Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. announced its completion of Kobe LH2 Terminal (Hy touch Kobe), the world's first liquefied hydrogen receiving terminal.

Kawasaki built this terminal for the CO2-free Hydrogen Energy Supply-chain Technology Research Association (HySTRA). Operation testing has started at the facility, which will be used for a demonstration test, in a NEDO subsidized project, for an international hydrogen energy supply chain to transport liquefied hydrogen from Australia to Japan.

Kobe LH2 Terminal accommodates a 2,500 m³ volume spherical liquefied hydrogen storage tank with a capacity of 2,250 m³—the largest of its kind in Japan—as well as other equipment including a loading arm system specially designed for transferring liquefied hydrogen between land-based facilities and ships. The storage tank enables stable, long-period storage of cryogenic liquefied hydrogen reduced to a temperature of -253°C and one eight-hundredth its initial volume. The tank features a double-shell vacuum-insulation structure, comprising inner and outer shells with a vacuum-sealed layer in between to prevent heat transfer from the outside.

Kawasaki will utilize liquefied hydrogen storage tank technologies developed through this project to pursue even larger-sized tanks in the future, with the aim of realizing the high-volume hydrogen transport technologies necessary to achieve a hydrogen society.

Moreover, Kawasaki will contribute to the deployment of hydrogen energy and decarbonization in consideration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).