Establishing international CO2-free hydrogen supply-chain for realizing a carbon-free hydrogen society.

ENEOS Holdings, Inc.

Outline

ENEOS Corporation (“ENEOS”), a core energy company of the ENEOS Group, mainly produces hydrogen from fossil fuels in Japan and is working on establishing international CO2-free hydrogen supply-chain actively to realize a low-carbon society in the middle and long-term.

As for the specific work on CO2-free hydrogen, we have succeeded in making organic hydride* directly from renewable energy in the four (4)-party project for the first time in the world.
*one of substances which can store and transport hydrogen, which is easy to handle as it is in liquid form at atmospheric temperature and pressure.

In the conventional process, organic hydride (methylcyclohexane; "MCH”) should be synthesized by toluene and hydrogen, and hydrogen must be made first before synthesis. In the novel process developed by ENEOS, using our original electrolysis cell, we paved the way for the cost reduction and energy-saving by making organic hydride directly from toluene and water with electricity.

Meanwhile, we have become a member of CO2-free Hydrogen Energy Supply-chain Technology Research Association which is promoting field-test on liquifying CO2-free hydrogen produced from brown coal in Australia and exporting it to Japan.

ENEOS will contribute to the realization of a hydrogen society and the prevention of global-warming through endeavor for establishing international CO2-free hydrogen supply-chain.

Description

As provided in the Hydrogen Basic Strategy determined by the Japanese government, it is important to decarbonize the source of hydrogen in the future, as at the moment hydrogen is mainly produced from fossil fuels with CO2 emission.

ENEOS is working on developing international CO2-free hydrogen supply-chain, and it is key to the success to develop hydrogen carrier which enables large scale transportation of hydrogen from overseas to Japan.

Among several hydrogen carriers promising for commercialization; liquified hydrogen, organic hydride, ammonia and so on, we have obtained a satisfactory result on the study of organic hydride in 2019.

In March, 2019, we successfully verified the world first technology to produce an organic hydride directly from renewable energy in the four (4)-party* project.
*ENEOS Corporation, Chiyoda Corporation, the University of Tokyo and Queensland University of Technology

In the conventional process, organic hydride (methylcyclohexane; MCH) should be synthesized by toluene and hydrogen, and hydrogen must be made first before synthesis. In the novel process developed by ENEOS, using our original electrolysis cell, we paved the way for the cost reduction and energy-saving by making organic hydride directly from toluene and water with electricity, and will continue to develop and scale up this method further.

Meanwhile, to conduct the study for commercialization, we have become a member of CO2-free Hydrogen Energy Supply-chain Technology Research Association, which is promoting field-test on liquifying CO2-free hydrogen produced from brown coal in Australia and exporting it to Japan.

In the future, renewable energy becoming widespread, there is a possibility of power output suppression all over Japan, which happened in Kyushu area in summer 2018. For “renewable energy as the major power source” mentioned by the Japanese Government, it is necessary to control power output fluctuation caused by weather conditions in the form of storing electricity as hydrogen by converting from electricity through electrolysis as well as installing more storage batteries. By taking advantage of the function of hydrogen as a large-scale storage of electricity for a long-cycle, hydrogen can be widespread in the future. We will work on the business relating to the hydrogen’s function of electricity storage.

In ENEOS Group Long-term Vision for 2040, we stated CO2-free hydrogen business as one of the contributions of low-carbon and circular society. ENEOS will proactively endeavor to develop the production technology of CO2-free hydrogen for social implementation and establish international hydrogen supply-chain for the realization of a hydrogen society and the prevention of global-warming.

Partner(s)

Chiyoda Corporation, the University of Tokyo and Queensland University of Technology
CO2-free Hydrogen Energy Supply-chain Technology Research Association