Innovative tech from IISc-Bangalore converts biomass into hydrogen

BENGALURU: Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru have developed a new technology, a renewable source of energy that will produce hydrogen from organic matter. The technology involves two steps.

The first step is the conversion of biomass into syngas, a hydrogen-rich fuel gas mixture, in a novel reactor using oxygen and steam. In the second step, pure hydrogen is produced from syngas using an indigenously developed low-pressure gas separation unit.

Hydrogen is mostly obtained from fossil fuels synthesised through the steam methane reforming process, said S Dasappa, professor at the IISC Center for Sustainable Technologies and Chair of the Interdisciplinary Center for Energy Research, NIE reported.

Although only 60 grams of hydrogen are present in one kilogram of biomass, this process produces 100 grams of hydrogen from one kilogram of biomass. This is because, in this process, hydrogen-containing vapour participates in both homogeneous and heterogeneous reactions, Dasappa said. The production is carbon negative.

The technology also falls under the National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap, an initiative of the central government aimed at promoting the use of hydrogen as a fuel, he added. Green hydrogen can be used in steel to decarbonise steel