I know a lot of material has been posted over the past fewmonths regarding Hydrogen, and I admit I haven't read all of it, but I wasdoing some research of my own and so I hope this isn't a repost:
Article#1
Thefollowing article is of high interest (Sep, 2018):https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/delhi-to-roll-out-hydrogen-enriched-cng-buses-next-year/story-YlALchzg30J6hYAa12RJmN.html
Key takeaway #1:
"Delhi will be the first city in India to roll outhydrogen-enriched CNG (HCNG) buses for public transport next year onwards."
My Interpretation: Hythane bus trials are100% coming to New Delhi. Seems the trials are for 5 buses beginning nextmonth, and the entire fleet consists of 5,500 buses.
Key takeaway #2:
"On July 2, the Supreme Court had asked the Delhi government to explorethe feasibility of introducing ‘zero emission’ and cost effective hydrogen-runpublic transport buses instead of procuring electric buses for the city."
My Interpretation: Supreme Court did haveproceedings with Indian Oil to make this happen.
Here is the actual supreme court transcript:
http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/Hydrogen_fuel_cell_buses_Supreme_Court_Order_28-Nov-2018.pdf
Also from the transcript:"Itis stated in the affidavit that the HCNG Project is scheduled to be operationalby 31st July, 2019 and the trial on buses with HCNG is likely to beginin August, 2019. It is further stated that the trial will go on for sixmonths and is expected to be completed by February, 2020. In other words, theIndian Oil Corporation Limited is of the view that it may be possible tointroduce HCNG buses by some time in February, 2020."
Article #2
From this article: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/cng-to-hydrogen-cng-why-switch-and-how-5278356/
Key takeaway #1:
"The Environment Pollution Preventionand Control Authority (EPCA) recently recommended to the Supreme Court thatDelhi’s buses switch to H-CNG within the next two or three years."
My Interpretation: We know EPCA has put pressureon the SC by recommending Hythane.
Key takeaway #2:
The actual article from EPCA can be found here:
http://www.epca.org.in/EPCA-Reports1999-1917/report88-hydrogen-buses.pdf
Fromthe last page:"Inthis case, EPCA would recommend the following directions: 1. MoPNG/IOCL R&DCentre with IGL and Delhi transport department be directed to give a plan foruse of H-CNG in the entire bus fleet of the city, with a phased in schedule(including demonstration and tests to reduce NOx emissions). This scheduleshould provide for all steps to be taken within a period of 2-3 years. Theobjective should be to bring in H-CNG with NOx controls for entire publictransport system of buses by 2020- 2021."
My Interpretation: Seems to me the SC is acting on this recommendation and gettingIndian Oil to conduct said trials.
Now for the relationship with EDE:
#1: In the third quarter activities report, EDE said:
"Additionally, in India, extreme air pollutionin Delhi and other cities is causing great concern, which has resulted in theIndian Supreme Court having mandated that the 10,000 strong, natural gasfuelled bus fleet in Delhi, be converted to run on a hydrogen based fuel, thatin the short term is focusing on converting these buses to operate on Hythane®.This in turn has resulted in enquiries being received in relation to Eden’svarious hydrogen capabilities."
My Interpretation: Though the wording in the HTarticle above is "Supreme Court had ASKED the Delhi government", courtsdo not ask, they issue orders. Still, I do not read it asSC mandating the entire fleet be converted, but what is clearis Indian Oil has been asked/told to conduct trials. So, I find EDE'sstatement half true. What's also not clear is where the 10,000 figure has comefrom. The articles suggest the fleet size is 5,500.
#2: In the third quarter activities report, EDE also said:
"During this period, Eden built a hydrogenelectrolyser and an operating Hythane® station for Indian Oil near the NewDelhi airport (and which was still operating until recently), and developedHythane® bus engines with Ashok Leyland, the largest Indian busmanufacturer."My Interpretation: Until recently?? Why didthe station stop operating? EDE must answer this question.
#3: Now consider the following quote from the HTarticle above:
To convert all of Delhi’s existing 5,500 CNGbus fleet to this fuel, Kumar said, the government will require 400 tonnes ofHCNG on a daily basis and 48 compact steam methane reforming (SMR) units. AnSMR is the unit that produces hydrogen for the HCNG fuel. We have alreadyfinalised the design of the compact SMR unit. At the depot, the pump will justhave another section of HCNG fuel, apart from the CNG to dispense the fuel intothe bus. We would need six months to set up the depot and then trial will begin,”Kumar said.My Interpretation: SMR technology is the current process for Hydrogenproduction, it is very inefficient, requires a large amount of energy and mostimportantly produces a large quantity of carbon monoxide and some carbondioxide. This is a major drawback of this process. The goal is to bezero-emissions, and it doesn't matter if the emissions are coming duringproduction or from the cars. This is where EDEs carbon monoxide/dioxide freehydrogen production process has a clear shot at the money, and I think this isthe enquiries they have been receiving, as stated in the Q3 quote above, butI'm cautious about whether this will go ahead or not.
TLDR:+ Supreme Court and EPCA are pushing forHythane buses in New Delhi
+ Indian Oil is conducing trials, beginning soon (next month)
- Why did EDE's Hythane station stopoperating??????
? Indian Oil's trial is supposedlyusing SMR for producing Hydrogen - will they opt to convert to EDE'stechnology??????????
DYOR.
(20min delay)