India’s first solid waste to hydrogen plant to be set in Pune 

The world is struggling big time to tackle climate change and global warming. Do you know one of the major causes behind them? Pollution! While parties around the globe are trying various ways to mitigate all kinds of pollution such as air, water and land; looks like India has recently achieved a feat in the final category. 

Yes, that’s correct! India is all set to build its first solid waste to hydrogen plant in Pune’s Hadapsar Industrial Estate. The project is priced at a whooping INR 430 crores and is believed a step forward in reducing landfill dumping and pollution. Wondering who has taken up this initiative? Well, that has to be the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in collaboration with sustainability solutions provider TheGreenBillions Limited (TGBL). They have entered a 30-year-long agreement with one another. While the first party will spend INR 82 crore to build the storage facility and logistics support, the rest INR 348 crore will come from TGBL to set up the rest of the plant. Interestingly, PMC will tip TGBL INR 347 per tonne to treat the waste on their behalf.  

As known so far, the solid waste to hydrogen plant will treat 350 tonnes of solid waste daily by the end of 2024. The goal is simple: to turn the 350 tonnes of garbage into 10 tonnes of hydrogen every day using a 10-tonne energy reactor and convertor through the process of plasma gasification technology. In fact, this reactor is supposed to be installed by November this year while the entire project is expected to take another one year.  

The project management consultancy will be provided by a central public sector firm called Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited, while the project to convert unrecyclable trash into hydrogen will be executed by a subsidiary of TGBL called Variate Pune Waste to Energy Private Limited. The technological support will come from Bhabha Atomic Research Institute and IISC Bengaluru.  

The key objective behind the project is to demonstrate the technological and economic feasibility of solid waste to hydrogen generation. Besides, it will also help hydrogen become the ultimate renewable and environment-friendly fuel of the future.  

TGBL plans to set up similar plants across the rest of India. A partnership with the Guwahati Municipal Corporation in currently under process.