‘Just a new fossil fuel industry’: Australia to send first shipment of liquefied hydrogen to Japan

(The Guardian, 21 Jan 2022) Morrison government hails engineering milestone but researchers raise concerns and say it could increase emissions.

Australia will export its first load of liquefied hydrogen made from coal in an engineering milestone which researchers say could also lock in a new fossil fuel industry and increase the country’s carbon emissions.

Under the $500m Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) pilot project, hydrogen will be made in Victoria’s LaTrobe valley from brown coal and transported aboard a purpose-built ship to Japan, where it will be burned in coal-fired power plants.

Carbon capture and storage will be used in an attempt to reduce the carbon emissions associated with making the hydrogen and supercooling the gas until it forms a liquid before it is loaded aboard the Suiso Frontier vessel. The first shipment is due to depart from Hastings in the coming days.

The project is being led by a Japanese-Australian consortium including Japan’s J-Power, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Shell and AGL.

External link

The Guardian, 21 Jan 2022: ‘Just a new fossil fuel industry’: Australia to send first shipment of liquefied hydrogen to Japan

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