Page 160 - CW E-Magazine (10-6-2025)
P. 160

Special Report


       IIT BOMBAY ROUNDTABLE
       Exploring viability, incentives, and pilot models for

       green hydrogen adoption in India’s chemical industry


            ecently the  Sustainability Hub   Burns  & McDonell, CBR Energy,   RAHUL NABAR
            at IIT Bombay (Research Hub    J&K Energy, John Cockrell,  L&T,   SANJAY MAHAJANI
       Rfor  Green  Energy  and  Sustain-  Praj, Pune Hydrogen  Valley,    Department of Chemical Engineering,
       ability, GESH https://www.geshiitb.  Thyssenkrupp Nucera, Waree, Worley.  IIT Bombay
       in/) organized a roundtable discussion      Hydrogen consumers from the   E-mail: rahul.nabar@iitb.ac.in
       on  Green  Hydrogen  specifi cally  tar-  chemicals sector – e.g., Aarti Indus-
       geting the chemicals sector. The event   tries, Alkyl Amines, Eternis, GAIL,   hydrogenation, unlike in trans-
       was organized jointly with the Mumbai   Godrej,  HPCL, Ion Exchange,   port (where electric vehicles, EVs,
       Region Chapter of the Indian Institute   Vinati Organics.             compete).
       of  Chemical  Engineers.  We  provide      Experts, think tanks and consult-     Right project  scale: Current green
       here a brief summary  of the discus-  ing  fi rms  with  a  practice  in  the   hydrogen projects (~10-50  MW)
       sions.  A more detailed whitepaper  on   green hydrogen area – e.g., AMAI,   match chemical plant needs.
       the topic will be published shortly.   CEEW,  EY-Parthenon,  IESA,     High grey hydrogen prices: Smaller
                                           KPMG, TERI.                       producers (typically using methanol
       Setting the context: Green hydrogen                                   reforming) pay Rs. 300-450/kg for
       for chemicals – Why now?            The Indian Chemical  Council and   delivered hydrogen – making green
          Despite  signifi cant  attention  to   the Ministry of New and Renewable   hydrogen  nearly competitive  with-
       green hydrogen  in sectors like  steel,   Energy  also participated along with   out large subsidies.
       refi ning,  and  transport,  the  chemical   CSIR-NCL, Pune.           Existing infrastructure:  Hydrogen
       industry – both commodity and specialty –                             use is well-established;  no new
       has received little focus.  Yet, this   Why chemicals are a prime candi-  permits or infrastructure is needed.
       sector already consumes large volumes   date for early green H  adoption
                                                           2
       of grey hydrogen.  This roundtable   Globally around 100-mt of hydro-  It makes strategic sense to replace
       aimed to examine whether green hydro-  gen are consumed annually and per-  existing  grey hydrogen uses with
       gen is now viable for chemical applica-  haps 6-mt in India. Almost all of this  green  before  stimulating entirely new
       tions, and what incentives or policies   hydrogen is grey and the corresponding  applications.
       might accelerate adoption.        carbon dioxide (CO ) emissions would
                                                         2
                                         exceed 1 Gigaton per year.       The business case for switching from
          The participants in the Round-                                  grey to green hydrogen
       table Discussion were carefully invited   The chemical sector is particularly   A switch to green hydrogen would
       broadly to present three distinct   suited for early adoption of green  be viable for certain  sub-segments of
       perspectives:                     hydrogen for multiple reasons:   the  chemical  sector  specifi cally  for
          Green hydrogen producers and      Non-substitutable demand: Hydro-  users already paying high prices for
          technology  vendors –  e.g.,  Aker,   gen is irreplaceable in reactions like  grey hydrogen. Green hydrogen pro-
                                                                          ducers cited a current Levelized Cost of
                                                                          Hydrogen (LCOH) of Rs. 400-500/kg,
                                                                          which is within reach for many chemi-
                                                                          cal producers relying on trucked-in
                                                                          or cylinder H . Unlike sectors such as
                                                                                      2
                                                                          mobility or refi ning (which use highly
                                                                          effi  cient  Steam  Methane  Reforming,
                                                                          SMR), where  cost gaps remain wide,
                                                                          chemical  users  are closer to parity.
                                                                          For electrolyser manufacturers  facing
                                                                          weak demand and underutilization, the


       160                                                                     Chemical Weekly  June 10, 2025


                                      Contents    Index to Advertisers    Index to Products Advertised
   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165