The chemical separation process is carried out in a special dehydrogenation plant from where the hydrogen gets transported to the nearby power generation unit. The demo plant is meant to supply up to 201 tons of hydrogen by the end of 2020.
The green energy project enjoys the support of the Japanese government which seeks to turn the country into a hydrogen-based economy and coined the phrase of a “decarbonised society”. Several hydrogen pilot projects are supported by state funding.
Coal-to-hydrogen
The Australian-owned industrial gas company Coregas is working on converting brown coal to hydrogen for export to Japan under the so-called Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project.
Liquefied hydrogen produced from brown coal at Larobe Valley, Australia, will be shipped to Japan to fuel electric vehicles and power stations.
Construction works are well underway, with Coregas responsible for FEED (front-end engineering and design) of the liquefaction plant. The $500 million project is scheduled to start operations in winter 2020.
At the Latrobe Valley gasification plant hydrogen will be produced from syngas, formed by reacting brown coal with oxygen under high pressure and temperature. The output of high purity gas will then be compressed and transported to a new hydrogen liquefaction and loading terminal at the Port of Hastings.
Japan needs to import nearly 95% of its energy as fossil fuels and as the country is moving away from nuclear and coal, hydrogen is seen as a green alternative fuel. The government aspires to produce a substantial share of green energy from renewabes and hydrogen-based projects by 2040 to meet much of the demand from industry and transport.