Reuters is reporting that Suiso Frontier, the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier could leave Japan for Australia to pick up its first cargo of hydrogen late this month. The ship will carry 1,250 m3 of liquefied hydrogen cooled to –253°C, at 1/800 of its original gas volume from Australia to Japan. 

The A$500 million ($353 million) pilot project, led by Kawasaki and backed by the Japanese and Australian governments, was originally scheduled to ship its first cargo of hydrogen extracted from brown coal in Australia in spring. It was delayed to the second half of Kawasaki’s financial year in October to March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Nature.com, Suiso Frontier will carry blue hydrogen produced from the vast coal resources of Victoria in south-east Australia. Coal mined from the Latrobe Valley will be used for gasification, a partial oxidation process carried out with steam that yields hydrogen mixed with carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide will be captured, and the hydrogen shipped 100 kilometres to the port of Hastings, on the outskirts of Melbourne in Australia. In Hastings, the hydrogen will be liquefied by cooling and then loaded onto the Suiso Frontier.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is already working towards a full-scale hydrogen tanker with a capacity of 160,000 cubic metres.