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Fuel cells to replace diesel sets soon
Hyderabad, Feb 09: The time for noisy polluting diesel generating sets for back-up power in homes and offices is running out.
Hyderabad, Feb 09: The time for noisy polluting diesel generating sets for back-up power in homes and offices is running out.
"The day is not far when these will be replaced by fuel cells that are quiet, efficient and absolutely clean,” says Paul Ratnasamy, of the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune. The first home-made 5-kilowat fuel cell will be ready for demonstration in June, according to Ratnasamy, who was a participant at the Indo-German conference on catalysis organised by the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology here.
Ratnasamy said that the Indian fuel cell power pack is the result of a Rs 60 million national programme launched by the council of scientific and industrial research only 18 months ago. The NCL, Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited, the South India Petrochemical Corporation and Kirloskar Engineering Company are all partners in the project.
A fuel cell uses a catalyst to extract Hydrogen from feedstock like LPG or natural gas and turns the hydrogen gas directly into electricity. The only byproduct is water.
Existing catalysts operate at high temperature and cannot tolerate too much sulphur in feedstock. But a new catalyst developed by NCL has given a shot in the arm to the Indian fuel cell project.
Bureau Report
"The day is not far when these will be replaced by fuel cells that are quiet, efficient and absolutely clean,” says Paul Ratnasamy, of the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune. The first home-made 5-kilowat fuel cell will be ready for demonstration in June, according to Ratnasamy, who was a participant at the Indo-German conference on catalysis organised by the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology here.
Ratnasamy said that the Indian fuel cell power pack is the result of a Rs 60 million national programme launched by the council of scientific and industrial research only 18 months ago. The NCL, Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited, the South India Petrochemical Corporation and Kirloskar Engineering Company are all partners in the project.
A fuel cell uses a catalyst to extract Hydrogen from feedstock like LPG or natural gas and turns the hydrogen gas directly into electricity. The only byproduct is water.
Existing catalysts operate at high temperature and cannot tolerate too much sulphur in feedstock. But a new catalyst developed by NCL has given a shot in the arm to the Indian fuel cell project.
Bureau Report