New tech to generate hydrogen from agricultural residue developed

Team L&M

Indian researchers have developed a unique technology for direct generation of Hydrogen from agricultural residue. A team of researchers from Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), GOI, in collaboration with Sentient labs of KPIT Technologies, have developed this technology at lab-scale to extract hydrogen from agricultural residues.

Dr SS Dagar and Pranav Kshirsagar from MACS-ARI and Kaustubh Pathak from KPIT-Sentient, contributed significantly towards the development of the process.

This innovation by Indian researchers can promote eco-friendly hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles by overcoming the challenge of hydrogen availability.

“Our technology is 25 per cent more efficient as compared to conventional anaerobic digestion processes used today. The two-stage process eliminates the pre-treatment of biomass, thus making the process economical and environment friendly. This process generates a digestate that is rich in nutrients which can be used as an organic fertiliser,” says Dr Prashant Dhakephalkar, Director of the ARI.

The process of generation of hydrogen fuel comprises the use of a specially-developed microbial consortium that facilitates biodegradation of cellulose- and hemicellulose-rich agricultural residues, such as biomass of paddy, wheat, or maize, without thermo-chemical or enzymatic pre-treatment. The process generates hydrogen in the first stage and methane in the second. The methane generated in the process can also be used to generate additional hydrogen.

“This breakthrough of generating hydrogen from unutilized agricultural residue will help us to become self-reliant on energy resources. It will also add a major stream of revenue to the farmer community,” said Ravi Pandit, Chairman, Sentient Labs.

An Indian Patent application has been filed to protect the IPR.

India has set a target of 60 per cent renewable energy (about 450 GW) by 2030, and researchers all over the world are working towards renewable energy solutions which should be sustainable with a limited carbon footprint. One of the most economical ways to achieve this is to produce hydrogen from a cheap, abundant, and renewable source like agricultural waste, which otherwise also faces a great challenge for disposal.