Reliance Industries aims to become world's largest blue hydrogen maker

New Delhi: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd is targeting to become one of the largest producers of blue hydrogen globally, producing the zero-emission fuel at costs that will be half of the global average.

The operator of the world's largest oil refining complex will repurpose a Rs 30,000 crore plant that currently converts petroleum coke into synthesis gas to produce blue hydrogen for $1.2-1.5 a kilogram, Reliance said in a presentation.

Hydrogen is the cleanest form of known fuel. Depending on production methods, hydrogen can be grey, blue or green. Grey hydrogen is the most common form and is generated from natural gas, or methane, through a process called 'steam reforming'. Hydrogen is labelled blue whenever the carbon generated from steam reforming is captured and stored. Blue hydrogen is, therefore, sometimes referred to as carbon neutral as the emissions are not dispersed in the atmosphere.

Green hydrogen - also referred to as 'clean hydrogen' - is produced by using clean energy from renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to split water into two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom through a process called electrolysis. Reliance, which has set a net-zero carbon emission target for its businesses by 2035, is looking at blue hydrogen in the interim period to reduction in cost of green hydrogen.

"In the interim, till cost of green hydrogen comes down, RIL can be the first mover to establish a hydrogen ecosystem, with minimal incremental investment, in India," Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) said in the presentation. Syngas has potential to produce hydrogen at a competitive cost of $1.2-1.5 per kg, it said.

Green hydrogen produced with renewable resources costs between $3-6.55 per kg, according to the European Commission's July 2020 hydrogen strategy.

Fossil-based hydrogen costs about $1.80, and the commission estimated the cost of blue hydrogen at about $2.40-3

per kg.