In a World-first trial, a Japan-Australia venture has started to produce Hydrogen from Brown Coal.┬а The production is taking place at the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) coal-to-hydrogen plant in Brown Coal Reserves in the state of┬аVictoria, Australia.
- The project is worth 500 Million Australian Dollars (USD 390 Million)
- HESC is run by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Japan). The other partners in the project are Iwatani Corp, Marubeni Corp, Sumitomo Corp & AGL Energy Ltd (Australia).
Aim of the Project
- To show that Liquefied hydrogen can be produced commercially & exported safely overseas.
- To create the First International supply chain for liquified hydrogen, and ship a cargo on the WorldтАЩs 1st liquified hydrogen carrier.
Key Points
Importance to Japan
- The project will be vital in helping Japan to meet its target of net zero carbon emission by 2050.
- Japan, which is the worldтАЩs Fifth Largest Energy Consumer (after China, USA, India & Russia) is aiming to increase its annual hydrogen demand by 10-times to 20 Million Tonnes by 2050 (equivalent to about 40% of its current power generation).
- The first cargo to Japan has been delayed due to Pandemic.
Brown Coal
- It is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its low energy content.
- The Victoria state in Australia is home to a Quarter of WorldтАЩs known brown coal reserves.
- According to studies, hydrogen produced from coal is half to one-third the cost of producing green hydrogen.
Recent Related News:
i.On October 29, 2020 Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Research and Development(R&D) Centre of IndianOil Corporation Limited(IOCL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) to develop and demonstrate biomass gasification-based hydrogen generation technology.
About Japan:
CapitalтАУ Tokyo
CurrencyтАУ Japanese yen
Prime MinisterтАУ Yoshihide Suga
About Australia:
Prime Minister тАУ Scott Morrison
Capital тАУ Canberra
