The Perth-based company yesterday said that the stage had been set for securing a role in the huge emerging Indian alternative fuels market – primarily through its Hythane product, a hydrogen-enriched blend of natural gas.

The Indian Government’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy recently announced the target of having all natural gas-powered vehicles, estimated at 1 million or 20% of the entire Indian vehicle fleet, running on a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas by 2020.

Eden said it had been actively promoting and marketing Hythane in India for the past two years, concluding agreements with Ashok Leyland, a major engine manufacturer, Gujarat State Petroleum, a large state-owned gas producer, distributor and retailer, and Larsen & Toubro, the largest engineering group in India.

The company also said negotiations were well advanced with many other relevant Indian authorities and companies.

Eden further said the first Ashok Leyland natural gas bus engine conversion to Hythane, being undertaken in Colorado in the United States, was nearing completion.

There had been encouraging results with ultra-low and Eden added that further work on this and at least one other natural gas bus engine was planned.

Once completed, the engines would be returned to India for official certification and use in the Hythane bus demonstration project planned for the second quarter of 2008.

Eden said it would produce the necessary hydrogen using the HyRadix range of hydrogen reformers, manufactured in India by HyRadix, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eden.

HyRadix has reformers in operation in China, Malaysia and the US, as well as one being installed in Europe.

In addition, two demonstration projects, one for Hythane-fuelled buses and the other for Hythane-diesel dual-fuelled generators, were planned for the second quarter of 2008. Both projects were planned to progress directly into commercial operations.

Negotiations with another Indian vehicle manufacturer – for conversion to Hythane operation of a mini-bus engine, followed by perhaps two other sized engines – were also underway, Eden said, which would expand its coverage of the Indian Hythane market to a far broader vehicle market.

The company also said its joint venture with Indian Oil Company – regarding proposed Hythane safety standards and regulations for India – was nearing completion.

Eden commissioned independent testing to be carried out in the US to support the proposed standards and regulations, and the results confirmed Hythane should be treated as natural gas for the purpose of all electrical and storage regulations.

This would form the basis of the draft regulations to be submitted to the Indian regulatory authorities.

Marketing in India of the HyRadix hydrogen reformers for the industrial gas market had started, and negotiations with a leading merchant gas company were underway to form a strategic marketing relationship that would open up a broad share of the emerging Indian hydrogen industrial gas market, Eden said.

Eden Energy India Private limited, a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, had been established and its first staff hired. This would give Eden “a strong base from which it can rapidly expand its operations throughout India to achieve its objectives”, the company concluded.