Chiyoda Corp. (Yokohama, Japan; www.chiyoda-corp.com), along with Mitsubhisi Corp., Mitsui & Co. and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, has announced the creation of the “Advanced Hydrogen Energy Chain for Technology Development” (AHEAD) initiative and the launch of the world’s first Global Hydrogen Supply Chain Demonstration Project. This project involves the construction of a hydrogenation plant in Brunei and a dehydrogenation plant in the Kawasaki coastal region of Japan. Hydrogen will be produced 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.
The hydrogen will be produced via steam reforming from the process gas derived from a natural-gas liquefaction plant in Brunei. Chiyoda’s SPERA Hydrogen Technology utilizes the Organic Chemical Hydride Method. In the supply country, hydrogen, chemically fixed to toluene, is converted into Methylcyclohexane (MCH), a liquid at ambient temperature and pressure, by hydrogenation reaction for storage and transport. In the consumer country, Hydrogen is extracted from MCH by dehydrogenation reaction and supplied as hydrogen gas.
The planned scale for this project is to supply a maximum of 210 tons of hydrogen in 2020 – the equivalent of filling some 40,000 fuel-cell vehicles. Construction is set to begin in August 2017 with completion expected in December 2019. Commercial operations are slated to begin in 2020.
The hydrogen will supply fuel for the Keihin Refinery Thermal Power Plant, an affiliate of TOA Oil Co., for carbon-dioxide-free power generation.