Cooperation to Global Hydrogen Supply Chain Demonstration Project

Idemitsu Kosan Co.,Ltd.

Outline

Idemitsu Kosan cooperates with the “Advanced Hydrogen Energy Chain Association for Technology Development (AHEAD)” on the world’s first Global Hydrogen Supply Chain Demonstration Project of AHEAD, funded by NEDO. The project aims to contribute to realization of utilization of hydrogen for CO2 free power generation on combustion. In the demonstration project, hydrogen will be extracted from Methylcyclohexane, which is transported in liquid form from Negara Brunei Darussalam to Japan, by the Dehydrogenation Plant, which is newly built by AHEAD in Toa Oil, a group company of Idemitsu, and used in the Keihin Refinery of Toa Oil in 2020.

Description

The four companies, Chiyoda Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, had created the “Advanced Hydrogen Energy Chain Association for Technology Development (AHEAD)” and launched the world’s first Global Hydrogen Supply Chain Demonstration Project. The project is funded by the National Research and Development Agency, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), and demonstrates “The Hydrogen Supply Chain utilizing the Organic Chemical Hydride Method”. AHEAD has built a Hydrogenation Plant in Negara Brunei Darussalam and a Dehydrogenation Plant in the Keihin Refinery of Toa Oil Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Idemitsu, which is located in Kawasaki’s coastal region of Japan
At the demonstration operation planned in 2020, hydrogen will be produced by Steam Reforming from the processed gas derived from the Natural Gas Liquefaction Plant of Brunei LNG. The hydrogen will be processed at the Hydrogenation Plant, and transported by ship to Japan in liquid form (Methylcyclohexane, MCH) at ambient temperature and pressure. The hydrogen will be extracted from MCH by the Dehydrogenation Plant in Toa Oil, and supplied as hydrogen gas mainly to the Keihin Refinery Thermal Power Plant of Toa Oil. Supply of 210 tons (max) of Hydrogen in 2020 to Toa Oil is expected, which is equivalent to filling 40,000 Fuel Cell Vehicles. The project aims to realize Global Hydrogen Transport and Supply Technology for full-scale Hydrogen Power Generation around 2030, which the Japanese government targets. The technology is expected to utilize hydrogen for CO2 free power generation, which can contribute to fulfill the Paris Agreement which requires greenhouse gas reductions to combat global warming.
Idemitsu Kosan cooperates the demonstration project with Toa Oil, which is one of Idemitsu’s group refineries. In addition to cooperation to AHEAD’s construction of the Dehydrogenation Plant in Toa Oil, Idemitsu is cooperating with AHEAD in the demonstration operation through secondment of Toa Oil’s employees to AHEAD as operators of the plant, supply of required utilities, use of produced hydrogen, and so on.