Japanese quartet plans to produce e-methane in the US

Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Toho Gas and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) have signed an agreement to conduct a joint feasibility study on a project to produce synthetic methane (e-methane) in Texas or Louisiana, the companies said on November 29.

The companies plan to liquefy the e-methane at the existing Cameron LNG facility and transport it to Japan utilising other existing infrastructure, including LNG ships and receiving terminals in Japan. The targeted e-methane production volume is 130,000 metric tons/year to start in 2030.

The companies believe that e-methane can be transported via the existing gas infrastructure and combusted in the present gas appliances without enormous costs of replacing or modifying them, which would be required to introduce other decarbonised gaseous energy carriers, such as hydrogen.

While the four companies are respectively conducting feasibility studies on various locations for e-methane outside Japan, they have selected areas near to the existing Cameron LNG facility as most suitable as of now for e-methane production.

Texas and Louisiana, the candidate states for e-methane production sites in this study, have a high potential for sustained availability of abundant renewable energy and easy access to the existing Cameron LNG facility, of which MC owns equity, they said. Furthermore, existing pipelines of carbon dioxide and hydrogen are also accessible.

“This decision was made in light of accessibility to the infrastructure for feedstock procurement and high possibility of achieving early establishment of the supply chain,” they said.