Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation
Promotion Program（SIP）
Energy Carriers
SIP Energy Carriers
Reducing CO2 emission is a global issue. For Japan, a country poor in energy resources, it is
necessary to construct a low-carbon society as well as to promote a stable energy supply through
the diversification. We have large expectations for the role of hydrogen energy. However, towards
the large-scale use of hydrogen, there remains a lot of issues to overcome technology barriers and
high cost . Proceeding the research, development and demonstration of hydrogen technologies
with industry-academia-government collaboration under the leadership of government will
contribute significantly to solve energy and environment problems in Japan. And it will eventually
bring Japan a world leader in hydrogen utilization and the related industries.
Under these circumstances,“Energy carriers", a technology development program toward the
realization of hydrogen society has been launched as one of the 10 themes of the Cross-ministerial
Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) spearheaded by the Council for Science, Technology
and Innovation in 2014.“Energy carriers“ is the method to efficiently store and transport hydrogen
as liquid, while hydrogen, gaseous at normal state, is difficult to handle.
In this program, we aim to build CO2 -free hydrogen value chain by focusing on the developments
of technologies for CO2 -free hydrogen production, conversion to energy carriers; liquid hydrogen,
organic hydride and ammonia, and storage, transportation and utilization.
Strategy of Energy Carriers
Natural gas
Petroleum
Coal
〜 Development of CO2 free hydrogen value chain 〜
Hydrogen
production
Reforming/
gasification
H₂
Transport（Energy carriers）
Utilization
Fuel cell vehicle
Liquid hydrogen
LH₂
Gasification
Power generation
H₂
Renewable
energy
Carbon capture
and storage
Fuel cell
Organic hydrides
（methylcyclohexane）
MCH
Dehydrogenation
H₂
Production by
electricity and heat
Ammonia
NH₃
NH3direct combustion
gas turbine
Direct use
Fuel cell NH3furnace
● Hydrogen can be produced from various energy sources and can be utilized for electricity as well as fuel
(Potential to reduce CO2 emission significantly)
● Hydrogen has a difficulty in transportation, because it is low Btu gaseous form. It is essential to develop viable masstransportation methods and related technologies (energy carrier) and make hydrogen to be affordable energy source.
Vision
Realize the world’
s first new type low carbon society utilizing hydrogen
in Japan by 2030 and be a role model in the world.
2015-2020
2020-2030
● Commercialization of fuel
cell vehicle, residential
fuel cell cogeneration
● Developments of technologies
related to carbon free hydrogen
production, energy carrier
and utilizations of hydrogen
and carriers
● Demonstration of hydrogen
society in 2020 Tokyo
Olympics and Paralympics
2030-
● Expansion of fuel cell
markets
● Commercialization of large
scale hydrogen power plant
● Introduction of hydrogen
power generation
● Introduction of carbon free
hydrogen in large scale
● Demonstration of high
● Japanese hydrogen
efficient power generation
relevant industries play an
using hydrogen and energy
active role in the global
carrier from small scale up
market
to large scale
Research & Development subjects
April 1, 2016
Ammonia-related
research subjects
Organic hydrides -related
research subjects
Hydrogen-related
research subjects
High-Temperature
Solar Thermal
Energy Supply
Hydrogen Production
Technology Using
Solar Heat
Development of Cargo
Loading/unloading System
for Liquid Hydrogen and
the Relevant Rules
for Operation
Development of
Hydrogen Engine
Technology
Production
Carrier
transformation
Transportation
Storage
Development of
Ammonia Synthesis
Process from
CO2 Free Hydrogen
Basic Technology
for Hydrogen Station
Utilizing Ammonia
Utilization
Ammonia Fuel Cell
Ammonia Direct
Combustion
Safety Assessment of Energy Carrier
Development of
Hydrogen Supplying
Technology Based on
Organic Hydride
High-Temperature Solar Thermal
Energy Supply System
Research
Director
Professor, Laboratory for Advanced Nuclear
Energy, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Yukitaka Kato
Development of Ammonia Synthesis
Process from CO2- Free Hydrogen
Research
Director
General Manager, R&D Center, Technology
Innovation Center, JGC Corporation
Yasushi Fujimura
Purpose Development of high-temperature (650°
C) solar thermal
Purpose Development of high-efficiency ammonia synthesis
energy supply system to produce H2 efficiently by introduction
process from CO2-free hydrogen produced from renewable
of new solar thermal corrector, collecting tube, heat transfer
energy or fossil fuel
media and thermal energy storage technologies
Research
Outline Major R&D Item is as follows:
The team is aiming that ammonia which has high volume
hydrogen density is produced as an energy carrier by hydrogen
◆ Development of ammonia
synthesis
produced from solar thermal energy supply system. High-
catalyst with
temperature (650°
C) solar thermal energy collection system
high activity
with more than 70% of solar radiation and heat collection
at low
efficiency in which the temperature is higher than conventional
temperature
solar thermal system is developed. Elemental technologies
◆ The pilot
of solar corrector, heat transfer fluid, solar thermal energy
plant will be
correction tube, and thermal energy storage for 24 hour heat
constructed
supply to H2 production system are developed.
and
Research
Outline
Solar thermal energy
collection tube
in 2018 to
N2
Heat
Storage
Solar Thermal Linear
Corrector for 650°
C
operated
Point solar thermal
collector
Linear focused solar thermal collector
H2
Production:
IS Process,
Electrolysis
Heat
Exch.
H2O
H2
NH3
Production
NH3
confirm
performance
of the new
catalyst and
Electricity
Power plant
Heat Transfer Fluid/
Material and Corrosion
＋
process.
Integration to H2
production
Combination with Point
solar thermal collector
Thermochemical Energy
storage
Total System Design
Hydrogen Production
Technology Using Solar Heat
Research
Director
Group Leader, HTGR Hydrogen & Heat Application
Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency
Nariaki Sakaba
Basic Technology for Hydrogen
Station Utilizing Ammonia
Research
Director
Yoshitsugu Kojima
Director, Institute for Advanced Materials
Research, Hiroshima University
Purpose Development of highly efficient hydrogen production
Purpose The purpose of this research is to develop ammonia
technologies by water splitting without CO2 emission using
decomposition and high purity H2 supply system for hydrogen
solar heat at around 650°
C
filling station.
Research
Outline Development of elemental technologies and
Research
Outline High purity H2 supply system with low cost hydrogen
demonstration of technical feasibility will be performed for the
transportation is a key issue to spread fuel cell vehicles (FCVs)
following two hydrogen production methods.
and FC fork lifts. In this theme, we focused on ammonia as a
1) Membrane
hydrogen carrier
IS Process;
Heat
~400̊C
hydrogen
production
H2
+
I2
by thermal
water splitting
using chemical
reactions with
iodine and sulfur,
and membrane
technologies
2) New steam
I2
2HI
Iodine (I)
cycle
production by
steam splitting
with proton
conducting oxide
using electricity
and heat
HTGR
Production of
HI and H2SO4
H2SO4
2HI + H2SO4
I2 + SO2 + 2H2O
H 2O
Hydrogen iodide
(HI) decomposition
gravimetric and
1/2O2
+
SO2+H2O
Sulfur (S)
cycle SO2
+
H 2O
Sulfuric acid (H2SO4)
decomposition
Reaction Scheme of Membrane IS Process
Promote the decomposition of sulfuric acid and
hydrogen iodide by the membrane separation technology
Anode
Electricity
electrolysis;
hydrogen
because of high
Heat
~650̊C
Heat
Cathode
eH2O
eH+
H2
O2
Proton conducting oxide
Principle of New Steam Electrolysis
Split steam at high efficiency using
electricity and heat
volumetric H2
Ammonia decomposition and high
purity H2 supply system
NH3
NH3 cracker
Small amount of NH3 remover
densities. We
High
purity
H2
will develop a
high purity H2
supply system,
H2O
N2
which satisfies
hydrogen fuel
specifications for
FCVs (ISO
14687-2) by NH3
decomposition
and separation
technologies.
NH3
H2
Development of Hydrogen Supplying
Technology Based on Organic Hydride
Ammonia Fuel Cell
Research
Director
Koichi Eguchi
Professor, Graduate School of Engineering,
Kyoto University
Research
Director
Principal Researcher, Central Technical Research
Laboratory, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation
Hideshi Iki
Purpose Development and demonstration of highly effective
Purpose To develop a practical hydrogen refueling station
ammonia-fueled fuel cell systems
and hydrogen supplying system based on organic hydride
Outline ◆ Developing the direct ammonia-fueled SOFC systems
and demonstrating 1 kW-scale power generation systems (main
technology
target)
dehydrogenation system for hydrogen refueling stations:
◆ Investigating the combined systems as follows: (1) ammonia
(1) Improving performance of the dehydrogenation catalyst
auto-thermal cracker and SOFC; (2) ammonia cracker and
(2) Improving efficiency & reducing the size of modular
AEMFC (sub-target)
dehydrogenation system
◆ Elucidating the compatibility of ammonia for the fuel cell
(3) Developing
systems and the degradation behavior of the ammonia-fueled
low-cost hydrogen
fuel cells
purification system
Research
Research
Outline The followings are focused to develop a modular
(4) Conducting safety
Solid oxide fuel cell（SOFC）
◆ System 1
Gas in
Inverter
AC 1 kW
Power
Direct supply
Hot module
Control
unit
◆ System 2
Autu-thermal
NH3 cracker
Anion exchange membrane fuel cell
（AEMFC ）
Filter
Gas in
Pump
NH 3
NH3 cracker
Methyl cyclohexane
efficient organic
hydride production are
FCV
also being developed.
develop organic-
Air
Exhaust
Heat
Radiator
Toluene
hydride based
Blower
Combustor
Gas out
Technologies for
Further goal is to
SOFC
Gas out
H2
assessments
NH3-fueled SOFC system
Drain
H2
hydrogen refueling
stations and to
promote widespread
adoption of FCVs.
Modular dehydrogenation system
Development of Cargo Loading/
unloading System for Liquid Hydrogen
and the Relevant Rules for Operation
Ammonia Direct Combustion
Research
Director
Hideaki Kobayashi
Professor, Institute of Fluid Science,
Tohoku University
Purpose To develop ammonia direct combustion technology to
Research
Director
Tetsuya Senda
Deputy Managing Director,
Japan Ship Technology Research Association
utilize ammonia which is a hydrogen energy carrier as well as a
Purpose This research aims to develop a loading and unloading
CO2 - free fuel
system for liquid hydrogen and to establish relevant rules for
Research
Outline Highly efficient utilization of ammonia combustion such
operation of the system.
as:
Research
Outline In the research, swivel joints and emergency release
1) Gas turbine power generation using ammonia alone and
systems for liquid hydrogen are to be developed, based on the
ammonia/natural-gas mixed fuel
existing LNG handling technology, and a loading and unloading
2) Application
system for liquid hydrogen integrating the developed
equipment will
of ammonia
reciprocal
be constructed.
NH3
Operational
engines for
transportations
Hydrogen production and ammonia synthesis
using renewable energy
3) Heat utilization
in industrial
Chemical energy storage taking advantages
of ammonia in terms of preservation and
transportation
furnaces using
ammonia as a fuel
performs
and verification
tests based on
Reciprocal engine
Applications of ammonia
direct combustion
NH3
NH3 flame
Generator
fundamental
combustion
research.
CP
Air
TB
N2, H2O
and rules and
standards will be
LNG loading system
Swivel joint for LNG
of the worldfirst system.
The rules and
Industrial furnace
Gas turbine
Combustor
are also specified
the safe operation
NH3
technology
safety measures
established for
NH3
NH3
This project
development
liquid natural gas carrier
NH3
Air
!"#$%&"'(
Utilization of power, electricity and heat
standards will be
internationalized,
as necessary.
start releasing
Close cascaded valves
Finish releasing
Emergency release system for LNG
Development of Hydrogen Engine
Technology
Research
Director
Masahide Kazari
Energy Carriers; their physico-chemical properties
Senior Manager, Technical Institute, Kawasaki
Heavy Industries , Ltd.
Pressurized
Hydrogen
Purpose We conduct the research for high efficiency and low-NOx　（700MPa）
Liquid
Hydrogen
emission hydrogen engine realization.
Research
Outline We conduct the following research items for high efficiency
and low-NOx-emission open-cycle hydrogen engine which shall
be used for power generation or ship propulsion.
◆ Hydrogen
combustion
Hydrogen engine
control
technology
◆ Low-NOx
technology
◆ High
pressure
Hydrogen injector
injector
High pressure
hydrogen
pump
◆ High
pressure
hydrogen
pump
Liquid hydrogen
2.0
2.0
98.2
17.0
H2 Content
（wt％）
100
100
6.2
17.8
Volumetric
H2 Density
（kg-H2/m3）
39.6
70.8
47.3
121
Boiling
Point
（℃ ）
ー
-253
101
-33.4
ー
0.90
67.5
30.6
H2 Release
Enthalpy
Change
※（kJ/mol-H2）
Other
Properties
● Widely
used
open-cycle hydrogen engine
※ H2 release enthalpy change
Safety Assessment of Eenergy Carrier
Research
Director
Atsumi Miyake
Professor, Center for Creation of Symbiosis Society
with Risk, Yokohama National University
Purpose The purpose is to build the vital society in which hydrogen
energy can be operated safely and sustainably within an
acceptable cost in suitable area.
Research
Outline Risk assessment and management of the following
three supply chain in the transportation, storage, and supply
processes are carried
out not only from
the perspective of
the operators and
manufacturers, but also
Transportation
Analysis of hydrogen gas Explosion analysis
leakage behavior
H2
H2
from the perspective of
the citizens.
Storage
1) Compressed
hydrogen supply chain
2) Liquid hydrogen
supply chain
3) Organic hydride
supply chain
Risk assessment of energy carrier
transportation
Supply
Ammonia
（Methyl
Cyclohexane)
Molecular
Weight
Hydrogen
combustion control
technology
hydrogen
Organic
Hydride
● High H2
density
infrastructures
● Direct use for
can be utilized.
combustion
● High purity ● Existing oil
● Low energy
to pressurize
I would like to demonstrate the hydrogen technologies
developed for production, transportation, storage and
utilization as tangible results at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic
and Paralympic Games.
It is not only a demonstration as a showcase
but also aims to be a big first step toward
hydrogen society in Japan.
I have a confidence that hydrogen energy
would contribute to the attractive urban
development.
Program Director,
SIP Energy Carriers
Shigeru Muraki
Exective Adviser, Tokyo Gas Co.,Ltd
Basic Scheme of Hydrogen Society
High temperature
water vapor
electrolysis
Hydrogen from unused renewable
digester gas, biomass, etc.
Refinery hydrogen,
By-product hydrogen,
Gas reforming hydrogen
Hydrogenation
(electrolysis etc.)
Renewable energy
Compressed
hydrogen
MCH Ammonia
Liquid
hydrogen
CH3
NH3
Transportation and storage as an energy carrier
Hydrogen
powered
generation
Ammonia
powered
generation
Hydrogen storage
emergency power
Hydrogen PEFC
Ammonia FC
SOFC tri-generation
Production
Transportation
Dehydrogenating
HYDROGEN STATION
Utilization
Hydrogen
station
The use of waste heat
from FC systems for
air conditioning
hot water supply etc.
FC Bus
FCV
FC Boat
V2G：Vehicle to Grid
Energy management for buildings, housing
and facilities（ Hydrogen、heat、electricity ）
For Low-carbon, BCP(Business continuity plan)
Advanced smart
community
to take advantage of
the hydrogen
Operation of buses by ART system
(Advanced Rapid Transit)
http://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/gaiyo/sip/
http://www.jst.go.jp/sip/k04.html
2016. 5