Indian Oil Company Selects Hythane Company to Build First Public Hydrogen Station in India

As Seen In Green Car Congress (www.greencarcongress.com)

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), one of India's largest petroleum marketing groups, has selected Hythane Company LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australia-based Eden Energy Limited, to supply and install the first public hydrogen dispensing station in India to supply fuel to motor vehicles running on either hydrogen or Hythane (a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas; between 5-7% hydrogen by energy).

The US $1.0 million hydrogen/Hythane retail fuel outlet will be built in the capital, Delhi, at an existing gasoline/natural gas refueling station.

The station-including electrolytic hydrogen production (5 normal m³ of hydrogen per hour), compression, storage, blending (to make Hythane) and dispensing equipment - will be used to refuel a number of trial vehicles including buses, cars, trucks and three-wheel auto-rickshaws with either hydrogen or Hythane. Currently approximately 2,500 vehicles per day refuel at the existing site with gasoline, diesel and natural gas.

Although the initial hydrogen production is to use an electrolyzer, IOC is interested in putting a HyRadix Adeo reformer on-site in the near future, at which time the available capacity of the hydrogen and Hythane will be increased, according to the Hythane Company. Eden acquired HyRadix, a company specializing in on-site autothermal reforming (ATR) systems for the production of hydrogen from methane or LPG, in 2007. (Earlier post.)

The station is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2008, and is planned to be operating at the same time as two Hythane bus demonstration projects that Eden plans to undertake in Gujarat and in Mumbai during 2008.

Eden expects that the station and demonstrations will serve as a springboard for a progressive commercial rollout across India beginning in 20009 of what the company anticipates will be thousands of hydrogen/Hythane stations.

In 2007, India adopted a plan to use the hydrogen/natural gas blend as its natural gas vehicle fuel standard, as part of the nation's drive to have at least 20% of all vehicles (estimated at more than one million vehicles) operating on hydrogen-based fuels by 2020.

This is a hugely significant milestone in Eden's bid for global leadership in hydrogen fuel technology as it means Eden has now been fully accepted by "India Incorporated" to help drive its hydrogen based cleaner fuel emission objectives. -Greg Solomon, Eden Energy's Executive Chairman

The Canadian contingent, Mississauga, Ont.-based fuel cell developer Hydrogenics Corp., provided a MyPM fuel cell module for a reach truck.

Hythane has been working on the developing Indian market for a number of years. Projects and developments include:

• Design work completed by Larsen & Toubro for Indian manufacturing of HyRadix Inc's Aptus 100 hydrogen reformer unit, which can produce up to 100 normal m³ of hydrogen per hour. The Aptus systems produce high purity hydrogen from a feedstock of natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and can be combined to generate between 50-500 Nm³/h economically. Production to commence immediately in India by Larsen & Toubro of up to five of HyRadix's Aptus 100 units, for use in Indian Hythane bus demonstration projects and for industrial gas applications.
  
  
• Two Indian Hythane Bus demonstration project are planned for Q3 2008. Each of the two bus demonstration projects will take four-six months to complete and will be conducted in two stages. The first stage of each demonstration will involve the installation of an Aptus unit with two buses being trialled using Hythane.
  
  Once this is operating satisfactorily, the number of Hythane buses will be progressively increased in the second stage to approximately 50 buses. This is the number that can operate on Hythane with the quantity of hydrogen available from each Aptus 100 reformer.
  
  Each demonstration will be targeted at obtaining a full environmental, operational and economic assessment of using Hythane, produced on an Indian manufactured reformer, on Indian buses in Indian operating conditions.
  
  At the end of each demonstration project, it is planned to continue the operation of the demonstration units on an on-going commercial basis, and progressively rollout Hythane on a broad commercial basis by increasing the number of Hythane refuelling stations and the number of buses operating on Hythane.
  
  Hythane Company is nearing the end of the engine recalibration program with the Ashok Leyland bus engine which will be used in the bus demonstrations and it is planned to return the engine to India during the next two-to-three months for official testing and certification, in anticipation of using the engine in the bus demonstration project.
  
  
• Additional design work underway in India by Larsen & Toubro for the Agilon 25 hydrogen reformer with a view to commencing production of the first unit late in the first quarter of 2008, for use in the first Hythane generator demonstration project in second or third quarters of 2008.
  
  HyRadix' Agilon product line initially was an ATR fuel processor associated with a 5 kW PEM fuel cell stack. Hythane proposes using the larger unit to produce the necessary hydrogen to operate a 400 kW generator on a dual fuel mixture of diesel and Hythane.