The government, on Monday, allowed the use of H-CNG , in a step towards adopting alternative fuels for transportation.
The Hydrogen Compressed Natural Gas (H-CNG) is a mixture of compressed natural gas and 4-9 per cent hydrogen by energy. It can be used as a fuel in internal combustion engine and also for home appliances.
“The Ministry has been notifying various alternate fuels under Clean Fuels for transportation. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has also developed specifications (IS 17314:2019) of H-CNG for automotive purposes as a fuel,” the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said.
A notification for amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989, for inclusion of H-CNG as an automotive fuel, has been published, it said.
The draft rules in this respect were made available to the public on July 22 last. No objections and suggestions were received from the public in this respect, it said, adding that certain CNG-engine were tested to understand the emission reduction using H-CNG as compared to ‘neat’ CNG.
However, as of now, H-CNG is being tested on larger transport vehicles as there is a pilot project going on for buses. While CNG is widely available right nowand are used in passenger cars, too, the availability of H-CNG is limited to only trial vehicles right now.