In a World-first Trial, Japan-Australia Venture starts producing Hydrogen from Brown Coal

In world-first trial, Japan-Australia venture startsIn a World-first trial, a Japan-Australia venture has started to produce Hydrogen from Brown Coal.  The production is taking place at the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) coal-to-hydrogen plant in Brown Coal Reserves in the state of Victoria, 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 World’s 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 world’s 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 World’s 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:

Capital– Tokyo
Currency– Japanese yen
Prime Minister– Yoshihide Suga

About Australia:

Prime Minister – Scott Morrison
Capital – Canberra





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