Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 59 No. 4 (December 2022)
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Initiatives “Takasago Hydrogen Park”
to Create a Hydrogen Society
JUNICHIRO MASADA*1

MASASHI TERAUCHI*2

MASANORI YURI*3

YUICHIRO KITAGAWA*4

KENICHIRO KOSAKA*5 KAZUHIRO DOMOTO*6

Looking the global trend toward carbon neutrality, there is an urgent need to make GTCC
power generation plant and steam power generation plant, which are among the main products of
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), carbon-neutral as well. In such an environment, theTakasago Hydrogen Park, the world's first integrated validation facility for technologies fromhydrogen production to power generation, is being constructed at our Takasago Machinery Works,
where we develop and manufacture hydrogen gas turbines. This report presents its construction
status and a hydrogen production technology to be introduced. In addition, the Takasago
Hydrogen Park is scheduled to expand its related facilities sequentially and is targeted at thecommercialization of 30% co-firing large gas turbine products and 100% hydrogen-firing
small-to-middle gas turbine products by 2025.

|1. Introduction
Solving the problem of global warming is now an important issue for the world. In October
2020, the Japanese government declared its goal of "carbon neutrality" by reducing greenhouse gas
emissions to net zero by 2050. The term "reducing emissions to net zero" means to reduce topractically zero the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted artificiallyminus the amount absorbed artificially through afforestation, forest management, and other means.
To achieve carbon neutrality, it is essential to significantly expand the use of renewable energy. In
parallel, it is also important to maintain economic efficiency and a stable energy supply. MHI aims
to achieve a carbon-neutral society in a realistic and speedy manner while minimizing social costs
by promoting energy transition of existing infrastructure.
Renewable energies such as photovoltaic and wind power generation contribute greatly to theachievement realization of a carbon-neutral society, but their output fluctuates widely and causes a
decline in the reliability of the power grid because of their characteristics being easily affected byweather conditions. As a means of suppressing this decline in reliability, the gas turbine combined
cycle (GTCC/natural gas-firing thermal power generation plants), which has the lowest CO2
emissions among thermal power generation plants, is expected to remain an important powersource due to its flexibility and high reliability. Furthermore, by mixing, or eventually substituting
natural gas fuel with hydrogen or ammonia, which do not emit CO2, it is possible to ensure power
grid stability and significantly reduce CO2 emissions from thermal power plants. Figure 1 shows
the background of hydrogen and ammonia utilization. Renewable energies such as photovoltaic andwind power generation are becoming increasingly popular worldwide. These power sources
fluctuate greatly with time, weather and season, and the introduction of energy storage technology
is necessary to expand their utilization. The left side of Figure 1 shows the gains and losses ofenergy storage technologies in terms of discharge number and discharge hours per year. For
short-time storage, lithium batteries are advantageous. In contrast, for several-day storage or*1

Senior General Manager, Energy Transition Division, Energy Systems, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

*2

Manager, Hydrogen Technology Promotion Department, Energy Systems, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

*3

Director, Gas Turbine Engineering Department, Energy Systems, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

*4

Manager, Fuel Cell Business Department, Energy Systems, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

*5

Senior Manager, Technology Strategy Department, Energy Systems, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

*6

Senior Manager, SPMI Business Planning Department, Energy Systems, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 59 No. 4 (December 2022)2

storage dozens of times per year, conversion to chemical energy such as hydrogen has anadvantage. The right side of Figure 1 shows the regional characteristics of renewable energy
reserves. In many regions of the world, renewable energies are becoming more widespread andhydrogen production by water electrolysis using surplus electricity of renewable energy (green
electricity) is expected to become more widespread. On the other hand, in regions that are notblessed with renewable energy resources, such as Japan and South Korea, there are highexpectations for the utilization of ammonia, which has high transportation efficiency, and turquoisehydrogen, which is hydrogen produced through methane pyrolysis into hydrogen and solid carbon,
utilizing existing LNG infrastructure. Also in Southeast Asia and other regions that have no choice
but to rely on inexpensive fossil fuel resources, expectations for turquoise hydrogen are growing. In
this way, there is an urgent need to demonstrate and socially implement decarbonization
technologies that meet the respective needs.

Figure 1

Background of hydrogen and ammonia utilization

While the early commercialization of hydrogen-firing gas turbines with hydrogen fuel is
expected, they have issues such as the faster flame propagation velocity of hydrogen compared tonatural gas, resulting in the high likelihood of flashback, in which the flame in the combustor
returns to the fuel mixing area. However, MHI has developed a combustor suitable for hydrogen
combustion based on the combustion technology it has cultivated so far and is currently developinga hydrogen-firing gas turbine. In addition, we are also developing technology for existing power
generation plants that enable conversion into hydrogen-firing with minimal modifications.
In this way, the development of hydrogen utilization technology is progressing, there are few
opportunities to secure hydrogen for power generation and to validate the operation of gas turbines.
Therefore, MHI is currently constructing the Takasago Hydrogen Park, the world's first integrated
validation facility for technologies from hydrogen production to power generation, at our Takasago
Machinery Works, we develop and manufacture gas turbines, adjacent to a combined cycle power
plant validation facility called T-Point 2. We are currently proceeding with the preparation, aiming
at starting the operation of the park in fiscal 2023, so that we can begin testing and validation
operations of hydrogen production/storage and hydrogen combustion technology in a gas turbine in
the same year. Using the hydrogen production facility, we plan to test and validate next-generationhydrogen production technologies such as high-temperature steam electrolysis using solid oxide
electrolysis cells (SOEC), integrated validation of turquoise hydrogen production, its storage, andpower generation thereby, in addition to hydrogen production using an alkaline water electrolyzer.

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This report introduces the development status of the hydrogen and ammonia power generation
facility and the construction status of the Takasago Hydrogen Park as a validation facility anddescribes hydrogen production technologies.

|2. MHI's Zero-Emission power generation roadmap
MHI Group has declared "MISSION NET ZERO," which aims to achieve carbon neutrality
by 2040 concerning direct and indirect CO2 emissions not only by our group but also by customers
and suppliers related to our group business. The main initiatives include energy transitions for
low-carbon or decarbonized businesses and products and expansion of the CCUS (Carbon Capture
Utilization and Storage) business including CO2 capture and storage. Among these, this report
describes initiatives for the thermal power generation industry.
Specifically, our Energy Transition & Power Headquarters is working on "energy transitionof thermal power generation", "efficient utilization of industrial energy" and "establishment of ahydrogen value chain" toward carbon neutrality by 2050. Among these, the promotion of carbon
neutrality in thermal power generation by switching to non-fossil fuels is extremely important.
Figure 2 shows the roadmap for the development of power generation technologies.

Figure 2 Roadmap for development of power generation technologies

Thermal power generation can be roughly divided into steam power generation system andgas turbine combined cycle. It consists of boilers, turbines, and other components that are the mainof steam power generation, As for existing coal-firing thermal power generation which is the mainstream of steam power generation system with boiler, turbine, etc., CO2 emissions reduction is inprogress through the use of high biomass co-firing, a technology that has already been established,
and we aim at further reduction of CO2 emissions by increasing the co-firing rate of ammonia,
which is currently under rapid development and validation. On the other hand, as for gas turbine
combined cycle, solid fuels such as coal are not utilized, further reduction of CO2 emissions isrequired as well, and we aim to achieve zero CO2 emissions by co-firing with hydrogen orammonia, and in the future, hydrogen or ammonia single-fuel firing.

|3. Development status of hydrogen-firing gas turbine
Carbon neutrality initiatives have been gaining momentum in recent years. As for gas turbine
for power generation, the movement to realize social contributions by switching fuel fromconventional natural gas to hydrogen and fuel ammonia to reduce or eliminate CO2 emissions is
growing.
Figure 3 shows the roadmap for validating and commercializing various combustors forhydrogen co-firing, single-fuel hydrogen firing, and single-fuel ammonia firing to realize theabove. Combustion tests of 30% and 50% co-firing in a multi-nozzle combustor (premixed) havebeen completed, and the development of single-fuel hydrogen firing multi-cluster combustor(premixed) for a small-to-middle facility has reached the final stage. Both are expected to becommercialized by 2025 through validation with actual equipment at the Takasago Hydrogen Park
described in Chapter 4.

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Figure 3 Roadmap for validation and commercialization of various combustors

In addition, the development of a 1,650°C class multi-cluster combustor (premixed) is
underway to complete combustion tests by 2025 and commercialization by 2030, when hydrogen is
expected to be in sufficient supply.
As a specific example of the commercialization, a project (Advanced Clean Energy Storage
Project) to construct a hydrogen hub, the world's largest green hydrogen production and storage
facility, in Utah, the United States through a U.S. subsidiary, and to supply the green hydrogen to
the latest 840-MW-class hydrogen-firing gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) power plant, which
we supply equipment to, is already underway. According to the planning for this project, the plant
will start operation in 2025 with 30% green hydrogen co-firing, the hydrogen rate will be gradually
increased, and operation with single-fuel 100% green hydrogen firing will be finally achieved by2045.
By achieving this commercialization roadmap, we will achieve the CO2 emissions intensity
required by the EU Taxonomy (270 g/kWh from 2023 to 2035 and 0 g/kWh after 2035) as shownin Figure 4. We will continue to develop our technology while keeping our eye on global trends
and standards, and contribute to global efforts toward carbon neutrality.

Figure 4

EU Taxonomy and gas turbine development scheduleMitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 59 No. 4 (December 2022)
5|4. Takasago Hydrogen Park, hydrogen power generation validation
facility
MHI is currently constructing the Takasago Hydrogen Park, the world's first integrated
validation facility for technologies from hydrogen production to power generation, at our Takasago
Machinery Works, where we develop and manufacture gas turbines, adjacent to a combined cycle
power plant validation facility called T-Point 2. Figure 5 shows the overall concept of the
Takasago Hydrogen Park, which consists of a hydrogen power generation validation facility
consisting of a large gas turbine applied to the M501JAC model, small-to-middle gas turbines
applied to the H25 model, and combustion test facilities. Figure 6 shows the configuration of the
Takasago Hydrogen Park. The electrolysis facility, which can be expected to be applied to waterelectrolysis and steam electrolysis using renewable energy, and methane pyrolysis facility, which
performs thermal decomposition of natural gas (methane), produce green/turquoise hydrogen,which is then stored in a hydrogen storage facility. The validation facilities use hydrogen as fuel togenerate electricity, which is then supplied to the power grid. We aim to establish a facility thatallows integrated validation of green and turquoise hydrogen power generation, and of advancedenergy management that combines secondary battery-based power storage and an overall optimalenergy management system to store excess power with electrolytic hydrogen and the secondary
batteries and to supply electricity from the hydrogen gas turbines and the secondary batteries
during high demand periods.

Figure 5 Overall concept of Takasago Hydrogen Park

Figure 6 Configuration of Takasago Hydrogen Park

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Currently, the storage facility is under construction (Figure 7) to start its operation in fiscal
2022, and the hydrogen production facility construction work is in progress, for which a 5.5-MW
alkaline electrolyzer has been purchased from Hydrogen-Pro, to start its operation in fiscal 2023.
After completion of the construction work, we will begin test and validation operations ofhydrogen combustion technology in the gas turbine.

Figure 7 Construction status of Takasago Hydrogen Park (August 2022)

For the integrated validation of hydrogen power generation, we will first introduce alkaline
water electrolysis, which is already in practical use, to the water electrolyzer, among otherprocesses. Subsequently, we plan to install a SOEC as the high-temperature water electrolyzer
under development, an anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolyzer as a low-temperaturewater electrolyzer, and a validation facility for turquoise hydrogen production, etc., in the park, andto conduct tests and validation of next-generation hydrogen production technologies.
Figure 8 shows example of hydrogen projects in which we are participating. The hydrogenhub (Advanced Clean Energy Storage project) to be a hydrogen production and storage facility in
Utah, USA, is a project in which a cavity is constructed in the underground salt cavity and ahydrogen storage facility is prepared to store green hydrogen from renewable energy and generate
electricity using a hydrogen gas turbine. The hydrogen production equipment to be used in thisproject will be manufactured by Hydrogen-Pro, the same equipment to be installed in "Takasago
Hydrogen Park", and will be validated preliminarily at “Takasago Hydrogen Park”. In the U.K., aproject to convert existing power plants from natural gas firing to hydrogen firing called Zero
Carbon Humber is underway as Zero Carbon Humber.

Figure 8

Low-/Zero-carbon projects

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7|5. Development status of hydrogen production technologies
Currently, our Energy Transition & Power Headquarters is developing several hydrogenproduction technologies. The following describes the development status of turquoise hydrogenproduction technology and next-generation AEM, a low-temperature water electrolyzer.
(1) Turquoise hydrogen production technology
As described in the previous chapter, methane pyrolysis is a technology for decomposing
methane, the main component of natural gas, into solid carbon and hydrogen at hightemperatures, which is a process conventionally used to produce carbon materials such ascarbon black, a material used in industry. We focused on hydrogen produced in methane
pyrolysis and found a reaction form that can efficiently produce hydrogen.
Figure 9 shows an overview of the turquoise hydrogen production technology. The
natural gas infrastructure has already been established, and many natural gas-firing thermal
power plants have been constructed. By simply installing a turquoise hydrogen plant
additionally between the natural gas infrastructure supply line and the thermal power plants,
etc., or power generation facilities of other natural gas power producers upstream of theconsumer facility, dramatically lowering or even decarbonizing (Zero CO2 emissions) inexisting thermal power generation can be achieved. Because the byproduct carbon is solid, thebyproduct carbon can be more easily fixed and stored than CO2, which is a gas at ambient
temperature and pressure. Currently, screening of reaction conditions and appropriate
conditions is being conducted using an element test facility. We plan to take the reactors shownin Figure 10 from our products and select appropriate reactors from these to accelerate thedevelopment. Figure 11 shows a rough roadmap.

Figure 9 Overview of turquoise hydrogen production technology

Figure 10

Turquoise hydrogen reactors under development

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Figure 11 Roadmap for development of turquoise hydrogen(2)

Anion exchange membrane (AEM) water electrolysis hydrogen production
The mainstream of electrolysis technology using solid polymer electrolyte membranes ispolymer exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis technology using hydrogen ion
permeable membranes. However, compared to alkaline electrolysis, which is widely
implemented, PEM water electrolysis technology, while capable of high current density
operation and downsizing of the electrolyzer, requires highly pure water and needs extensive
use of precious metals and Ti-based materials for catalysts and other wetted parts due to its
acidic environment. On the other hand, AEM water electrolysis can be high current
density-operated in the same manner as PEM water electrolysis, but it can be performed in an
alkaline solution and thus stainless steel can be used, which can be expected to reduce the cost.
Figure 12 shows the development status. Using a small element cell fabricated as aprototype, we are currently considering the appropriate manufacturing process and optimizing
operating conditions. The evaluation results of the samples shown in the figure indicate that asignificant increase in current density can be expected compared to general alkaline waterelectrolysis. As shown in Figure 13, we will continue the development, validate the technology
with several MW class facility at the Takasago Hydrogen Park, and then commercialize thetechnology.

Figure 12 Development status of AEM waterelectrolysis

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Figure 13 Roadmap of AEM water electrolysis|6. Development status of fuel ammonia utilization technology
Finally, we will describe the development status of ammonia utilization technology, which,along with hydrogen, plays an important role in the energy transition of thermal power generation.
We have intensively installed a test facility in our Research & Innovation Center, Nagasaki District
as shown in Figure 14 (called the Nagasaki Carbon Neutral Park) to accelerate the development ofammonia utilization technology.

Figure 14 Nagasaki Carbon Neutral Park Ammonia-related facility in
Research & Innovation Center, Nagasaki District(1)

Ammonia co-firing boiler
We are developing a burner that enables high-ratio ammonia co-firing in pulverizedcoal-firing boilers. There are issues in ammonia combustion: compared to hydrocarbon
combustion such as LPG, ammonia burns at a slower rate, making it difficult to maintain aflame in the burner; and the large amount of N contained in ammonia causes a large amount ofNOx to be generated if the combustion is not at the appropriate fuel concentration. We
conducted ammonia co-firing and single-fuel ammonia firing tests using a small combustion
test furnace in 2021. These tests were conducted for several burner types based on our
accumulated experience in burner design for various fuels and the results of basic combustion
tests, to provide single-fuel ammonia burners for commercial and industrial boilers in Japan andoverseas. As a result, we confirmed that the flame was extremely stable during combustion, thatNOx emissions were in line with the results of the basic combustion test conducted beforehand,Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Review Vol. 59 No. 4 (December 2022)
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and that the residual ammonia was zero. At present, with the aim of high ammonia co-firing, weare working on the development and demonstration of high-ratio ammonia co-firing technology
in coal-fired boilers under the Green Innovation Fund Project/Fuel Ammonia Supply Chain
Establishment of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization(NEDO). As shown in Figure 15, by FY 2024, an Ammonia single-fuel burner will be
developed through combustion tests with a full-scale burner equivalent to actual equipment. In
addition, we are working on the basic equipment plan and feasibility study for thedemonstration of an ammonia co-firing boiler in an actual plant in cooperation with JERA Co.,
Inc., aiming at the validation of more than 50% ammonia co-firing in two units, a circular firing
system and an opposed firing system in the demonstration operation in the actual plant.
The development shown in this section is carried out in the “JPNP 21020 Green
Innovation Fund Project/Fuel Ammonia Supply Chain Establishment /High-ratio co-firing andsingle-fuel firing needed for ammonia power generation/Development and demonstration ofhigh-ratio ammonia co-firing technology (including single-fuel firing technology) in coal-fired
boilers/Demonstration project of high-ratio ammonia co-firing in the commercial coal-fired
power plants utilizing ammonia single-fuel burners” of the New Energy and Industrial
Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

Figure 15 Overview of development of high-ratio ammonia co-firing technology
funded by Green Innovation Fund(2)

Gas turbine utilizing ammonia
We have also started the development of a single-fuel ammonia combustor for gas
turbine power generation. Since ammonia fuel contains nitrogen, a large amount of NOx called
fuel NOx is produced during combustion. The principle is shown in Figure 16(a). It is known
that the NOx emissions can be kept relatively low under fuel-rich and fuel-lean conditions. We
are developing a combustor that can create a fuel-rich condition in its upstream area and afuel-lean condition in its downstream area by adjusting the air distribution in the combustor as
shown in Figure 16(b). We plan to suppress NOx generation as much as possible and combine
this ammonia-firing combustor with an ultra-high-performance denitration facility toward theactual-plant validation, and we are proceeding with the development to conduct the validationin 2025.

Figure 16

Overview of gas turbine combustor for ammonia

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11|7. Conclusion
This report introduced carbon neutrality initiatives for the thermal power generation industry,
centering on the Takasago Hydrogen Park. The Takasago Hydrogen Park, which will be locatedadjacent to T-Point 2, is currently under construction, including the installation of a hydrogenstorage facility. To begin with, we will install an alkaline electrolytic hydrogen production unit
manufactured by Hydrogen-Pro in the Takasago Hydrogen Park and aim to start operation in 2023
as an integrated validation facility of hydrogen production and power generation.
At the same time, we are developing several hydrogen production technologies. We plan toinstall a validation facility of the technology that has reached the validation phase at the Takasago
Hydrogen Park and to conduct validation operations there. Among them, this report also introduced
the turquoise hydrogen production technology and AEM water electrolysis technology.
Using the energy transition technologies described in this report, we aim to achieve our
MISSION’s declaration "MISSION NET ZERO” for 2040 and contribute to the realization of acarbon-neutral society.
“Hydrogen is Not the Future, This is Real. ”