On 24 January, an inaugural ceremony was held at the Shikaoi Hydrogen Farm, a hydrogen production facility in Hokkaido, Japan. The plant will anaerobically digest agricultural waste and manure from nearby livestock farms to create a supply of raw biogas. This biogas is upgraded to a purified supply of biomethane using Air Products’ PRISM® PB Membrane separators. The biomethane is then used as a feedstock to manufacture renewable hydrogen on-site, which generates heat, power and vehicle fuel. This is the first facility in Japan to use agricultural wastes as the source to manufacture hydrogen.

The Shikaoi Hydrogen Farm is a five-year project backed by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment. The demonstration project hopes to show how local renewable energy sources can be leveraged for hydrogen generation, storage, transportation and use. The hydrogen is returned to local livestock farmers and neighbouring facilities as a source of renewable energy and fuel. Hokkaido’s first hydrogen-vehicle fuelling station is installed at the farm, which delivers fuel to hydrogen-powered vehicles and forklifts.