New Delhi: After 25 years of nurturing the dream of a clean, green and hopefully inexpensive fuel, IIT-Delhi professor L M Das has developed an alternative to petrol and diesel – a technology where Hydrogen gas can be used as an automobile fuel.
“Hydrogen can be made from both renewable and non-renewable sources.
It’s made from water. On combustion, it gives back water. The noxious
emission from burning petroleum products is almost completely absent
here,” the Professor of the Centre for Energy Studies at IIT Delhi said
to Jaimon Joseph of CNN-IBN.
“As conventional engines are not developed or designed to burn the
highly explosive gas, hydrogen, Professor Das developed a special
electronic ignition system that feeds the engine tiny quantities of gas.
After testing it for years in labs like the one at IIT Delhi, the
professor took it on road this year,” the CNN-IBN report says.
The result of this professor’s years of hard work is exhibited daily
around the massive Pragati Maidan in Delhi where fifteen such three
wheelers have been safely ferrying passengers for months now. Just one
kilogram of gas is enough for 70 km.
"Abroad, they concentrate on fuel cells. But in India, internal
combustion engines have already been operated on CNG. So graduating from
CNG to hydrogen would be easier," said Professor Das.
An international consortium has agreed to take his innovative work
forward and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation has
granted a $500 Million fund for his project. The professor has won an
award from Lockheed Martin and India's Department of Science and
Technology this year.
However, the major challenge to the project is that making the hydrogen
that drives the machine is still expensive. “Mahindra is running a
pilot project in Delhi and if that's successful, you could see one of
these vehicles on a street near you,” the report says.
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