Professor Hirohisa Tanaka, of the Graduate School of Science and Technology, has joined the “Towards Safe Storage and Transportation of Cryogenic Hydrogen” project, one of six proposals chosen for funding in the framework of the EIG CONCERT-Japan, an international joint initiative to support and enhance science, technology and innovation (STI) cooperation between Japan and European countries. He will collaborate with research teams from Germany and France to move forward with the project. The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) made the decision in collaboration with 14 research funding agencies in 13 European countries, and it was announced on December 15.

EIG CONCERT-Japan is conducted within the framework of the Strategic International Collaborative Research Program (SICORP), and a call for new proposals in the research field of “Sustainable Hydrogen Technology as Affordable and Clean Energy” was put out from May through July of this year. Of the 32 submitted, six were chosen for funding.

Professor Tanaka will be a member of the STACY Project (Towards Safe Storage and Transportation of Cryogenic Hydrogen), working together with German and French researchers. As explained in the presentation, “Large-scale storage and transportation  of  liquefied  hydrogen  (LH2)  is dense and very economical, and can be expected to play a fundamental role in bringing about a hydrogen society. However, knowledge about the potential risk of cryogenic hydrogen is insufficient. Assuming a liquid hydrogen leak, the Japanese team will design and fabricate a prototype hydrogen recombination catalyst and evaluate its catalytic activity at cryogenic temperatures, especially after long-term exposure to adverse oxidation and humidity conditions.”