The trial run of Hydrogen-blended CNG (H-CNG) powered city buses will be launched in the national capital on Tuesday, 20 October. It will be formally launched by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
“Dharmendra Pradhan will inaugurate a compact reformer plant set up by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IndianOil) at Rajghat Bus Depot-I of the DTC," the Indian Oil Corporation said in a statement on Friday, reported IANS.
“IndianOil’s R&D Centre had developed a patented compact reforming process for H-CNG production directly from natural gas. The technology has been successfully proved for its benefits concerning emissions, mileage and durability through extensive studies at a demonstration unit installed at its Faridabad campus,” the statement read.
The statement further read: "Hon'ble Supreme Court had taken cognisance of IndianOil's patented technology and its likely benefits and had advised IndianOil and the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MOP&NG) to conduct trials using 18 per cent H-CNG fuel on 50 buses in Delhi.”
WHAT IS H-CNG?
Hydrogen as a resource is considered to be the most promising fuel for the automotive sector. Being number one on the periodic table, it is one of the most combustible as well. Not something to be played around with.
It is a mix of hydrogen and CNG. This fuel contains 18 percent of hydrogen while the rest of it is compressed natural gas. The Hydrogen is extracted from methane and is blended with CNG to create a gas, which has far fewer carbon emissions than CNG.
Apart from the fact that H-CNG is a cleaner source of fuel, it is also more powerful and offers more mileage. Almost 4-5 percent higher.
H-CNG will be used to run 50 buses as part of a pilot project, for which dispensing infrastructure would be installed at one depot.
(With inputs from IANS)
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