Electrochemical and Economic Aspects of Hydrogen Energy

By Prof. Pratham Arora, Prof. Amit C. Bhosale | IIT Roorkee

Learners enrolled: 468 | Exam registration: 8

ABOUT THE COURSE:

The energy transition is in progress, and the world is grappling with the energy trilemma: How can we supply energy that is affordable, accessible & reliable, and environmentally responsible, for everyone? There is no single solution to this formidable challenge, but hydrogen is a key component of most credible sustainable energy scenarios. Hydrogen is currently used heavily in the process industries, and it is seen as a significant future replacement option for the fossil fuels that are now used in power generation, transportation, and industry. However, most hydrogen today is produced from fossil energy sources. It will need to be decarbonized to take its place as a dominant player in sustainable energy. This course shares insights into the technology, economics, and business drivers and barriers for hydrogen, both in the short term and in the long term. It examines hydrogen’s production, transportation, use, and commercial opportunities to better equip you, with skills, knowledge and expertise to thrive in the Hydrogen Economy. Furthermore, technical insights of electrochemistry are also be discussed in details thereby underlining the significance of various losses that take place in electrochemical cells viz. fuel cells and electrolysers.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Any industry/corporate that wants to play a role in the Green Hydrogen Mission

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Multidisciplinary Energy Science and Engineering Energy, Climate and Sustainability
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	21 Jul 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	28 Jul 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	15 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	26 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Overview of World energy scenario, Role of Hydrogen in India's energy scenario, Fundamental concepts of Energy Economics.

Week 2: The current market for hydrogen, the use of hydrogen in oil refineries, chemical industry, iron and steel industry, Methods of hydrogen production, Economics of Hydrogen Production from Fossil Fuels

Week 3: The Production of Hydrogen from Renewable Sources, The Production of Hydrogen by Electrolysis, Hydrogen Production from Biomass, Economics of Green Hydrogen Production.

Week 4: Significance of electrochemical cells, Molar quantities, thermodynamic potentials, Relation between electrical work and potential

Week 5: Determination of reversible potential with respect to temperature and pressure, Nernst equation

Week 6: Polarization curve of fuel cells, calculation of cell efficiency, Significance of current density, Examples

Week 7: Reaction kinetics, Butler-Volmer Equation, activation overpotential, Charge transfer resistance, Examples

Week 8: Tafel slope, ohmic overpotential, mass transfer overpotential, Scale-up issues, heat and water management

Week 9: Flow field designs, importance of gaskets, contact resistance management

Week 10: Hydrogen Storage and Transport, Transport of Hydrogen as Liquid, Storage in Salt Caverns, Storage as Hydrides, Hydrogen Compression, Hydrogen Transport by Pipelines, Cost of Hydrogen Storage and Transport

Week 11: The Mass Shipping of Hydrogen, Transport of Hydrogen as an Intermediate, Competitive Position of Hydrogen Versus Fossil Fuels

Week 12: Simulating Hydrogen energy systems, techno-economic analysis and Life cycle assessment (LCA), Case Studies for the Hydrogen Economy

Books and references

S.A. Sherif, D. Yogi Goswami, Elias K. Stefanakos, Aldo Steinfeld, “Handbook of Hydrogen Energy”, 1st Edition, CRC press, 2014

Ram B Gupta, “Hydrogen Fuel: Production, Transport, and Storage”, 1st Edition, CRC Press, 2008

Duncan Seddon, “Hydrogen Economy, The_ Fundamentals, Technology, Economics”, World Scientific Publishing, 2022

Ryan O’Hayre, Suk-Won Cha, Whitney Colella, Fritz B. Prinz, “Fuel Cell Fundamentals” 3rd Edition, Wiley, 2016

Instructor bio

Prof. Pratham Arora

IIT Roorkee

Prof. Pratham Arora is currently an Assistant Professor, Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy, IIT Roorkee. At IIT Roorkee, his research is focused on comparative life cycle assessment, process optimization and techno-enviro-economic analysis of different energy and environmental systems. Prior to joining IIT Roorkee, he was a Post-doctoral fellow at the Georgia Tech., Atlanta in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department. Prof. Arora has completed his doctorate from IITB-Monash Research Academy – a joint venture between IIT-Bombay, India and, Monash University, Australia. He has been working in collaboration with highly innovative sustainability-focused companies such as Algenol biofuels, Lanzatech, Pontoka, Orica Mining and Global Thermostat.

Prof. Amit C. Bhosale

Dr. Amit Bhosale is currently an Assistant Professor, Department of Hydro and Renewable Energy, IIT Roorkee. At IIT Roorkee, his research interests are fuel cells and electrolysers, stack development, contact resistance management. Prior to joining IIT Roorkee, he was a Post-doctoral fellow at IIT Madras in the Chemical Engineering department. Dr. Amit pursued his PhD from IIT Bombay and is currently working on different academic as well as industrial collaborations viz. Schaeffler industries for high-temperature fuel cells.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams : October 26, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Roorkee. It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team