Government has approved Green Hydrogen Mission which aims to build capacity for production, utilization and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives so as to help India become energy independent and decarbonise economy towards mitigation of climate change.
The initial outlay for the Mission will is Rs.19,744 crore (equivalent to over $ 2 billion).
The production capacity is expected to rise to 5 MMT (Million Metric Tonne) per annum by 2030 which should reduce cost of petroleum imports by about $12 billion and carbon emission by 50 MMT per annum.
Hydrogen is a clean source of energy, Green Hydrogen the cleanest. It has potential to become pillar of energy security in future.
The key concept in production of Green Hydrogen is hydrolysis (breakdown) of water (H2O) to obtain hydrogen (H2) which is used as fuel.
2 H2O → 2 H2 + O2
Green Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water, only hydrogen and oxygen are produced. Hydrogen is used as fuel while oxygen is released in the atmosphere with no adverse impact. Electrolysis is powered by renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar. Called green because it is cleanest as no CO2 produced or released in the atmosphere.
Yellow Hydrogen: Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water (like green) that uses solar energy to power electrolysis. Like green, no CO2 produced or released in the atmosphere.
Pink Hydrogen: Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water (like green) that uses nuclear energy to power electrolysis. Like green, no CO2 produced or released in the atmosphere.
Blue Hydrogen: In this case, hydrogen is obtained by breaking natural gas. CO2 is formed as bye-product which is duly captured and not released in the atmosphere.
Grey Hydrogen: Like blue hydrogen, grey hydrogen is produced by splitting natural gas but bye-product CO2 is not captured and released in the atmosphere, (OR, natural gas is blended with pure hydrogen which reduces carbon emission to the extent of blending). Grey hydrogen has been used for some time.
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