Indian private-sector refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) has said that it seeks to produce hydrogen from biomass through various pathways.

RIL recently performed a successful trial using torrefied biomass firing in a gasifier to produce hydrogen, the company said this week. Torrefaction is a chemical process which entails thermal decomposition of biomass at elevated temperatures.

The company also plans to use catalytic gasification of biomass to produce hydrogen.

The company is in advanced stages of designing demonstration plants that could produce 50 t/d of hydrogen using this method. This would be equivalent to output of just over 18,000 t/yr, assuming year-round operations at full capacity, RIL said.

RIL expects the catalytic process to provide green hydrogen at lower costs than other pathways. The firm had earlier said that it believes India has the potential to become the first country globally to produce green hydrogen for less than $1/kg, although it did not specify the production pathways through which this could be achieved.

RIL is also trying to introduce biomass at an existing gasifier unit in Jamnagar to generate green hydrogen, methanol, diesel, and sustainable aviation fuels. The firm has 10 gasification reactors at its oil refinery in Jamnagar in India's northwestern state of Gujarat, and it has been procuring biomass from its multi-product manufacturing facilities in Hazira and Dahej.

The Indian government explicitly supports hydrogen production from biomass. It has earmarked funds to specifically support 40,000 t/yr of capacity for hydrogen production from biomass as part of its production-linked incentive scheme that is intended to support the build out of a hydrogen economy.

While RIL is among the largest global producers of grey hydrogen, it aims to "commence transition" to less polluting hydrogen by 2025. The firm plans to establish 20GW of solar energy capacity by 2025 to support its transition to cleaner energy sources and aims to invest over 750bn rupees ($9.06bn) into a "new energy" ecosystem — an amount that it says it could double in the coming years.

Part of this ecosystem could be in-house electrolyser manufacturing. RIL said it is currently in advanced talks with "leading electrolyser players" globally in order to establish a "giga-scale" manufacturing unit at Jamnagar. RIL signed an agreement with Danish company Stiesdal in 2021 to manufacture electrolysers in India.