Asahi Kasei has joined the Japan Hydrogen Forum (JH2F) to advance decarbonisation activities as a member of the Hydrogen Production Committee, one of the five subcommittees of JH2F.

JH2F was established by 15 Japan-affiliated companies with hydrogen-related operations in the US to support the decarbonisation goals of the country.

Activities are performed in five sectoral subcommittees for hydrogen production, land transportation, port decarbonisation, power generation and finance.

This is supported by the Japanese government and affiliated governmental organisations such as the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO), Japan Organisation for Metals and Energy Security (JOGMEC) and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI).

Hydrogen-related business is one of Asahi Kasei's "Ten Growth Gears" to lead growth in fields of focus as part of its medium-term management plan for fiscal year 2024. 

Asahi Kasei is currently advancing its hydrogen-related business centred on the alkaline water electrolysis system for hydrogen production. This was developed utilising the experience gained with the membrane process for chloralkali electrolysis.

The company has installed a large 10MW-scale alkaline water electrolysis system at the Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R) and has performed several trial operations since 2020. Based on the technological achievements obtained at FH2R, Asahi Kasei plans to commercialise a larger-scale alkaline water electrolysis system.

Alongside its decarbonisation efforts, Asahi Kasei aims to build a business in the US for large-scale alkaline water electrolysis systems and their after-sales and technical services.

The company recently collaborated with Mitsui to use biomethanol to engineer bio-based plastics with a lower carbon footprint than existing products.