Climate change is a serious threat. While there are several factors that are leading to it, one of the primary reasons is the pollution caused by oil-fueled vehicles.

Naturally, alternative fuels are all the rage as a solution to this issue. Everything from electricity to different kinds of fuel are commonly considered. And among those many options for alternative fuels, Hydrogen is a leading contender. Also, cars powered by Hydrogen release water vapour as exhaust. So that’s a great plus.

“But the challenge is to produce Hydrogen cost-effectively,” says Lokhawarshni from Kendriya Vidyalaya CRPF Avadi, Chennai. He and his team have innovated a unique solution for generating the gas.

To look at things from outside the box – another issue that plagues India is a huge amount of raw sewage. The team thought they should use that to their advantage. The idea was to extract hydrogen gas from sewage water.

The team first collected raw sewage water and purified it. Then, they hydrolysed the purified sewage water using a solar panel and segregated hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The separated gas was then collected in a balloon.

“As our innovation is just a prototype right now, collecting the little hydrogen gas created in a balloon is fine. But one it scales up, another solution will have to be found,” says Lokhawarshni.

“Hopefully, innovations like ours we will make sure our country is pollution-free soon!” adds Lokhawarshni, signing off on a positive note.