The refinery has been selected because of its proximity to the Taj Trapezium Zone
IOC’s Mathura Refinery is expected to have India’s first green hydrogen plant. (Credit: SatyaPrem from Pixabay)
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is set to build a green hydrogen plant at its Mathura Refinery in Uttar Pradesh, India.
The plans were revealed by the company’s chairman Shrikant Madhav Vaidya in an interview with the Press Trust of India (PTI).
The green hydrogen plant will be the first of its kind in India. It will help the Indian government-owned company in preparing to address the increasing demand for oil as well as cleaner forms of energy in the future.
Vaidya said that IOC has come up with a strategic growth path, aimed at sustaining focus on its main refining and fuel marketing businesses. At the same time, the company will strive to increase its footprint in petrochemicals, hydrogen, and electric mobility during the next 10 years.
According to Vaidya, the oil and gas firm will not establish captive power plants at its future refinery and petrochemical expansion projects. Rather, the company will plan to utilise the 250MW of electricity it generates from solar power and other renewable sources.
The IOC chairman was quoted by the news agency, as saying: “We have a wind power project in Rajasthan. We intend to wheel that power to our Mathura refinery and use that electricity to produce absolutely green hydrogen through electrolysis.”
Vaidya said that the Mathura Refinery has been selected for the green hydrogen plant because of its proximity to the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ).
He further added that green hydrogen will replace carbon-emitting fuels that are currently used in the refinery for processing crude oil into petrol, diesel, and other value-added products.
IOC also has plans to establish a number of hydrogen production units on a pilot basis, said its chairman.