Japan aims to build global hydrogen supply chain

Japanese engineering, trading and shipping companies have launched an international hydrogen supply chain demonstration project, aiming to take the lead in technologies to fuel thermal power plants and combat global warming.

Engineering firm Chiyoda, trading companies Mitsubishi and Mitsui and shipping firm NYK Line today launched what they called the world's first global hydrogen supply demonstration project, which aims to produce and supply up to 210t of hydrogen from January-December 2020. The project is funded by government agencies, which are hoping to develop a global hydrogen supply chain for use in full-scale power generation by 2030.

The project, called the Advanced Hydrogen Energy Chain Association for Technology Development (Ahead), is planning to begin construction of a demonstration plant next month. The pilot plant will consist of a hydrogenation unit in Brunei and a dehydrogenation plant in Kawasaki, west of Tokyo on Japan's Pacific coast.

Hydrogen will be produced from naturally-gasified LNG during the liquefaction process at the 7.2mn t/yr Brunei LNG plant, in which Mitsubishi has a 25pc share. The planned hydrogenation plant will use Chiyoda's technology to fix hydrogen with toluene and convert it to methylcyclohexane (MCH), which remains in a liquid form at normal temperature and pressure, for storage and transportation.

The MCH then will be shipped to the proposed dehydrogenation plant in Kawasaki, where the hydrogen will be extracted and mixed with gas for burning at a power generation unit at Japanese firm Showa Shell's 70,000 b/d Kawasaki oil refinery. Toa Oil, a 50.1pc owned subsidiary of Showa Shell, operates 79MW gas turbine and 195MW steam turbine power generators at the Kawasaki refinery under a power wholesale joint venture with electricity firm J Power. Toluene removed from MCH will be transported back to Brunei for use in the hydrogenation process at the demonstration plant.

Japan has stepped up efforts to find ways of using carbon-neutral hydrogen for thermal power generation as it looks to fight global warming. Japanese utility Chugoku Electric Power and state-owned Japan Science and Technology Agency in early July conducted a pilot study to burn coal mixed with 0.6pc ammonia, which contains hydrogen, at the 156MW No. 2 coal-fired power generation unit at the utility's Mizushima power plant in Okayama prefecture. The test, the first conducted in Japan, is aimed at studying the viability of mixing ammonia with coal for power generation and identifying ways to commercialise the process.

Japan's LNG and coal use for power has been supported by nuclear reactor shutdowns in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. The country's power industry has been struggling to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help meet Japan's 2030 target to cut emissions by 26pc on 2013 levels. The country consumed 59mn t of LNG and 119mn t of coal for power generation during the most recent fiscal year that ended on 31 March.