Centre convene first meeting for biohydrogen production

New Delhi: Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, convened the first meeting to discuss biomass cultivation on degraded land for green biohydrogen production and bioenergy generation on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

The meeting brought together key stakeholder government ministries, knowledge partners, and research institutes to explore the utilization of degraded, barren, and uncultivated lands for biomass cultivation.

The meeting also focused on preparing an action plan for enhancing green hydrogen production from biomass.

In his opening remarks, Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood said that one of the objectives of the National Green Hydrogen Mission is to initiate focused pilots for biomass-based green biohydrogen production. Therefore, it is important to understand the biomass cultivation ecosystem of the country.

Prof. Sood highlighted that the meeting aims to gather inputs on biomass and degraded land availability, identify gaps and challenges in biomass cultivation, and strategize a roadmap for using degraded land for green hydrogen production.

He re-emphasised the need to identify biomass for cultivation and the identification of government-owned land available for cultivating biomass to enhance hydrogen production in the country.

He stressed that biomass cultivation for bioenergy should be sourced and processed sustainably and cost-effectively while maintaining local environmental biodiversity.

Dr. Rajesh Gokhale, Secretary, of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), presented prospects for seaweed cultivation as biomass for bioenergy production and fostering a start-up ecosystem to boost marine biomanufacturing, aligned with India’s Deep Ocean Mission.

During the meeting, Dr. Prakash Chauhan, Director of, the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), delivered a presentation on ‘The Bhuvan portal for data on biomass availability from agri-residue and data on degraded Land Mapping.

Dr. Chauhan emphasized the need for data on the characterization of biomass to understand the potential of biomass.

Neelesh Kumar Sah, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, highlighted government policies and programs addressing land degradation neutrality.

Industry experts and key government officials from various ministries provided their inputs on various schemes under their departments for biomass cultivation and production of hydrogen.