MELBOURNE: A Japanese-Australian venture producing hydrogen from brown coal is set to start loading its maiden cargo on the world’s first liquid hydrogen carrier on Friday, in a test delayed by nearly a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Suiso Frontier, built by Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), arrived Australia this week from Kobe, following a longer trip than the expected 16 days as the ship dodged bad weather and rough seas, said a spokesperson for the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) venture. The ship is scheduled to head back to Japan in about a week.
Led by KHI, HESC is a A$500 million ($360 million) coal-to-hydrogen project backed by Japan and Australia as a way to switch to cleaner energy and cut carbon emissions.
Hydrogen, seen as a path to decarbonizing industries that rely on coal, gas and oil, is key to Japan’s goal to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Australia aims to become a major exporter of the fuel.
The Australian government on Friday committed a further A$7.5 million for HESC’s A$184 million pre-commercialization phase, and A$20 million for testing a capture and storage project for carbon dioxide released in the coal-to-hydrogen process to create a carbon neutral product.
Last year, HESC started extracting 70 kg of hydrogen a day from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley, about 135 km (84 miles) east of Melbourne, where brown coal mines have long fueled some of Australia’s most polluting power stations.
The hydrogen is produced by reacting coal with oxygen and steam under high heat and pressure. It is then trucked to a port site where it is cooled to minus 253 degrees Celsius (minus 423 Fahrenheit), liquefying it for export.
The partners are looking to produce up to 225,000 tons of hydrogen a year.
They will need to make a final investment decision by 2025, with Australia racing against countries in the Middle East and elsewhere to produce carbon neutral hydrogen, said Jeremy Stone, a director of J-Power, one of the HESC partners.
Partners in the project include Japan’s Electric Power Development Co, Iwatani Corp, Marubeni Corp., Sumitomo Corp. and Australia’s AGL Energy Ltd., whose mine is supplying the brown coal.
World’s first hydrogen tanker to ship test cargo to Japan from Australia
https://arab.news/zfm3v
World’s first hydrogen tanker to ship test cargo to Japan from Australia
- The hydrogen is cooled to minus 253 degrees Celsius (minus 423 Fahrenheit), liquefying it for export
India seals $3bn LNG agreement with UAE
- Leaders hold talks to strengthen trade, defense ties
NEW DELHI, DUBAI: India signed a $3 billion deal on Monday to buy liquefied natural gas from the UAE, making it the Gulf country’s top customer, as the leaders of both countries held talks to strengthen trade and defense ties.
The agreement was signed during a very brief two-hour visit to India by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan for talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
They pledged to double bilateral trade to $200 billion in six years and form a strategic defense partnership.
Abu Dhabi state firm ADNOC Gas will supply 0.5 million tonnes of LNG a year to India’s Hindustan Petroleum Corp. for 10 years, the companies said.
ADNOC Gas said the agreement brings the total value of its contracts with India to over $20 billion.
“India is now the UAE’s largest customer and a very important part of ADNOC Gas’ LNG strategy,” the company said.
The UAE is India’s third largest trading partner and Sheikh Mohammed was accompanied by a government delegation that included his defense and foreign ministers. The two sides signed a letter of intent to work toward forming a strategic defense partnership, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters.
Misri, however, said that the signing of the letter of intent with the UAE does not mean that India will get involved in regional conflicts.
“Our involvement on the defense and security front with a country from the region does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that we will get involved in particular ways in the conflicts of the region,” he said.
