Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries said the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier, Suiso Frontier, has set sail towards Australia.
The vessel left the Port of Kobe in Japan on December 24 and should arrive in Australia next month, KHI said in a statement.
There, it would carry out a series of tests before returning to Japan in February with a cargo of liquefied hydrogen, the firm said.
“The round-trip between Japan and Australia will demonstrate that liquefied hydrogen, cooled to -253 degrees Celsius, can be produced in Australia, transferred to the Suiso Frontier and then transported back to Japan by ship, in a similar way to liquefied natural gas (162 degrees Celsius),” KHI said.
ClassNK recently registered the vessel and it became the world’s first ship to be officially classified as a liquefied hydrogen carrier.
It is a part of a project led by KHI, which built the vessel, and backed by both Japanese and Australian governments.
The CO2-free Hydrogen Energy Supply-chain Technology Research Association, or HySTRA runs the marine liquefied hydrogen transport over more than 9,000 km as part of the pilot project.
Measuring 116 meters in length and weighing about 8,000 tonnes, the vessel features a 1,250-cbm capacity storage tank.
It would carry 75 tonnes of liquefied hydrogen during this trip, KHI said.
Shell/STASCO will manage and operate the vessel that will transport hydrogen produced in Australia by Electric Power Development (J-Power), according to HySTRA.
Also, it would deliver the fuel to the liquefied hydrogen receiving terminal “Hy touch Kobe”, managed and operated by Iwatani Corporation.