The 2022 second symposium “The Potential of Ammonia as the Key to the Future of a Carbon-free Society” was hosted at the Hyogo Prefecture Citizen\\\'s Hall on Tuesday, November 22. The event was hosted by University of Hyogo, Institute for Policy Analysis and Social Innovation, and co-hosted by Kwansei Gakuin University Industry Research Institute and the University of Hyogo’s Hydrogen Energy Co-development Center. A total of approximately 150 people participated in person and online.

This symposium was held under the theme of “The Potential of Ammonia as the Key to the Future of a Carbon-free Society”.

In order to create a carbon-free society, the world of electrical power has become aware of the necessity to maintain the usage of fossil fuels with mixed-fuel combustion with ammonia derived from hydrogen as a complementary fuel at coal fired power plants.

It is also necessary to think about various things for a carbon-free society.

This symposium featured specialists and practitioners from various industries, speaking on medium-term issues involving the field of power generation in particular.

The symposium began with an opening address from President Isao Ota. During the address, President Ota noted that, “The University of Hyogo is currently advancing research into hydrogen energy, but the broad scope is environmental energy. This means that today’s ‘potential of ammonia’ is a theme of great interest.

One benefit of ammonia is that it does not produce CO? when burned, but I think there are various issues such as handling ammonia and the difficulty of burning it.

I am looking forward to the symposium being opportunity to listen to explanations about ammonia.”

Next, the moderator and person responsible for progression of the symposium, Professor Shinichi Kusanagi, the Director of the Institute for Policy Analysis and Social Innovation, explained the contents of the symposium and the speakers of the day.

Part 1　Address
In the keynote address of Part 1, Shigeru Muraki, an advisor of Tokyo Gas and Director of the Green Fuel Ammonia Association, gave an address on the topic of “The Roles of Ammonia and Hydrogen for Carbon Neutrality”.

Muraki spoke about the current status of ammonia, such as the Hydrogen Basic Strategy Scenario, electrical power demand and energy source structure in the year 2030, carriers of hydrogen energy, technologies involving the use of ammonia, and plans for implementing green fuel ammonia.

Next, there were lectures from five panelists.

Futoshi Igawa, Chief of Fossil Fuel Energy/International Cooperation Unit Coal Group Research of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, gave a lecture on the subject of “Towards a Carbon-free Society – The Current Status of Coal -”.

Igawa spoke on global coal consumption trends and global trends in coal fired power generation. He also spoke about the progress of the decommissioning of non-coal fired power generation, not decarbonization, in Europe, and about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine means that it is impossible to move away from thermal power generation.

Akira Kurihara, Chief Director of the Corporate Planning Department (Chief of IR/ESG) of J-POWER spoke on the topic of “The J-POWER Group’s Initiatives for Realizing Carbon Neutrality and a Hydrogen Society”.

During the lecture, he spoke about the utilization of CO?-free hydrogen using coal. For example, he spoke about the roadmap toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, the selection of CO? reduction in thermal power generation, the concepts in the vision of hydrogen use with the core technology being for gasification of solid fuels such as coal and biomass, the necessity of blue hydrogen for realizing a hydrogen society, CO?-free hydrogen supply chains, and initiatives for demonstration experiments.

Koji Saito, Director of the Planning Office, Kansai Electric Power, spoke on the subject of “Initiatives of Kansai Electric Power for Realizing Zero-carbon Society”. He spoke about the current circumstances of electrical power, the basic characteristics of electricity, the reasons for tight demand of electricity, the problem of climate change and the topic of achieving carbon neutrality, and the business and initiatives of the Kansai Electric Group.

Minoru Nakamura, Advisor of the Pasona Group and Specially-Appointed Professor at Institute for Policy Analysis and Social Innovation, University of Hyogo, gave a lecture on the subject of “Perspectives of a Carbon-free Society”.

Specially-Appointed Professor Nakamura, as issues for constructing a carbon-free society, mentioned the three perspectives of S+3E（Safety + Energy Security, Economic Efficiency, and Environment), geopolitical perspectives, and impact on international political circumstances and domestic economic society.

As requirements through the construction of a carbon-free society, he cited the two points of having an approach that ascertains the nature of the issue and having a multi-angle perspective and of improving literacy in the topic. He finished his lecture by saying, “I need as many of you as possible to understand what was said by those who spoke at the symposium today and to conduct yourselves while thinking about what is important, what is possible, and what choice is optimal in this democratic society, and to take actions that are scientifically correct, with regards to both natural sciences and social sciences.”

In the same manner, Atsushi Mineshige, Director of University of Hyogo’s School of Engineering, Hydrogen Energy Co-development Center, gave a lecture on the subject of “Chemical Characteristics of Ammonia and Issues Regarding Its Full-scale Utilization”. He spoke about the utilization of ammonia as a carrier, hydrogen,ammonia as a chemical substance, ammonia and the human body, safety measures for large-scale use of ammonia, safety measures for liquid ammonia tanks, production systems of ammonia, supply chain construction, and ammonia pipelines.

Professor Mineshige mentioned that, “Ammonia can easily liquefy, even at room temperature, meaning that it is effective as a carrier as a transport medium of hydrogen, a next-generation source of energy. However, there are issues concerning safety, arrangement of production and supply lines, long-term high durability (anticorrosion technologies), safety system, and the necessity for human resource education in these areas. This means that estimates need to be made of the costs.”

Part 2　Panel discussion
Part 2 began with a comment from Munekuni Nomura of the School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University that he received the report of the five speakers of part 1. Next, Nomura asked each speaker questions.

Finally, Professor Kusanagi finished the symposium with the closing remarks. Professor Kusanagi gave the following remarks during the address. “I am aware of the issues related to SDGs and would like to place importance on the fusion of the sciences and humanities. Also, I would like to utilize this opportunity as a starting point for the third symposium, to be hosted from 1 PM on Saturday, March 4, 2023 under the main theme of how to suppress the rising costs of electricity as much as possible, which will again be co-hosted with Kwansei Gakuin University Industry Research Institute.” He also noted that, “I have gained a better understanding of topics such as methanation, which is the fusion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide to create artificial methane gas.

There is now a lot of research into the creation of synthetic fuel sources for gasoline and other fuels. Realizing these would make it possible for consumers to maintain their conventional lifestyles while achieving decarbonization.

I think you could say that is a promising future. I would like the institute to continue this research, and I implore all of you to look forward to the results.”

Also, an interview with Professor Shinichi Kusanagi of the Institute for Policy Analysis and Social Innovation regarding this event was published on December 19th in the Denki Shimbun, a prominent newspaper in the area of electrical power.

Related links
University of Hyogo, Institute for Policy Analysis and Social Innovation
University of Hyogo’s Hydrogen Energy Co-development Center
Kwansei Gakuin University Industry Research Institute

Click the following link to view an article about the 2022 first symposium that was hosted in June of 2022.
2022 1st symposium “Global Economy Following the Invasion of Ukraine: Russia, China, and India” was hosted by Kendai Tsushin, University of Hyogo, Institute for Policy Analysis and Social Innovation.