Japan launches first global hydrogen supply chain demo project; liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology

Japan launches first global hydrogen supply chain demo project; liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) technology

28 July 2017

Four Japanese companies—Chiyoda, Mitsubishi, Mitsui and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha—have launched the “Advanced Hydrogen Energy Chain Association for Technology Development”(AHEAD) along with the world’s first Global Hydrogen Supply Chain Demonstration Project.

The project, a subsidized “Technology Development Project to establish Hydrogen Society/Technology Development for the Utilization of Large Scale Hydrogen Energy”, is funded by the National Research and Development Agency, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), and demonstrates the use of liquid organic chemical hydrides in the hydrogen supply chain.

The project entails building a hydrogenation plant in Brunei Darussalam and a dehydrogenation plant in Kawasaki’s coastal region of Japan using Chiyoda’s SPERA Hydrogen Technology. Hydrogen will be sourced in Brunei and transported by ship to Kawasaki in liquid form at ambient temperature and pressure. Hydrogen gas will then be extracted from the liquid in Kawasaki and supplied to consumers.

Chiyoda’s SPERA Hydrogen Technology. In the supply country, hydrogen, chemically fixed to toluene, is converted by a hydrogenation reaction into methylcyclohexane (MCH), a liquid at ambient temperature and pressure, for storage and transport. In the consumer country, hydrogen is extracted from MCH by a dehydrogenation reaction and supplied as hydrogen gas. Click to enlarge.

The project partners plan to supply 210 tons (max) of hydrogen in 2020, equivalent to filling 40,000 fuel cell vehicles in 2020.

Gravimetric and volumetric content of hydrogen. Source: Chioda. Click to enlarge.

The hydrogen will be produced by steam reforming from the processed gas derived from the Natural Gas Liquefaction Plant of Brunei LNG Sdn. Bhd. and subsequently used for power generation in Japan.

The project reflects Phase II of the “Strategic Road Map for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells”, issued by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in 2014 and revised in 2016. It aims to realize global hydrogen transport and supply technology for full-scale hydrogen power generation around 2030. The hydrogen demo project is a stepping stone for commercialization of projects post 2020.

Resources

• Yoshimi Okada, Mitsunori Shimura “Development of large-scale H₂ storage and transportation technology with Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC)”