Australian coal-to-hydrogen pilot targets Japanese market

Plan to ship product with world’s first purpose-built liquefied hydrogen carrier

In Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, the heart of Australia’s brown coal mining industry, the backers of the $500mn Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) pilot plant aim to show there is a viable carbon-neutral future for the fossil fuel. The plant, which started up in mid-March, gasifies brown coal (lignite) to make hydrogen, which is transported to Victoria’s Hastings port for liquefaction at Australia's first hydrogen liquefaction facility before shipment to Japan. Carbon dioxide (CO2) generated during hydrogen production will be captured, condensed transported and stored in porous sandstone 1.5km beneath the Bass Strait as part of Australia’s CarbonNet­ project. Latrobe Valley has 65bn t of ligni