NATIONAL HYDROGEN MISSION – Check the Types of Hydrogen, Advantage & Disadvantage

Hello dear aspirants,
We are here with yet another informative blog on the current happenings across the country. In today’s blog we are going to talk about a recent green initiative launched in our country – National Hydrogen Mission.

On the 75^th Independence day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of National Hydrogen Mission (NHM) to make India a global hub of export and production of green hydrogen. The proposal of MHM came first in the budget 2021. The budget allocates Rs.1500 crore for renewable energy development including hydrogen. It is said that green hydrogen will play a crucial role in curbing climate change. 

What is Green hydrogen and why is it being used?

Green Hydrogen is a clean fuel that is generated by the electrolysis of water. It is produced without the release of harmful emissions and thus, will not harm the environment and also reduce carbon emissions. Produced from renewable sources of energy will help India’s energy transition to curb pollution and mitigate climate change.

During the speech on Independence Day Modiji said that-

“This will not only help India to make new progress in the field of energy self-reliance but will also become a new inspiration for clean energy transition all over the world. New opportunities from green growth to the green job are opening up today for our start-ups and youth,” 

Hydrogen has already been explored in transport for heavy vehicles and in the power sector for long term energy storage.  Mass deployment of renewable energy in India helped  to produce electricity cheaper than any other sources of energy. In the same way the deployment of green hydrogen at the lowest cost will help us in a cost leadership position not only to meet our green hydrogen and ammonia demand internally, but also to become a major exporter of green hydrogen in the world.

THE NEED FOR THE MISSION 

As hydrogen is the one of the abundant elements and is cost effective other than being lighter and dense, all the major sectors of transport, steel, chemical, etc will be benefitted as the emission will be reduced and so will the cost. It is also a great source of electricity production for a huge country of vast population like India. Hydrogen is produced from a variety of sources such as natural gas, biomass, nuclear power, solar energy etc. hence, will be a great source for electricity and transportation.

TYPES OF HYDROGEN 

There are 3 types of hydrogen:-

1. Grey Hydrogen – It is the most common type of hydrogen. Created from fossil fuels and releases carbon dioxide which is not captured .The process used to create hydrogen from natural gas is called steam methane reforming (SMR).
2. Blue Hydrogen- Blue hydrogen uses the same process as grey, except this time the carbon is captured and stored. This makes it much more environmentally friendly, but comes with added technical challenges and a big increase in cost.
3. Green Hydrogen – Rather than fossil fuels, green hydrogen is made up from the process of electrolysis and is thus, cost effective and does not emit carbon.The utopian vision of the future is a net-zero world where all our electricity and fuel is produced by emission-free sources. If that process is powered by a renewable energy source, such as wind or solar power, then the hydrogen is referred to as being green.

Advantages of Green Hydrogen –

1. Carbon – free that uses renewable sources of energy
2. Other forms of renewable energy cannot be stored but green hydrogen is easy to store.
3. It is transported by different means that include: compressed cylinders or tankers, pipelines, and blending with natural gas. 
4. Also, can be used for domestic purposes such as cooling, heating and operating electrical appliances. 

Disadvantages of Green hydrogen 

1. The initial cost of setting up the electrolysis process can be expensive.
2. When stored in compressed form it can be difficult to store. 
3. It is a colorless gas. It can be dangerous when leaking as it cannot be detected. Installation of sensors is thus important which can be a little too expensive.

Thus, we can conclude that green hydrogen is a crucial element for the advantages it holds. It is a pollution free fuel and thus can be useful for production in various industries. 

India has envisioned the production and exportation of greenhouse gases to protect climate change and nature and become a global hub of green hydrogen.

With this we have come to the end of this blog. We hope you found the blog informative and helpful. Stay tuned with us for more such content.