VARANASI: In a path-breaking accomplishment, Dr. Rajesh Kumar Upadhyay of the department of chemical engineering and technology and his team at IIT (BHU) have developed a membrane reformer prototype for producing ultra-pure hydrogen from methanol. The team said it is the first such prototype in India and there are no such commercial units worldwide. The prototype isolated 99.999% pure hydrogen from a mere 15 ml/minute methanol to 13 litre/minute and succeeded in producing 1 KW of power on integration with a hydrogen fuel cell, Dr Upadhyay said. The Union government has recently launched the National Hydrogen Energy Mission to promote production of hydrogen from green energy resources.