※ Affiliations and titles are as of the end of the research activity.

Strategic Objective

Creation of core technologies for innovative energy carrier utilization aimed at the transport, storage, and use of renewable energy

Research Supervisor

Koichi Eguchi (Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University)

Outline

This research area, looking ahead to a hydrogen energy society making stable and efficient use of renewable energy, aims to create fundamental and core technology for efficient conversion of renewable energy to energy carriers that store and transport chemical energy, and for extraction and use of electrical energy, hydrogen, and motive power, etc., from the energy carriers. The research to be carried out to these ends will fuse different fields such as electrochemistry, catalytic chemistry, materials science, and process engineering, without regard to the walls and fences between fields. Examples of the research topics are electrosynthesis, catalyzed synthesis, and electrode and reaction field materials enabling use of renewable energy such as wind power and sunlight for efficient direct synthesis of energy carriers, and synthesis of energy carriers by thermochemical processes using solar heat or the heat of the earth (geothermal energy). Also included in this research area are direct fuel cells, enabling electrical energy to be extracted by using energy carriers as fuel, and dehydrogenation technology for efficient dehydrogenation of energy carriers at low temperatures.

In this research, it is recommended that pioneering studies be carried out contributing to the synthesis and use of new energy carriers superior in hydrogen content, conversion efficiency, and safety to organic hydrides and ammonium, on which research is already under way. However, research on these existing energy carriers can be taken up in this research area if it covers original technology based on new ideas, with different methods for synthesis, use, storage and transport than those assumed up to now.

Research Area Advisors

・Ken-ichi Aika
Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Institute of Technology

・Yoshimi Okada
Principal Researcher, Technology Development Unit/Hydrogen Supply Chain Development Unit, CHIYODA CORPORTION

・Natsuko Sakai
Deputy Director-General, Research and Innovation Promotion Headquarters, National Institute of ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

・Kenji Murata
Executive Research Fellow, Research and Development Division, The Institute of Applied Energy

・Atsushi Tsutsumi
Project Professor, The University of Tokyo

・Shigehito Deki
Professor Emeritus, Kobe University

・Takao Masuda
Executive Vice-President, Hokkaido University

・Shinichi Matsumoto
Professional Partner, TOYOTA ZEV FACTORY, TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION

・Masahiko Mizuno
Group Manager, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL Co., Ltd.

※Affiliations and titles are as of March 31, 2021.

Year Started : 2013

Development of Core Technology of Novel Catalytic Process in the Synthesis and Decomposition of Ammonia as Energy Carrier

Research Director:
Katsutoshi Nagaoka(Professor, Department of Chemical Systems Engineering, Nagoya University)

Development of efficient production of high-pressure hydrogen by dehydrogenation of formic acid

Research Director:
Yuichiro Himeda(Chief Senior Researcher, Energy Catalyst Technology Group, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

Development of Innovative Technology for Energy-Carrier Synthesis using Novel Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell

Research Director:
Yoshinobu Fujishiro(Group Leader, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology)

Year Started : 2014

Development of advanced ammonia synthesis system using solid electrolyte electrolysis cells with highly active electrode catalysts

Research Director:
Shigeo Satokawa(Professor, Faculty of Science and Technology, Seikei University)

Synthesis of methane through the reduction of carbon dioxide using hydrogen generated from the renewable energy

Research Director:
Yoshitsugu Sone(Associate Professor, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

Development of Innovative Hydrogen Production Technology from Energy Carriers Based on Vanadium Alloy Membranes

Research Director:
Chikashi Nishimura(National Institute for Materials Science, Research Fellow)

Year Started : 2015

Development of innovative methods for ammonia production and related reactions by using transition metal catalysts

Research Director:
Yoshiaki Nishibayashi(Professor, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo)

Design and construction of clean alcohols synthesis systems based on nano-level hybridization of functional electrode materials

Research Director:
Miho Yamauchi(Professor, International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy, Kyushu University)

Development of core technology of electrodes and MEAs for solid alkaline fuel cells with liquid fuels

Research Director:
Takeo Yamaguchi(Professor, Chemical Resources Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology)