IIT-Jodhpur Team Produces ‘Future Fuel’ Using Sunlight and Water

The low-cost fuel has the potential to achieve India’s dream of reducing volume of its oil imports by 30 percent.

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As the country battles air pollution crisis and rising fuel prices, a team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology in Jodhpur have developed the ‘fuel of the future’ that uses sunlight and water to produce energy, The Times of India reported.

The chemistry department has reportedly found a way to break oxygen and hydrogen molecules in water by using a catalyst called Lanthanide, TOI reported. The process involved in harnessing the fuel in a natural way is completely opposite to photosynthesis, the daily reported.

The fuel has the potential to achieve India’s dream of reducing volume of its oil imports by 30 percent and also reduce global warming, the team led by Professor Rakesh Kumar Sharma told TOI.

Unlike the hydrogen fuel which costs about Rs 150-200 per litre ie around thrice the price of petrol in India, this ‘zero emission’ fuel has been produced at a very low cost, reported the publication.

The team screened about 700 different catalyst combinations to obtain pure hydrogen before landing on the present one, reported TOI.

Researchers at present around the globe are finding it arduous to trap oxygen while producing pure hydrogen, as pointed out by Professor Sharma.

“Presently, hydrogen is being produced on an industrial level using methane, but the process is quite expensive and requires temperatures up to 1000-2000 degrees Celsius decimate CH4 (methane) and obtain hydrogen.”

Professor Sharma told the publication.

Despite attempts to promote hydrogen-run cars, many luxury car brands like BMW and Honda have reportedly been unsuccessful in garnering public attention because of their exuberant prices.

The team, which has been doing research since its inception in 2008, is mulling over the use of clay as catalyst to develop the fuel. The team which is in the process of developing a prototype of the model has applied for a patent of the process, TOI reported.

(With inputs from The Times of India)