Kawasaki Constructing Demo Facility for New Hydrogen Compressor: KM Comp-H2

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) started building a hydrogen compressor demonstration facility at its Harima Works in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The facility will test the company’s new, world-first centrifugal hydrogen compressor for hydrogen liquefaction plants, the KM Comp-H₂. KHI expects to complete construction in November 2025, followed by one year of operational testing.

The demonstration machine has been developed and completed under the Green Innovation Fund project, dubbed “Development of Large-Scale High-Efficiency Machineries for Hydrogen Liquefiers,” and sponsored by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.

KM Comp-H₂

The new machine achieves high-boosting performance through ultra-high-speed rotating technology, including KHI’s newly developed impeller, which optimizes a small molecular weight gas like hydrogen. Its centrifugal design handles high flow rates and reduces the installation footprint by approximately 86% compared to current hydrogen compressors.

KM Comp-H₂ centrifugal hydrogen compressor; image credit: KHI

It is designed to increase the pressure of refrigerant hydrogen gas and improve efficiencies in the liquefaction process, contributing to lower hydrogen supply costs. After pressure boosting, the refrigerant gas cools the feed hydrogen gas, which serves as a raw material for transportable liquefied hydrogen.

In addition to using the compressor at hydrogen liquefaction plants, KHI will apply its collected knowledge and data to develop new centrifugal hydrogen compressors for hydrogen supply pipelines. These transport-centric machines will help to satisfy future demands as hydrogen energy expands. Also, KHI is currently developing a large-scale centrifugal hydrogen compressor designed for 100% pure hydrogen to enhance liquefaction efficiency.

More KHI News

In early November 2024, Low Emission Technology Australia (LETA) and KHI signed a memorandum of understanding to reduce emissions from heavy industries. The agreement establishes cooperation in the development and deployment of post-combustion capture technology, which reduces emissions by capturing CO₂ at the source and prevents atmospheric dispersal.

KHI is attempting to reduce global CO₂ emissions and contribute to a net-zero carbon society through its technologies, such as Kawasaki CO₂ Capture. LETA is also developing decarbonization technologies in Australia and internationally with global trading partners.

In late January 2024, KHI agreed to begin demonstration tests in April for the Suiso Platform, which is a digital management system that the company developed to enable centralized hydrogen distribution management and support hydrogen trading domestically and internationally. Hydrogen trading is expected to increase on a global scale and to address this, KHI is building a digital platform and planning related services for hydrogen suppliers, business operators, and hydrogen users with the goal of offering efficient centralized management of data and the supply chain information.

Tracking this data will ensure traceability for low-carbon hydrogen, visualize complex hydrogen distribution, and facilitate concise hydrogen trading. KHI also plans to launch four additional services and expand its service offerings to meet market demand. The four services will support hydrogen trading, low-carbon hydrogen certification applications, assessment and management of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon intensity and ensure traceability through the digital management of attribute information.

Also in January, KHI, Toyo Engineering, JGC Corp., and Chiyoda Corp. signed an agreement to establish a joint venture to enhance the front-end engineering design execution for a liquefied hydrogen supply chain.