addressing the inaugural Moneycontrol Policy Next - The Rs 10 Trillion Infra Push summit in New Delhi on March 23, the minister said sludge could be converted into clean treated water to produce green hydrogen, which needs renewable energy to power it.

"We need to have private-public investment in solid and liquid waste management. If that happens wastewater and biomass can be used to produce hydrogen," Gadkari said.

He cited the example of the holy city of Mathura where 80 MLD of sludge is converted into clean water and supplied to Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for use in its refinery. Refineries need a lot of water as they produce grey hydrogen in large quantities.

"The project was in hybrid annuity – 40 percent was grant in aid from the government and 60 percent from the investor. Now clean water is given to IOCL and the company is getting Rs 20 crore as royalty for that from IOCL. So, such things are economically viable," he said.

In the automobile sector, Tata and Ashok Leyland had launched ICE engine trucks on hydrogen for pilot projects, he said.

"Hydrogen is the fuel for the future. It is used in chemical, pharmaceutical and steel industries to name a few and it can be used in railways, truck transport and even aviation," he said.

The union minister, however, did point to the cost coming in the way of the green hydrogen push. "Hydrogen by using electrolyser is costly. One kilo of hydrogen needs 50 units of power. By using solar power with electrolyser we can get green hydrogen but if we use biomass, we can produce hydrogen even without using electricity," Gadkari said.

Also read: Lithium find in J&K will help reduce cost of EVs, says Nitin Gadkari

The government’s Green Hydrogen Mission says that India will develop a green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 million tonnes (MT) per annum with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 gigawatts (GW) in the country by 2030.

This will require more than Rs 8 lakh crore of investments and is expected to cumulatively cut down fossil fuel imports by over Rs 1 lakh crore and abatement of nearly 50 MT of annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Of the Rs 19,744-crore outlay announced for the Green Hydrogen Mission on January 4, around Rs 17,490 crore will be towards incentives for the production of green hydrogen and electrolysers.