RISING FROM THE ASHES: Towards a Hydrogen Economy in Japan

By Abimbola Shode

Hydrogen is an energy carrier which just like electricity is useful for moving in other forms to power homes or equipments. Hydrogen is derived from sources such as fossil fuels, water and biomass[1]. Although, the hydrogen gas is very plenteous in the universe, it never exists alone but is usually mixed up with other gases and it occurs in compound forms. For instance there is hydrogen in water, oil, coal, methane and all living things. In terms of energy content, hydrogen has the highest energy content by weight but the lowest by volume, this quality does not therefore make hydrogen as potent as other fossil fuels due to the need to burn more hydrogen to produce the same amount of energy.

There are two major sources of obtaining hydrogen; through steam reformation which involves deriving hydrogen from fossil fuels. An alternative source but very expensive method is to derive hydrogen by separating water by passing electric currents through it (Electrolysis)[2].

In the light of the explanations given above, a hydrogen economy is one dominated by the use of hydrogen to power virtually all sectors of the economy such that the problems of economic dependence on fossil fuels and global warming have become largely history[3]. For the purpose of this article, the focus will be on a ‘pure hydrogen economy’ where the electricity used in the Electrolysis process will be obtained from renewable sources such as biomass, hydro and nuclear[4]. Hydrogen can either be burned directly to generate energy or used as fuel cells. Fuel cell power plants are known to be useful for generation of electricity with very low environmental pollution.

POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF A HYDROGEN ECONOMY IN JAPAN

In principle, a pure hydrogen economy will not generate any significant emissions of GHGs (Green House Gases). The main clause however for the ‘cleanliness’ of the hydrogen based economy will depend on the entire fuel chain from production to use. Hydrogen is obtained from renewable and nuclear energy, or from natural gas and coal.

CO₂ capture and sequestration is a very climate friendly energy carrier which could help mitigate the problems of climate change.  If for instance Japan chooses to generate electricity from fuel cell, the typical emissions from a fuel cell power plant shows that very little NOx, CO and particulates will be emitted in the process while no SOx  will be detected at all (figure 5) and since fuel cells burn hydrogen the only by product from the process will be water.

Figure 5: Typical Emissions from a Fuel Cell Power Plant

Source: Business Insights, Outlook of Fuel cells, 2008

Also certain types of fuel cells can be powered by burning other conventional fossil fuels rather than hydrogen with very limited changes to the engines and turbines. The efficiency of a fuel cell plant which is on the average higher powered by natural gas is higher than that of a thermal plants that utilize the same amount of natural gas, hence could lead to reducing GHG emissions[5]. 

GOVERNMENT COMMITMENT TOWARDS THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY

Considering the fact that Japan is a resource poor nation which currently depends on fossil fuels for a large chunk of its energy needs, it is no surprise that it is arguably one of the most aggressive nations in the world with respect to the pursuit of a full scale hydrogen economy.  From as early as the 1980’s, ambitious targets were set to accelerate R&D into hydrogen. Japan planned to achieve a hydrogen economy through a 50 year period from the 1980s to 2020. This long term plan was divided into three distinct phases: The first phase - ‘The demonstration phase’, started in 1980’s, focuses on providing a platform undertaking hydrogen based R&D covering all areas from production to transportation and storage and application of hydrogen. In addition, the demonstration phase involves testing the developed systems in order to measure the amount of energy savings and carbon reductions that would result from using hydrogen as against using fossil fuels especially for vehicles and domestic power generation purposes.

  

In 2008, Japan staged one of the largest demonstration projects so far in the history of the world in Fukuoka. As part of the "Fukuoka Hydrogen Town" model project[6] built on the principle of developing a residential hydrogen fuel cell system, 150 houses in the communities were installed with fuel cell systems for provision of their energy needs. The second phase of the hydrogen transition involves the gradual introduction of fuel cells into the energy and transportation sector. The target by the Japanese government is that by 2010, the number of fuel cell vehicles (FCV) on the road will be 50,000 and there would also be 2.1 GW of stationary fuel cells in operation. The last phase focuses on mass commercialization of the hydrogen technology so that by 2020, Japan would have at least 5 million FCV’s, 4,000 hydrogen filling stations and 10 GW of stationary fuel cell cogeneration plants[7].

For Japan to achieve the goals for a hydrogen economy by 2050, the Japanese government has initiated two projects ‘The New Hydrogen Project and The Japan Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Demonstration Project’ to see to the smooth administration of its plans and programs[8]. According to an IEA report on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell in 2004, Japan has committed to spending ¥30billion[9] per year on hydrogen R&D and in addition to this METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) has launched a program with a target of full commercialization of fuel cells and hydrogen-infrastructure by 2020[10]. As a result of such strong government commitment and the relative comparative advantage which exists in Japan’s automobile industry, its auto makers like Nissan, Toyota and Honda are currently at work to develop the first commercially viable FCV[11].

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELLS[12]

There are four major areas that are of concern in assessing the technical feasibility of hydrogen and fuel cells and they are enumerated below:

• Production of the hydrogen: Raises issue of what would be the source of the hydrogen. It could be from fossil fuels (reformative steaming) or from Electrolysis (Separation of hydrogen from water by passing Electric current through it).
• Distribution: Focuses on transportation of the hydrogen from point of production to point of use, will it be through pipelines or some customised equipment?
• Storage of the Hydrogen or Fuel Cells: Relates to storage of the hydrogen onboard equipment or in a safe place prior to its use. This aspect raises the issue of safety codes and standards.

• Development of Infrastructure to support Hydrogen: This is more specific to the transport sector where FCV will have to manufactured and commercialised.

In terms of PRODUCTION of hydrogen, the biggest challenge of the ‘pure hydrogen economy’ is the problem of obtaining of hydrogen by electrolysis without relying on fossil fuels for upstream process of electricity generation for splitting the water. While nuclear has become a viable method of creating electricity, the social acceptance of nuclear power generation still remains an important barrier to its deployment[13]. However there is also the option of obtaining hydrogen from natural gas and then preventing emission through the carbon capture and sequestration technologies[14]. Technologies for obtaining hydrogen from renewables as well as C0₂ capture and storage technologies are still under development hence limiting the current production of C0₂ free hydrogen.

In terms of DISTRIBUTION, the relatively low volumetric energy density of H2 when compared with fossil fuels makes its distribution for energy use rather expensive and energy-intensive. Specialised pipelines will have to be designed and developed for transporting hydrogen to end use destinations and to solve the problem of volumetric energy density, the hydrogen might have to be liquefied under extremely low temperatures of about -423° Fahrenheit (-253° Celsius)[15].

  

In terms of STORAGE, the challenge is especially severe for on-board H₂ storage due to the fact that H2 is very light, the gas tanks must have the capacity for gaseous storage of between 350 – 700bar, current gas tank compartments do not yet meet the requirements although liquid storage at the -253°C are already commercially available the process still remains very energy-consuming and costly. Although solid storage promises some potential breakthroughs, intensive R&D is still required for this to be possible.

In terms of INFRASTRUCTURE, the key R&D areas for improving hydrogen transportation and distribution infrastructures include but are not limited to the following:  high pressure gaseous storage and supporting technologies; hydrogen pipelines based on natural gas pipeline industry; hydrogen compressors; compressed gas tube trailers; hydrogen bulk storage systems and bulk dispatch terminals; fuelling stations and supporting technologies

  

COMMERCIAL VIABILITY OF HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELLS

The major issues to be resolved are also classified under the four headings in section outlined previously;

In terms of PRODUCTION costs, the cost of production of H₂ from renewable and nuclear energy sources still remains prohibitive. As seen in figure 6 below, the cost of producing hydrogen from natural gas is the cheapest in the first 6Gigajoules (GJ) with coal and biomass being the next best options respectively. However, as the capacity of the plant increases to about 9GJ, electrolysis becomes the cheapest option because it becomes about $5/GJ cheaper.

Figure 6: Current and Projected Costs of H2 production as at 2007

Source: IEA Energy Technology Essentials, Hydrogen Production and Distribution, April 2007

In terms of DISTRIBUTION costs, if pipelines are relied on, the through-put of hydrogen pipeline is very low compared to natural gas because it far lighter than natural gas and its volumetric density is very low. Hence, investment in pumping-power requirements is far greater for H₂ than for natural gas. Also, in terms of actual pipeline economics, for H₂ transported in gaseous form, Large-scale H₂ distribution by pipeline adds $1-$2/GJ to H₂ fuel chain while for distribution of H₂ is in the condensed form costs ($7-$10/GJ) due to the huge energy requirements for liquefaction at -253°C[16].

In terms of STORAGE costs, the compressed hydrogen tank costs $3,000-$4,000 per vehicle.

In terms of INFRASTRUCTURE costs, refuelling stations may add $3-$9/GJ to H₂ fuel chain costs. 

SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY OF A HYDROGEN ECONOMY

Awareness of hydrogen and fuel cell applications remains low and represents a major non-technical barrier towards the transition to a H₂ economy.  Hydrogen and fuel cell education programs aim at raising public awareness of H₂ benefits on the road to a hydrogen future. According to a research carried out by Anne Nygard[17], it was revealed that faster and more favourable expansion in hydrogen use were derived when stakeholders were involved in large-scale demonstration exercises. Another important issue is that of generation of electricity by nuclear for electrolysis still remains a topical issue for public acceptance due to the hazardous and fatal effects that improper disposal of nuclear radio-active wastes could have on society. An example of one such nuclear accident that had severe negative environmental impact is the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl incident[18].

HOME RUN

CAN JAPAN ACHIEVE A HYDROGEN ECONOMY IN THE MEDIUM TERM?

In principle, H₂ has the potential of attaining significant market share in the transport and power generation sector if costs of production, distribution, storage and end-use technologies decrease according to the expectations of researchers around the world. However, the question of whether Japan can achieve its Kyoto Targets by substituting hydrogen for fossil fuels in its energy mix still largely remains unresolved because it will be largely dependent on the strength of policies Japan will be willing to put in place to accelerate the R&D into H₂.  Under favourable assumptions, H₂ could be entering the market in Japan around 2020 according to its targets to achieve a hydrogen economy by 2020. Since distribution and storage infrastructure remain grossly underdeveloped, the potential of hydrogen becoming a large scale economy in the medium term remains undermined.

The issue of cost still lingers as well. So long as cost remains prohibitive, proper harnessing of the potentials of hydrogen remains a mirage. Energy analysts have projected that it might be decades before electricity generated from renewable sources will be derived at a price reasonable enough to allow hydrogen compete effectively with other conventional forms of energy[19]. An integrated development of the hydrogen value chain from production to storage and end use is necessary if costs must be minimised and benefits maximised in the long term.

Apart from costs, other barriers to H₂ use for energy applications include dedicated infrastructure needs such as construction of pipelines, customised hydrogen tankers also present challenges for the medium term achievement of an hydrogen economy in Japan. Japan should also look at reforming its subsidy structure so that hydrogen can be made to compete favourably with other emerging technologies such as bio-fuels and battery-electric vehicles.

In addition to this, the issue of low public awareness also needs to be tackled and wide public support must be garnered for hydrogen to become the fuel of the future. Although it is highly unlikely that Japan will meet be able to meet its medium term KP targets by substituting hydrogen for fossil fuels in its energy mix, the future of hydrogen in Japan looks bright in the long term especially if R&D efforts and government policy commitments continue to be in support of the hydrogen transition. However, it is important to note that no single technology or fuel is likely to meet growing demand for clean fuels technologies, various options must be explored in Japan to play complementary roles helping Japan met and exceed its Kyoto Targets.

NUTSHELL:

A strategic imperative today is the challenge of Security of Supply for Energy needs of a nation. Japan has been implementing a 50- year Hydrogen Economy plan since the 1980's as its energy mix is of great policy consideration. We know that Japan is a resource poor nation; however the level of industriousness and foresight in energy planning sets the tone for a contrasting situation with a resource rich nation. Nigeria sits on huge oil and gas reserves- yet the nation does not have a 50-year plan (at least publicly) for developing its energy infrastructure. Expressions such as the Petroleum Industry Bill, Nigerian Gas revolution may never become more than mere political currency. Till such a time as real energy sustainability in policy is proved within economies such as Nigeria, the world must celebrate economies which are able to demonstrate actionable strategy. The world will watch as Japan becomes a leading hydrogen economy some day. To view Abimbola's professional profile and for more information on this article, please click here..-->