Australian LNG player Woodside has joined a consortium of Japanese companies to study exporting “carbon-neutral” hydrogen.
Woodside has signed a deal with LNG importing giant JERA, Marubeni Corporation and IHI Corporation to undertake the joint study.
The study will be examining the large-scale export of hydrogen as ammonia. The fuel would be use for decarbonising coal-fired power generation in Japan.
The consortium has received an approval from Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).
According to Woodside, the approval is related to a feasibility study covering the entire hydrogen-as-ammonia value chain.
The study will examine the construction and operation of ammonia facilities and the optimisation of supply chain costs.
As part of the study, Woodside will be investigating the transition from blue to green hydrogen for export.
Blue hydrogen is produced from gas using steam methane reforming while Green hydrogen comes from renewable energy using electrolysis.
During both production processes hydrogen is combined with nitrogen to form ammonia.
This enables it to be suitable for transport as a liquid.
Ammonia does not produce any on site carbon emission when consumed in a power plant, according to the statement.
Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said the deal was another step forward in the company’s exploration of the potential of hydrogen as a “clean fuel of the future”.
He said Woodside and its partners in Japan have “forged new energy pathways before and we can do so again.”
“We expect by 2030 to see large-scale hydrogen production around the world and we intend to be part of that,” Coleman said.