Inpex – a leading global energy company, announced it will build Japan’s first demonstration project that will produce clean hydrogen and ammonia including carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) technology.
The hydrogen and ammonia will be produced from natural gas exploited from Inpex’s Minami-Nagaoka field. The fossil fuel will be transported to the depleted Higashi-Kashiwazaki field in Hirai via an existing pipeline. 700 tons of blue hydrogen are planned to be produced annually.
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Some part of the hydrogen will be used to produce blue ammonia and the rest will be used for power generation. The CO2 generated during the production of hydrogen and ammonia will be captured and injected into a subsurface gas reservoir.
“This will be Japan’s first demonstration project integrating blue hydrogen and ammonia production and usage, and one of the few in the world that have taken FID on the construction of an actual production plant,’ according to Inpex.
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The company also explained most of the announced blue hydrogen and ammonia production projects currently remain in the conceptual or planning stages. The project will also strengthen Japan’s energy security as it will produce clean energy from domestically sourced gas.
Inpex plans to commercialize three or more carbon capture projects by around 2030 and aims to produce and supply 100 thousand tons or more of hydrogen/ammonia per year. It also targets an annual CO2 injection volume of at least 2.5 million tons by 2030.
