India’s Reliance plans to turn syngas into blue hydrogen

India's Reliance Industries Ltd plans to produce blue hydrogen at a "competitive cost" of about $1.2-$1.5 per kg as it repurposes its $4-billion gasification assets, the conglomerate said in a presentation.

Owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, Reliance has in the past year unveiled plans to reduce its dependence on its mainstay oil-to-chemicals business and invested in clean energy projects to burnish its green credentials.

Reliance will initially use syngas, produced by petcoke gasifies, to make blue hydrogen for it Jamnagar complex in western Gujarat state, until green hydrogen's cost comes down, it said in the presentation released late on Friday.

Hydrogen produced from natural gas and which eliminates emissions by capturing and storing the emitted carbon is called blue hydrogen. Green Hydrogen is extracted from water using electrolysis powered by renewable energy.