#02. The Diatomic Dexterity – News, Conventions & TechTalk
#02. The Diatomic Dexterity – News, Conventions & TechTalk
News - Hydrogen Focus | Startup20 Shikhar Summit | ICGH 2023 | TechTalk with Prof. Satya Chakravarthy
Newtrace’s second edition of The Climate Commune is out!
The month gone by has been rich in radical developments for the hydrogen market, shaping the way key stakeholders will need to act in the years to come if hydrogen is to emerge as the undisputed clean fuel of the future.
In this edition, we have —
Key news focused on hydrogen,
Events Newtrace participated in to take the green hydrogen mission forward and,
A candid interview with Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder & CEO-CTO, The ePlane Company, on the boon & bane of hydrogen in aviation as he bets on electrolysis being ‘the pathway to glory’ in generating green hydrogen.
News - Hydrogen Focus.
🗞️ Aviation start-ups test potential of green hydrogen | Financial Times – Universal Hydrogen tests its first hydrogen fuel cell powered flight in the wake of alternative fuels like SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuels) and the challenges of hydrogen in aviation.
🗞️ Hydrogen airships for long-range monitoring | Y Combinator – A US-based startup, HyLight, makes small, unmanned hydrogen airships to automatically gather massive amounts of precise data in a sustainable and cost-effective way.
🗞️ Proposed EU ban on Fluoropolymers – a critical component in PEM and AEM electrolyzers | Hydrogen Insight – A proposed European-level ban on fluoropolymers - a critical type of plastic used in electrolysis equipment - could massively disrupt the ramp up of electrolyzer manufacturing capacity in Europe. Newtrace’s patent-pending tech solves directly for this gap with next-gen electrolyzer design that utilizes no rare earth metals and no critical components.
Startup20 Shikhar Summit 2023, Gurugram.
The Startup20 Shikhar Summit, organized under the India G20 Presidency, hosted a vibrant congregation of startups rapidly scaling in their respective industries – from innovative clean fuel solutions like Newtrace to next-gen EVs, drones and sustainable foods, among others.
The summit was a high-spirited affair that brought together delegates, industry experts, policymakers, and thought leaders aligned towards the contribution of startups in economic growth on a global scale.
The highlight of the event remained the Startup Conclave, wherein Newtrace showcased its product and unique value proposition to industry experts and fellow startups via our dedicated pod.
We were particularly humbled by the visit of Mr. Nadir B Godrej, MD, Godrej Industries & Chair of Startup20's Sustainability Taskforce, to our pod and his deep interest in what we offer.
Following the showcase, we delivered in a closed-door investor pitch session that saw turn out from eminent funds of the VC circle and angel investors alike.
In conclusion to a highly successful delegation, Newtrace closed as an invitee to the panel discussion titled ‘Startups as Catalysts for Climate Action: Innovations, Solutions, and Collaboration’, ably represented by Karnika Kulshrestha, Senior Associate.
The panel also comprised Karthik Chandrasekar, CEO of Sangam, Mike Bellemore, APAC Head at Deloitte, Sanjay Tugnait, CEO of Fairfax Canada and Riva Walia, CEO of Smartlabs Global.
International Conference on Green Hydrogen 2023, New Delhi.
The summit meeting soon made way for the Government of India organised International Conference on Green Hydrogen (ICGH 2023) at New Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan. The convention was designed to discuss recent advances and upcoming technologies across the entirety of the green hydrogen value chain.
As a rapidly scaling startup, we found the forum to be immensely rich in the community of industrialists, government bodies, and academics it brought together from around the globe.
The event compiled an illustrious panel of speakers such as Dr. Uwe Remme, Head – Hydrogen Alternative Fuel Cells, IEA, Dr. Ashish Lele, Director – National Chemical Laboratory and Dr. Sunita Satyapal, Director – Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Technologies Office and DOE Hydrogen Program Coordinator, U.S. Department of Energy.
Apart from domain-specific interaction on hydrogen production, storage, distribution and downstream applications, the 3-day conference also reviewed green financing, human resource upskilling and startup initiatives in this area.
TechTalk.
We bring you excerpts from our conversation with Prof. Satya Chakravarthy, Founder & CEO-CTO, The ePlane Co. on the evolving hydrogen ecosystem and its viability across applications, particularly aviation.
On green hydrogen and related tech -
Green hydrogen is going to be the most critical player in the climate change challenge we are facing. People are talking about all shades of hydrogen – blue, grey, brown – but the elephant in the room is ‘green’. It boils down to what the EV sector was going through in its early days, where on-board emissions were zero but making and charging the battery may have been with burning coal elsewhere. A similar phenomenon is seen with other shades of hydrogen.
Hence, ‘green’ is the target. How we generate green hydrogen is by splitting water. There are multiple technologies to split water but the most straightforward, if not the most cost effective, is electrolysis. That is where the effort is concentrated around the world. Drawing on technological advantages, electrolysis is the pathway to glory in generating green hydrogen.
On applications -
GH2 sees a multitude of use cases – for e.g., in stationary power. The major challenge is mobility. Small mobility use cases could turn to the EV solution. However, the EV solution falls short for larger vehicles like trucks and long-distance buses, and maybe even aviation. This is where hydrogen is going to be the most important factor.
On success stories so far -
It is happening in spurts. For e.g., Toyota recently came up with a hydrogen internal combustion engine – something that has been in the works in many labs but has only now been implemented in a vehicle, ahead of competition.
Another example is fuel cell tech that is attempting to convert hydrogen to electricity. These are tandem progresses in addition to the hydrogen production progresses that are already happening.
On GH2 in aviation -
Aviation is going to be a challenge, not in terms of combustion in an engine or in the utilization of fuel cells, but in the large tankage that hydrogen will require due to its poor volumetric energy capacity. Typically, this has been solved in rockets by going cryogenic. We see progress being made in commoditizing, for e.g., liquified natural gas in terms of tankage and how tanks can be swapped. Imagining that happening at around 20 Kelvin is mind-boggling but it is worth taking up the challenge so that we can make cryo-hydrogen a lot less expensive and safer. That maybe one big challenge to overcome for aviation.
On betting on Newtrace -
There is always one key piece of technology that disrupts a space, and it typically comes from young minds that are doing quite a bit of lateral thinking. The novel electro reactor concept is amazing and fits in with my thought process of building smaller components of a system and then stacking them up, giving one a good architecture to scale up. This allows one to ‘cheat’ through the problem, approaching solving of bigger problems in a modular way. This is the concept that appealed to me, and I believe will be key to Newtrace’s success.
About Prof. Satya:
Prof. Satya Chakravarthy is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India, and the Founder & CEO-CTO of The ePlane Co.
Professor works in the areas of propulsion and combustion, and researches on different aspects of combustion in gas turbine and rocket engines. He heads the National Centre for Combustion Research & Development (NCCRD) at IIT Madras supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
Come, Join the Discourse.
That’s all for our second edition!
The Climate Commune aims to build a community of thinkers and doers looking to stay updated with pioneering work in the green hydrogen and renewable energy ecosystem, knowledge-sharing from industry experts, and insights from peers as part of the wider community. Come, join the discourse.
Reach Out to Us.
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