Japan institute unveils facility to search for liquid hydrogen container materials
TSUKUBA, Ibaraki — The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) has unveiled a new facility in eastern Japan’s Ibaraki Prefecture to search for materials that could be used to store and transport liquid hydrogen.
According to NIMS, the facility in the city of Tsukuba is the first in the world to be able to evaluate materials while adjusting both temperature and pressure under ultra-low temperatures close to that of liquid nitrogen. At the facility, which was recently unveiled to the media, researchers hope to discover inexpensive and safe materials that will support a future hydrogen-fueled society.
Hopes have been placed in hydrogen as a next-generation fuel as it does not produce carbon dioxide (CO2) when burned. However, when hydrogen is stored, transported or used, its tiny atoms get into the metal and make the material brittle. Moreover, while it is convenient to transport hydrogen in liquid form, it is difficult to handle as a liquid because the temperature drops to minus 253 degrees Celsius, making containers susceptible to cracking.
Japan has set legal standards for materials used with hydrogen, and currently a special type of stainless steel is predominant. However, for expansion of a hydrogen society, cutting costs while ensuring safety has been in focus.
The new facility was adopted by the government’s Green Innovation Fund and constructed at a cost of about 3 billion yen (approximately $19.35 million). Test operations began in July, and a completion ceremony was held at the end of October, when the facility was ready for full-scale operation.
A total of four testing devices newly developed by NIMS and two private companies in Japan have been set up at the facility. Materials that researchers want to analyze filled with liquid hydrogen are placed in the devices, which measure their durability and susceptibility to breakage over periods ranging from a few hours to a month. There is also a device that allows researchers to make a hole about 1 millimeter in diameter in a piece of metal and insert a small amount of hydrogen gas to test the material.
Temperatures can be controlled in fine increments from minus 253 C to 80 C, and experiments can be conducted at controlled pressures of up to 10 megapascals, far above the 5 megapascal limit normally seen at regular hydrogen production plants.
Until fiscal 2025, researchers will move forward with preliminary experiments using several types of metals to create a database of materials, and from fiscal 2026 onward they will apparently share the information with private companies.
Yoshinori Ono, a unit leader at NIMS, commented,
We would like to increase the materials that can be used for storage and transportation (of liquid hydrogen), and contribute to cost reductions leading to the realization of a hydrogen society.
(Japanese original by Mayumi Nobuta, Tsukuba Local Bureau)
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Japan institute unveils facility to search for liquid hydrogen container materials, source
