Could sugarcane juice power your car? An Indian team is working to make it possible

India Today

22-04-2025

As the world continues to look at new alternatives to fossil fuel, your car of the future could have a fuel source extracted from sugarcane juice.Fossil fuels are the main source of energy used by humans today. But using too much of them is causing these fuels to run out and creating serious environmental problems. At the same time, the energy demand is growing quickly as the world's economy grows and the population increases.advertisementExperts estimate that by 2040, global energy use will increase by 48% compared to what it was in 2012. To reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and meet this growing energy need, we must find a new fuel that is plentiful, renewable, and better for the environment.
Sugarcane juice is being used to extract clean hydrogen. (Photo: Sibu Tripathi)
This green alternative is hydrogen, which could be extracted from sugarcane juice, and India is one of the biggest producers of sugarcane in the world.Researchers at the Pune-based MIT-World Peace University have devised a unique method to extract hydrogen from sugarcane juice that could be then used as a fuel to power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), which use hydrogen gas to generate electricity.advertisementThe patented technology has been successfully used to extract over 140 litres of hydrogen from four litres of sugarcane juice.The team is using an undisclosed microorganism, which also converts carbon dioxide into acetic acid, making it more sustainable.The university has developed an innovative bioprocess that uses sugarcane juice, along with seawater and wastewater, to extract green hydrogen — all at room temperature.This approach stands out from conventional water-splitting methods by not only lowering energy requirements but also producing valuable byproducts, resulting in zero waste discharge.
Researchers at the Pune-based MIT-World Peace University have devised the unique method. (Photo: Sibu Tripathi)
"The process supports the global push to bring down the cost of hydrogen to $1 per kilogram, making it a promising solution for India's clean energy transition. The team is now looking for industry partners to help scale the technology from the lab to real-world applications through collaboration and technology transfer,". Dr Bharat Kale, Emeritus Professor & Director of the Material Science Department at MIT-WPU said.The university aims to support industries in scaling up the technology, which could be commercially viable within a year.advertisementWhile the process is unique, it still takes over three to four days to extract the hydrogen from the given sample of sugarcane juice.The university is now looking to scale up the production in collaboration with private players.(The author visited MIT-WPU on an familiarisation invitation from the university)Must Watch