Tokyo Gas begins artificial methane trial using green hydrogen

YOKOHAMA: Tokyo Gas, Japan’s top city gas supplier, said on Friday (Jun 24) it has begun the pilot programme of methanation, a technologies to help decarbonise town gas, and plans to use green hydrogen sourced from renewable energy for the trial by next March.

Methanation converts hydrogen and co2 (CO2) into synthetic methane, an alternative for the main component within natural gas. It is considered a way of making use of CO2 as a natural material that could help the company achieve co2 neutrality in 2050.

Methane can be utilized in many ways, including like a fuel to generate heat and electricity in power plants or even at home, and as the raw material for the chemical industry.

For the first-phase test aimed at producing twelve. 5 normal cu metres per hour (Nm3/h) synthetic methane, Tokyo Gas has installed Hitachi Zosen’s methanation device at the research centre in Yokohama, near Tokyo, and begun generating the fuel from hydrogen and CARBON DIOXIDE procured from outside.

It programs to install a drinking water electrolysis device through Britain’s ITM Power and use renewable-based hydrogen to produce synthetic methane by March, Hisataka Yakabe, Tokyo Gas’s executive official, said during a media tour of the services.

It will also use CO2 emitted and captured from close by factories or the customers.

Tokyo Gas is aiming to replace about one per cent of city gas volume along with synthetic methane simply by 2030.

It will scale up the demo in late 2020s to create 400 Nm3/h, then an overseas demo in 2030 to generate 20, 000 Nm3/h.

“The biggest challenge is reducing cost, ” Yakabe said, adding the particular methanation cost about 2030 would be much higher than liquefied gas (LNG) prices, even with inexpensive overseas alternative energy and lower hydrogen production costs.

“Cost reduction should be achieved through multiple measures, ” he said.

Tokyo Gas is also aiming to build global supply chains of artificial methane, conducting feasibility studies in Malaysia with Sumitomo Corp and Petronas, and North America and Australia with Mitsubishi Corp.