Inpex kicks off construction of hydrogen/ammonia plant in Japan

Japanese energy producer Inpex has begun construction of a hydrogen and ammonia production plant for its project in the Niigata Prefecture of Japan.

GRAPH: The project diagram of the plant. Inpex.

Construction of the entire facility is expected to be completed by August 2025. Inpex claims this to be the first project for development of an integrated hydrogen and ammonia value chain in Japan.

The project will have infrastructure to separate and capture carbon dioxide emissions produced during hydrogen production, and for the production, storage and shipping of ammonia, Inpex said.

Ammonia and hydrogen have attracted significant investments from global energy producers and shipping companies as these fuels can potentially help cut emissions and meet the IMO's decarbonisation targets. The use of natural gas in hydrogen production has been criticised by environmental activists because of its reliance on fossil fuels and the emissions associated with them.

As a workaround, companies have turned to carbon capture and storage - a method of capturing CO2 emissions and "injecting" them for storage in porous rocks so that they are not released into the atmosphere.

Inpex says it will use natural gas produced in Niigata to produce hydrogen and ammonia at its upcoming plant. The CO2 emissions will then be injected into the Higashi-Kashiwazaki Gas Field Reservoir, a subsurface gas reservoir where gas production has stopped.

Inpex plans to launch three or more hydrogen and carbon capture projects by 2030 to supply over 100,000 mt/year or more of hydrogen/ammonia with CO2 injection of 2.5 million mt/year or more by then.

By Debarati Bhattacharjee

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