Asahi Kasei, JDC partner for mega scale hydrogen production system

Asahi Kasei Corporation (a multinational Japanese chemical company) and JGC Holdings Corporation (a Japanese engineering company) will jointly demonstrate a large alkaline water electrolysis system on a scale of up to 100 MW.

Both partners have jointly applied for a project entitled ‘Large-scale Alkaline Water Electrolysis System Development and Green Chemical Plant Demonstration’ under the ‘Green Innovation Fund /Hydrogen Production by Water Electrolysis Using Renewable Energy’ set for 2021–2030 by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (Nedo). The project has now been accepted.

Asahi Kasei will provide its expertise in technological development for scale-up and modularisation of the alkaline water electrolysis system and constituent technology for large alkaline water electrolysers. It will also help JGC in the technological demonstration of green chemical plants.

Asahi Kasei is working to commercialise hydrogen production technology, including developing the world-leading 10 MW large-scale alkaline water electrolysis system at the Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R) as part of a NEDO project. JGC has also developed ammonia production technology using CO2-free hydrogen through the Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) led by the Cabinet Office of Japan.

Both partners will work on the project and the green chemical plant using hydrogen from renewable energy using their hydrogen-related technology to support hydrogen applications.

Demonstration and commercialisation of the large alkaline water electrolysis system will use feedback from FH2R for parallel installation of electrolysers to meet market needs from the perspectives of safety, durability, performance, and cost.

For the green chemical plant, Asahi Kasei and JGC will jointly develop an integrated control system that controls the hydrogen supply and optimises plant operation in the process supplied by hydrogen feedstock produced from renewable energy. Feasibility study and technological demonstration will also be performed on plants utilising the integrated control system to synthesise products such as green ammonia.

Both partners will also involve other companies from the green hydrogen and green chemicals supply chain to expedite commercialisation and market creation. So far, Mitsubishi and Jera are set to join the project this year.