(Hastings/Australia) – The world's first tanker for liquid hydrogen has set sail in Australia. The “Suiso Frontier” set course for Japan from Hastings, Victoria and is expected to arrive in Kobe in mid-February, depending on the weather. She started there in December, heading for Australia. The trip was originally supposed to take place in the spring of last year, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The transport is part of the Australian-Japanese “Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain” pilot project (HESC). The aim is to advance “carbon-neutral hydrogen” through the production of a mixture of brown coal and biomass from the Latrobe Valley, the capture and storage of CO2 (CCS) and the optimization of energy efficiency.

Test and optimize supply chains

The tanker transport is an “important test for the stability of supply chains for liquid hydrogen”. 99,99 percent pure hydrogen was produced in the Latrobe Valley, trucked to Hastings, cooled to minus 253 degrees and then liquefied to less than 800 times its gaseous volume. According to the information, further transports are planned between Australia and Japan with the 116 meter long Suiso Frontier, built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. In addition, the project will, among other things, prepare official approval procedures, review the economic viability of the business model and establish contacts with potential buyers in Australia and Japan. The companies also expect a number of technological improvements from the project. Japan and Australia are financing the project with 500 million Australian dollars (315 million euros).

Basis for commercial implementation

The knowledge gained from the pilot project forms the basis for commercialization. Over the next two years, the project partners want to carry out extensive research and development work on the technical and operational requirements and processes. The commercial phase is expected to produce 225.000 tons of carbon-neutral liquid hydrogen (LH2). This will create 30.000 full-time jobs in the Gippsland and Mornington Peninsula regions.

Conventional drive in the pilot phase

The “Suiso Frontier” was built specifically for the pilot project. In a commercial phase, such liquid hydrogen tankers would be larger and would be powered by hydrogen, similar to how liquid natural gas (LNG) tankers are powered by LNG, a spokeswoman explained when asked by our editorial team. The technology to power a ship crossing the oceans with hydrogen engines is “not yet available, so diesel was the most viable option for the Suiso Frontier for now.”

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd., Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd. and Japan Engine Corporation have formed a consortium to jointly develop hydrogen-powered marine engines for ocean-going and coastal vessels. The companies would develop propulsion and auxiliary engines (generators) “for a wide range of ships, as well as a hydrogen fuel storage and supply system as part of the integrated hydrogen fuel system.” The plan is to bring hydrogen-powered ship engines onto the market by 2025.

The HESC consortium

The Japanese-funded portion of the HESC pilot includes Electric Power Development (J-Power), Shell Japan, Iwatani Corporation (Iwatani), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), Marubeni Corporation (Marubeni), ENEOS Corporation and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd . (K-Line), merged as the Hydrogen Energy Supply-chain Technology Research Association (HySTRA).

According to S&P Global Platts, a US information service for trading in energy, raw materials and agricultural products, the Australian-funded portion of the HESC project is coordinated by Hydrogen Engineering Australia (HEA), a consortium consisting of KHI, J- Power, Iwatani, Marubeni, AGL Energy (AGL) and Sumitomo Corporation (Sumitomo); HEA is a subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

Storage of carbon dioxide under the seabed

In parallel with HESC, the CarbonNet project is being developed by Victoria and the Australian central government. In later commercial operation, CarbonNet's CO2 captured during hydrogen production will be stored using carbon capture and storage technology (CCS) in rock layers 1,5 kilometers deep beneath the Bass Strait, a strait off Melbourne between Tasmania and the Australian mainland.

deep link
https://www.hydrogenenergysupplychain.com/dawn-of-australias-hydrogen-industry/

Photos
HESC project managers, still on Australian soil. © HESC

Graphic below
Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain Technology Research Association (HySTRA) schematic of the hydrogen supply chain from Australia to Japan. © Kawasaki Heavy Industries

(The article was supplemented with information about ship propulsion on January 28.01.2022, XNUMX. d.Red.)