Muroran port in northern Japan is targeting to start green hydrogen imports in the 2030s, possibly from northern Europe through the Arctic shipping route, as a step towards achieving its aspiration to become one of the country's hydrogen hubs.
The transport ministry recently approved a revamp plan for Hokkaido's Muroran port, which includes land planning for future development of a hydrogen hub at the former refinery site of Japanese oil firm Eneos. The firm is operating an oil depot, after closing a 180,000 b/d refinery in 2014 and ceasing oil and petrochemical product output in 2019.
The city of Muroran has been examining the possibility of fostering development of the hydrogen industry, banking on its extensive manufacturing base and existing import and logistics infrastructure. The port is home to Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel's Muroran works and related steel industries.
The city launched last year a long-term vision to develop Muroran port into a hydrogen import and supply hub by 2050, backed by local hydrogen demand potential in steelmaking, power generation and shipping. Muroran is considering exploring the possibility of importing green hydrogen from Europe transiting the Arctic ocean to Japan under the plan. It wants to take advantage of the port's capacity to receive large ocean-going vessels and its geographical proximity to Russia.
The city of Muroran in May this year signed a hydrogen co-operation agreement with the UK's Aberdeen. The Scottish city's energy transition zone is being developed to transform the area into a hub for clean energy sources such as hydrogen and offshore wind power.
More vessels are traversing the Arctic ocean, with the shipping season extended by global warming. A transit of the Arctic ocean can reduce the shipping distance from Europe to Japan by 40pc and is free of regional conflict and piracy threats, compared with the traditional Suez Canal-Malacca strait route through the Gulf of Aden and South China Sea, according to the transport ministry.
The number of commercial vessels that sailed eastward to Asia or westward to Europe through the Russian Arctic increased by more than 50pc to 133 last year compared with 87 in 2019, according to the ministry based on satellite data compiled by space agency Jaxa. The data show transit traffic of oil and chemical tankers and freighters more than doubled, including one that called at Hokkaido's Kushiro port last September, and more LNG tankers servicing the 17.4mn t/yr Yamal LNG project.
Muroran's hydrogen strategy aims to store imported green or blue hydrogen, or those produced domestically, at the existing Eneos facility with a storage capacity of 1bn Nm³ (90,000t) of hydrogen or 680mn Nm³ of hydrogen carrier methylcyclohexane. The hydrogen is planned to be supplied through pipelines to local consumers or for production of synthetic methane as a gas feedstock. Any surplus will be shipped to other consumption areas near Tokyo on trucks or coastal ships and exported to Asian countries.
The city on 31 May launched a committee with 31 firms from various industries to discuss co-operation on carbon-neutral projects, including development of a hydrogen hub and hydrogen bunkering operations. The participants include Eneos, Nippon Steel, shipping firms NYK Line, K Line and Mitsui OSK Lines, carmaker Toyota Motor, trader Marubeni, and utilities Hokkaido Electric Power and Hokkaido Gas.
Muroran joins other Japanese ports such as Yokohama and Kobe that are banking on existing infrastructure and taking the initiative to develop the hydrogen and ammonia industries. Tokuyama-Kudamatsu port in western Japan has pulled in oil firm Idemitsu to look into importing ammonia at its former refinery site.
