May 16, 2023
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Hydrogen could be shipped soon in oil tankers and at ambient temperatures, provided a pilot project from Japan in Australia proves successful.
Eneos, the largest oil firm in Japan, will launch a demonstration plant in Brisbane next month where a liquid hydrogen carrier, methylcyclohexane (MCH), will be made.
MCH is produced by storing the hydrogen in tanks and then reacting the gas with toluene — a chemical compound (organic) — with the help of synthesizing equipment.
Eneos is working on an electrolyzer that turns toluene and water into MCH in a step. Hydrogen will be extracted from the MCH once it reaches its ultimate destination. Eneos, by 2026, plans on commencing mass production of hydrogen.
Currently, hydrogen is stored at minus 253 degrees Celsius to stay liquefied – an expensive procedure that boasts limited shipping opportunities until now with a small liquefied hydrogen vessel – the Susio Frontier – in operations.
Earlier this month, Vopak, a Dutch oil and chemical storage major, declared that it was collaborating with Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies on a joint venture firm for hydrogen storage, supply, and transport utilizing typical liquid-fuel infrastructure in a way similar to that of Eneos.
The German-based venture, dubbed LOHC Logistix, is expected to use Hydrogenious’ liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC), a unique technology based on benzyl toluene that can handle it like a fossil liquid fuel in any existing tanker at ambient pressure and temperature.
References: Eneos, Asia Nikkei
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