Posted on 12 Jan 2023
French AirLiquide’s autothermal reforming (ATR) technology will be the protagonist of Japan's oil and gas Inpex Corporation’s pilot project called “Kashiwazaki Clean Hydrogen and Ammonia Project” to produce low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia.
Together with carbon capture technology, the ATR system allows mass production of hydrogen and ammonia. Unlike steam methane reforming, another technology used to mass produce H2, it proves to be less expensive, energy efficient, and promises “a simplified single train production process to facilitate carbon capture of up to 99%," Air Liquide explains.
This year Air Liquide Engineering & Construction, a subsidiary of the gas producer, will apply its ATR system to Inpex’s Kashiwazaki pilot production line located in the city of Kashiwazaki, in the Niigata prefecture, Japan.
Using oxygen and steam at high temperatures, ATR turns methane into syngas from which hydrogen is extracted and converted to ammonia, methanol or other substances, Kallanish notes.
The Kashiwazaki project, announced by the Japanese corporation in November last year, includes transporting by pipeline natural gas produced at the Inpex’s gas field in Niigata to the Hirai area where a new hydrogen plant will produce around 700 tonnes of blue hydrogen per year. Some of this hydrogen will be used to produce blue ammonia, while the remaining part will go into power generation. The project intends to accelerate clean energy production and Japan’s energy security.
Inpex “plans to commercialise three or more projects by around 2030 and aims to produce and supply 100,000 t or more of hydrogen/ammonia per year targeting an annual CO2 injection volume of 2.5 million t or more in around 2030,” it explains in a note.
The project’s timeline spans from the second half of 2022 until the end of 2025.
Source:Kallanish
