KOCHI: What if you could replace LPG with a cooking fuel as clean and cheap as water. That’s just what the techies at Reinwo Labs Pvt Ltd have set their sights on: Fire from water. Hyd Gas is the brainchild of Reinwo Labs Pvt Ltd, a start-up company incubated at Startup Village, Kalamassery.
According to its co-founder Vimal Gopal, Hyd Gas is a gas cooktop that produces gas from water. When current is passed through the water stored inside the device, it gets converted into hydrogen and oxygen by the process of electrolysis. The hydrogen and oxygen thus released are passed to the burner through pipes. As there is no storage of gas, the product will be 100 pc hazard-free unlike LPG gas cylinders.
A prototype of the product has been installed at the canteen of the Cusat School of Engineering two weeks ago. “During our engineering days at Cusat itself, we were quite active in tech fests. After a brief stint with robotics, we turned to product-based activities,” says Vimal. “Though a non-IT startup, the company got funding from Startup Village. Now, we are in final talks with angel investors to bring in more funds to make the product a reality,” he adds. “At present, we are concentrating on hotels. We have been conducting market studies to understand the need of hoteliers and to get the product installed in more hotels. With further R&D, we are sure we could come up with an energy efficient and cost effective product for hotels,” he adds. The work on the project began in June 2014 and the company was registered in August.
Household Variant
The development of a compact household variant having the same size as any other gas stove and with the option of integrating LPG when there is a power outage or non-availability of water, is under consideration. The product is slated to be launched by 2016. “It will be more efficient with intelligent features, including display unit, timer and mobile controlled on/off switches,” he adds.
Solar Power
As electrolysis uses DC power, the product can be connected directly to solar panels without the need of inverters and batteries, reducing the installation costs by 50 per cent. The current product at Cusat is 20 per cent solar-powered too.
As all the gas that is required for cooking is produced on demand in Hyd Gas and directly used for cooking without storing, it is a much safer proposition than pressurised LPG cylinders. If the R&D of the company goes to the plan, Hyd Gas could be the next big thing.