Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has inaugurated the Nagasaki Carbon Neutral Park, a cutting-edge facility dedicated to advancing the development of MHI Group’s energy decarbonization technologies.
Situated in Nagasaki city, this center is poised to play a pivotal role in driving the evolution of fuel production, combustion, and CO2 capture technologies, ushering in a new era of energy sustainability.
The Nagasaki Carbon Neutral Park stands as a hub for innovation, focused on propelling the development of essential technologies crucial for achieving decarbonization. With an emphasis on hydrogen, biomass, and ammonia, this center will leverage the expertise of existing research facilities within the Nagasaki District Research & Innovation Center.
In the sphere of hydrogen production, the facility’s efforts will center on cutting-edge technologies, including advanced water electrolyzers driven by solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOEC). Moreover, the innovative concept of turquoise hydrogen, derived from the pyrolysis of methane into hydrogen and solid carbon, will be explored.
The Nagasaki Carbon Neutral Park will not merely be a research facility; it is a vital step towards practical applications. By harnessing the thermal energy system design and manufacturing capabilities from the Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works’ Nagasaki and Koyagi plants, this facility will fast-track research and development toward product commercialization and business viability.
This ambitious initiative spans diverse areas of energy production and utilization. In the realm of biomass fuel production, the focus will be on commercializing synthetic fuel production facilities, with special emphasis on sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) generated through biomass gasification integrated Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.
In parallel, the facility’s efforts extend to ammonia combustion, involving testing on an actual-size burner within a large-scale combustion test furnace. Plans are afoot for conducting demonstration testing, aiming to co-fire with at least 50% ammonia at a power plant by FY2024 or soon thereafter.
MHI Group’s “MISSION NET ZERO” declaration, targeting carbon neutrality by 2040, serves as the driving force behind these initiatives. With a three-fold approach encompassing the decarbonization of existing infrastructure, the realization of a hydrogen solutions ecosystem, and the achievement of a CO2 solutions ecosystem, MHI is leading the charge towards a sustainable world.
Through the concerted efforts of the Nagasaki Carbon Neutral Park, MHI aims to bring these technologies from the drawing board to practical applications, facilitating a world that is not just carbon neutral but carbon-free.