Japanese companies to study hydrogen and ammonia supply chain in Osaka
A consortium of Japanese companies will conduct a study to develop a hydrogen and ammonia supply chain in the Osaka coastal industrial zone.
PHOTO: Getty Images
The consortium comprises Japanese conglomerate Mitsui, chemical company Mitsui Chemicals, engineering firm IHI Corporation and electric power generation company Kansai Electric Power.
“Hydrogen and ammonia are energy sources that can be used to achieve carbon neutrality, as they do not emit CO2 during combustion,” Mitsui says.
Under the agreement, the four companies will “study the development of bases for receiving, storing, and supplying ammonia in the Osaka coastal industrial zone” and conduct surveys to expand the use of ammonia in the Kansai and Setouchi regions in Japan.
Hydrogen will be produced via ammonia cracking, a process by which ammonia is decomposed into hydrogen and nitrogen over a catalyst, Mitsui mentions.
The participant companies are already in discussions with steelmaking company Kobe Steel, which seeks to use the ammonia to achieve carbon neutrality.
Although the companies look to be targeting demand from the power and heat generation industries, ammonia has increasingly been put forward as one of the most likely marine fuels with zero emission potential.
To this end, the shipping industry is getting ready to welcome ammonia-fuelled engines next year. Several ship engine manufacturers are developing ammonia-powered engines. Among them are Swiss Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD), German MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES), Finnish Wärtsilä and Japan Engine Corporation (J-ENG).
The Port of Singapore is working towards starting ammonia bunkering from 2026. For this to happen, ammonia-fuelled vessels will have to enter the global fleet, and safety standards for ammonia bunkering will have to be finalised, according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.
Meanwhile, this month, Norwegian government enterprise Enova also announced plans to launch two new competition-based support programs in the fourth quarter of this year, to offer investment support to vessels powered by hydrogen and ammonia.
By Tuhin Roy
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