In order to overcome the problem of agricultural residue and reduce pollution created by burning it, Pune based Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) has developed a technology which converts agricultural residue into Hydrogen and Methane. ARI is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. Researchers claim that it is world's first technology that generates hydrogen directly from agricultural residue for use in fuel cell-powered vehicles.<br />''<br />''Agriculture residues of Paddy, wheat or Maize can be used in it. This process can avoid the burning of bio-mass generated in large measure in the Indian countryside and generate organic manure and CO2, which finds applications in various industries. Talking to AIR, Dr. Prashant Dhakephalkar, Director, Agharkar Research Institute, said, our technology is 25% more efficient as compared to conventional anaerobic digestion processes used today.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #000000;">Sentient Lab is also associated with this research. Along with Dr. Dhakephalkar and Dr. Sumit Singh Dagar from Agharkar Research Institute and Mr. Kaustubh Pathak from Sentient Labs contributed to this research. Sentient labs Chairman Mr. Ravi Pandit, said, this breakthrough of generating hydrogen from unutilized agricultural residue will help us become self-reliant on energy resources. It will also add a major stream of revenue to the farmer community and will continue R&D and invite partners to come on board for production and commercialising the same.</span><br />