2021 Volume 46 Issue 2 Pages 111-115
In the world, CO2 emission reduction is a very important issue. Introducing large-mass-hydrogen-energy is being expected to expand hydrogen application, or to solve the energy issues. In December 2017, the Japanese government announced a Basic Hydrogen Strategy for introducing hydrogen energy supply chain. Under these circumstances, imported CO2-free hydrogen will be one of the solutions for energy security and CO2 reduction. To achieve this, a pilot demonstration has been already commenced in 2020 aiming at commercialization of CO2-free hydrogen supply chain in the period of 2030’s. The pilot demonstration is comprised of hydrogen production from Australian brown coal, local transportation, loading liquefied hydrogen onto the bulk carrier, world’s first offshore transportation of large volume of liquefied hydrogen between Japan and Australia, and unloading at the Kobe terminal. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. has been promoting the “Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC)” Project. In this report, the followings are shown: a concept of the supply chain and the progress of construction and demonstration of each part of the supply chain, especially for liquefied hydrogen carrier.
