H2Tech - Q1 2021 - 26

SPECIAL FOCUS

ADVANCES IN HYDROGEN TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 7. Logistics flow for the AHEAD H2 supply chain demonstration project.

FIG. 8. Demonstration hydrogenation plant in Brunei.

FIG. 9. Demonstration dehydrogenation plant in Kawasaki, Japan.

26 Q1 2021 | H2-Tech.com

(AHEAD), and subsequently initiated
the world's first global H2 supply chain
demo project, for which construction was
completed in 2020.
Global supply chain. AHEAD's key
project is aimed at demonstrating the
transport of H2 via a chemical carrier over
a distance of 5,000 km, from the production site in Brunei to Tokyo Harbor. The
demo project is funded by the Japanese
New Energy and Industrial Technology
Development Organization (NEDO).
The production and shipment of
methylcyclohexane in ISO containers
were started in early 2020. FIG. 7 shows
the flow of material from Brunei to Tokyo Harbor and the return of toluene to
Brunei. H2 was produced at a preexisting
process plant site in Brunei through conventional steam reforming of natural gas;
however, the SPERA process can be applied to H2 from any production means.
The planned capacity of the demo
system is 210 metric tpy (210,000 kgy),
which is approximately the amount required for a single fueling of around
40,000 FCEVs. In the case of the demo
project, the H2 is burned in a powergenerating gas turbine located within an
existing site in Kawasaki, Japan. The two
SPERA production sites-the hydrogenation site in Brunei (FIG. 8) and the dehydrogenation site in Kawasaki (FIG. 9)-
have operated continuously throughout
2020, basically fulfilling all of the original
goals of the demo program.
Power-to-gas demo. In parallel to
demonstrating SPERA as part of a global
supply chain, additional programs were
undertaken to further demonstrate the
robustness of the technology. A smallscale power-to-gas demo project outline
is depicted in FIG. 10. This project was
carried out in Yokohama, Japan and also
funded by NEDO.
Energy from a simulated wind farm
was used to power an alkaline electrolyzer for H2 production. The recovered
alkaline H2 was then purified and sent to
the existing SPERA demo plant, as shown
in FIG. 10. These steps demonstrate the
ability to harness wind energy, which is
then stored as H2 and can be transported
to any site desired. In the demo project,
the recovered H2 was purified and then
utilized in a lab-scale solid oxide fuel cell
(SOFC) for power production. In a realworld utilization scenario, for example,
offshore wind energy could be harnessed

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