Could Waste Plastic Hydrogen Supply Heat to Buildings in Japan?

A Japanese consortium is now testing a 100 kW fuel cell system in Tokyo which uses green hydrogen and waste plastic hydrogen to provide heat to an industrial building. How will this push sustainable economic growth in Japan?

The Tokyo Tech InfoSyEnergy Research and Education Consortium and the Tokyo Tech Academy of Energy and Informatics have come together to unveil the fuel cell that generates electricity from both hydrogen and waste plastic hydrogen.

It has been designed for commercial and industrial applications and is being tested at the Tokyo Tech Environmental Energy Innovation (EEI) building. Here it receives green hydrogen from a PV system and storage racks for hydrogen generated from waste plastic.

Focusing on both carbon neutrality and sustainability, the system will mix the renewable energy hydrogen and waste plastic hydrogen, supply the mixture to a fuel cell, and then connect it to the building’s air conditioning system for advanced use of electricity and heat.

Going forward, the consortium aims to establish an urban hydrogen energy utilisation model that appropriately mixes and optimises global hydrogen and local hydrogen.