Delhi likely get its greener fuel, better than CNG; find out for more

The Capital city would soon have a cleaner option for the fuel than the compressed natural gas (CNG). Later this month, the testing for the other alternative- H-CNG (hydrogen-CNG) will begin.

The Supreme Court has directed the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and the Union government to opt for hydrogen-CNG as an alternative fuel option, following a report submitted by the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA). The report stated that the use of hydrogen-CNG can reduce the CO and other harmful emissions by 70%.

The Apex court has ordered 50 buses to test H-CNG as the fueal and a deadline of one year has been alloted for carrying out this test. According to IOC, the testing will begin later this month, after they are alloted the bus depot.

S S V Kumar, director, Indian Oil Corporation, R&D centre, said, “There can be a 70% reduction in carbon monoxide and the icing on the cake is that this can give 3 to 4% fuel economy improvement as well. Our studies indicated that there is no reduction in NOx however, but with certain changes, that too can be achieved.” He spoke at the two-day conclave on clean and low carbon mobility by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), as cited by Times of India.

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According to TOI, Kumar also added that, “hydrogen is stored separately and it is mixed with CNG and then dispensed directly to the bus. The dispensing infrastructure remains the same so there is no additional cost in that regard. Our demand to the Supreme court was to provide us with 50 buses of BS IV vintage and a bus depot so we can scale up out trials and demonstrate to the world that this can be replicated at a much higher level.”

According to the report, the findings to the Supreme Court after the buses are tested for CO, HC, NOx and PM emissions. IOC said that they earlier tested this in Pune which was corroborated by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and the per kilometer cost escalation will be just Rs 0.72 for the mixture.