The future of aerospace, automobile and energy sectors will revolve around hydrogen fuel, as concerns of environmental pollution will put curbs on emissions and replenishment of fossil fuels is not possible.
This was stated by G. Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) while inaugurating the 8th Asia Pacific Conference on Combustion (ASPACC) organised by the Combustion Institute Indian Section (CIIS) here on Saturday.
He felt that a lot of research had to be undertaken to master development and handling of hydrogen fuel before it was put to mass use. It would have no pollution at all. High-efficient combustion of fuels available now and development of new-age fuels were necessary to take up missions to Mars and Moon successfully, he said.
Development of alternative energy resources like solar (photovoltaic), wind and bio-waste were the need of the hour to plug the demand-supply gap of energy. He, however, expressed concern over the quality of education among young generations as the students were lacking focus. Even teachers were required to be trained. V.K. Saraswat, Chairman of CIIS and Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister, said ultra super critical thermal technology developed by the BHEL and the NTPC would be used for the first time in the 500-MW Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle power plant coming up at Tiruchi.
Two centres of excellence being developed at IISc Bangalore and IIT Chennai would take up conceptual, fundamental and applied research in new combustion technologies, he stated. CEO of Infotech Enterprises B.V.R. Mohan Reddy said innovation was the key for the growth of India as a world leader and the country would end up only in commoditisation of products without it. Public-private partnerships were required to speed up innovation process and development of new technologies, he felt.
Chairs of Combustion Institutes of China, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan — Yao Qiang, Brian Heinz, Yongmo Kim, S.S. Kyi, Akira Aumomura, respectively, were also present. About 400 delegates including 160 from Asia Pacific countries participated in the conference.
