Tokyo Gas trials new tech to supplement natural gas
Japanese natural gas supplier Tokyo Gas has started a trial using methanation technology to supplement natural gas. Tokyo Gas said it will use green hydrogen sourced from renewable energy for the trial, to produce up to 12.5 normal cubic metres per hour (Nm3/h) of synthetic methane.
Tokyo Gas will be using Hitachi Zosen’s methanation device at a research centre in Yokohama, near Tokyo.
Methanation produces synthetic methane from hydrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2). The methane produced can be used in many ways, including as a fuel to generate heat and electricity in power plants or at home, and as a raw material in the chemical industry. It is also an alternative to the main component in natural gas.
Tokyo Gas will install a water electrolysis device procured from UK-based ITM Power to produce synthetic methane by March, according to Tokyo Gas’s Executive Officer Hisataka Yakabe. It will also use CO2 emitted and captured from nearby factories or its customers.
The company plans to replace about 1% of the volume of its natural gas supply with synthetic methane by 2030. It will scale up the trial in the late 2020s to produce 400 Nm3/h, followed by an overseas demonstration in 2030 that will make 20,000 Nm3/h.
Tokyo Gas expects the process to help reduce carbon emissions even as they incur methanation costs.
“Cost reduction must be achieved through multiple measures,” Yakabe said, adding that methanation costs will still be much higher than liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices, even with inexpensive overseas renewable energy and lower hydrogen production costs.
Additionally, Tokyo Gas is developing global supply chains of synthetic methane, and conducting feasibility studies in Malaysia with Sumitomo Corp. and Petronas, and in North America and Australia with Mitsubishi Corp.
