Australia Launches Coal-to-Hydrogen Production

Operations have begun at the a coal-to-hydrogen pilot project in Australia's southeast Victoria state, its operating consortium reported on March 12.

The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) is being developed by a consortium of Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries, J-Power, Iwatani Corp, Marubeni Corp and Sumitomo Corp, along with Australia's AGL, with support from the Victorian, Australian and Japanese governments. It aims to develop a complete hydrogen supply chain, producing the fuel through gasification of Latrobe Valley coal, transporting it to the port of Hastings, and liquefying and shipping it to Japan.

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A ceremony was held on March 12 to mark the start of operations at the gasification and gas refining facilities in Latrobe Valley. The HESC consortium said the milestone was "a world first and a giant leap forward for the country's ambition to be a key player in the emerging global hydrogen economy."

The Victorian and Australian governments are also developing the parallel CarbonNet project to capture and store CO₂ that would otherwise be released during the hydrogen production. This CO₂ will be stored in rocks 1.5 km beneath the Bass Strait.

If brought to commercial scale, HESC could produce 225,000 metric tons/year of clean hydrogen, helping to reduce emissions by 1.8mn mt/yr. The project will "help develop the infrastructure and highly-skilled workers that are crucial ingredients for the emergence of an Australian hydrogen industry," the consortium partners said.