50 buses Running on HCNG Hit The Roads in New Delhi

Buses running on hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas(HCNG) are going to hit the roads in New Delhi on Tuesday. HCNG will run 50 buses as part of a pilot project. It will run for six months from the Rajghat-1 bus depot.

The Supreme Court in 2019 suggested looking at hydrogen-run vehicles as a solution for Delhi NCR’s poor air quality. Also, the technology will take some time to appear in the capital, HCNG could be a step in that direction.

It was, in fact, a directive of the apex court in July 2018 that had led to Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) collaborating to put up this first semi-commercial plant as a pilot project for conducting the study on the use of HCNG fuel in 50 BS IV compliant CNG-run buses in Delhi.

A four-tonne per day compact reformer-based HCNG production plant has come up at the Rajghat-1 bus depot of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

Operations were expected to start from March 2020, however, the COVID-19 lockdown came as a roadblock.

The facility is now going to be inaugurated on Tuesday by Union minister for petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan and state transport minister Kailash Gahlot.

What is HCNG?

The blending of hydrogen with CNG provides a blended gas termed as HCNG. HCNG stands for hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas and it combines the advantages of both hydrogen and methane.

The rapid increase in the emission of greenhouse gases and very strict environmental legislation are major motivating factors for the usage of hydrogen in fuel cells and internal combustion engines.

Delhi government is making this effort to combat the rising pollution in the national capital.  At most places in the national capital on Wednesday, the air quality remained “very poor”, “poor” or “moderate”. A layer of haze lingered over Delhi as the air quality deteriorated.

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