After the huge earthquake hit Tohoku of Japan, our concern on nuclear energy has been increasing. Japanese government decided to drop the current energy strategy and is now considering a shift towards more safe and eco-friendly one until next summer.

All the people involved in R&D or business on hydrogen energy have to carefully examine the safety, risk and usefulness of hydrogen energy and promote the use of it nationwide.

Abstract: Before almost all demand for liquid hydrogen had been limited in space development use. But recently, market share of liquid hydrogen in sales volume has become up to 14% in Japan, because a large-scale liquid hydrogen production plant has been operated since 2006 and then, instead of hydrogen gas delivery, liquid hydrogen delivery has been increasing steadily in industrial use such as electronic and metal industries. One of the reasons for increase in the liquid hydrogen delivery is its high storage density and high delivery efficiency compared with the hydrogen gas delivery. Because of these characteristics, liquid hydrogen is also expected to be one of a promising energy carrier in the future. In addition, because of its features such as high purity and cryogenic temperature, liquid hydrogen is expected to be available for hydrogen stations for fuel cell vehicles and superconducting magnetic energy storage systems (SMES).

The plan of commercializing fuel cell vehicles and hydrogen stations from 2015 was announced by automakers and energy suppliers this year. The Tohoku earthquake crisis hit us and will change energy police planned by the Japanese government. This energy surrounding will promote to structure the hydrogen energy system having safety and no environmental risk. Regarding the hydrogen system, transporting and storing hydrogen economically will be very important. Liquefied hydrogen (LH2) system, one of hydrogen carriers with liquid state, will be the promising medium for middle and long term goal.This paper describes the evolution of hydrogen energy system for future, comparison of LH2 and other hydrogen carriers with the liquid state, and features and issue of the LH2 system playing a big role in hydrogen economy.

Abstract: The organic chemical hydride system is one of the most promising methods of hydrogen transportation. In this paper, we describe both the development of a compact dehydrogenation reactor and its application to a hydrogen fueling station. We have succeeded in generating hydrogen at a rate of 15 Nm³/h from a compact reactor measuring 0.6 m³. By installing an engine generator at the hydrogen fueling station, the compact hydrogen recovery system would be able to utilize the engine’s waste heat, and the station could supply not only hydrogen but also electricity. We have designed a plot plan for a hydrogen fueling station incorporating this compact hydrogen recovery system. Under current regulations, a large plot of land may be required for the hydrogen fueling station.

When using LNG as a carrier of methane which is produced by renewable hydrogen and captured CO₂, it can be an indirect hydrogen carrier. Hydrogen production using the methane will emit CO₂, but it is captured one and do not increase the CO₂ emission all over the world.

Abstract: An ammonia-based economy has many advantages for the future low carbon society. The ammonia economy is also helpful to avoid a critical food shortage caused by the rapid population increase in the world. However, an absolute precondition for the ammonia based economy, is the creation and development of novel ammonia synthesis processes. The conventional Haber-Bosch process, in which natural gas is used as a hydrogen source, unavoidably emits CO₂. Against the above background, a novel electrolytic process for direct ammonia synthesis from water and nitrogen under atmospheric pressure has been proposed and is currently being developed for practical application by the author and his collaborators. Experimental investigations using a prototype cell reveal that the novel electrolytic method requires lower energy than ammonia synthesis by a combination of water electrolysis and the Haber-Bosch process. This paper describes various aspects of the future ammonia industry and presents an overview of the type of economy in which ammonia would be the base of the energy system.

Ammonia (NH₃) is recognized as an attractive hydrogen (H₂) carrier because it has a high hydrogen storage capacity of 17.8 mass% and it is easily liquefied under about 1 MPa at room temperature. However in order to release hydrogen from ammonia, high temperature of 350°C is required even if active Ru-based catalysts are used. To overcome this issue it is demonstrated that alkali metal hydrides react with NH3 at room temperature, generating H₂. It was confirmed that the improvement of the reaction kinetics was clearly found by using the closed circulation system. The H₂ desorption capacity at room temperature in 24 h increased from 50% for the milled LiH to 80% for the TiCl₃ doped milled LiH. We demonstrated the production of compressed H₂ more than 10 MPa was obtained by the reaction between liquid NH₃ and hydride in a closed pressure vessel. Hydrogen gas is generated by the electrolysis of liquid ammonia. The metal amides are used as supporting electrolytes to dissolve the amide ion in liquid ammonia. We have detected hydrogen and nitrogen gas when SrTiO₃ and BaTiO₃ powder is mechanically milled under ammonia gas at room temperature.

In 1898 Sir William Crookes made a famous speech on the basis of his profound examination as follows: “England and all civilized nations stand in deadly peril of not having enough to eat. The fixation of atmospheric nitrogen is one of the great discoveries awaiting the ingenuity of chemists.” Under such circumstances many scientists challenged in vain to synthesize ammonia from its elements. Fritz Haber succeeded in estimating its equilibrium point from the rates of decomposition and synthesis of ammonia, and BASF carried out the industrial formation of ammonia, employing good catalysts. Consequently, as the results of such great contribution, although the population of human being increased as many as four times during the last century, they have had no serious starvation in the world.

In recent years the fossil fuels are going to be exhausted in several centuries, while the nuclear energy is not always safely employed. In the future, accordingly, we may have to depend upon ammonia again, being synthesized from air, water and solar energy for keeping and carrying the necessary energy for us in the future.

Today, the total producing capacity of liquid hydrogen is about 17 T/day (metric) in Japan. This chapter describes the development trace of the liquid hydrogen.